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English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>MIND.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>brain,</td><td>instinct,</td><td>reason,</td><td>spirit,</td></tr> <tr><td>consciousness,</td><td>intellect,</td><td>sense,</td><td>thought,</td></tr> <tr><td>disposition,</td><td>intelligence,</td><td>soul,</td><td>understanding.</td></tr> </table> Mind, in a general sense, includes all the powers of sentient being apart from the physical factors in bodily faculties and activities; in a limited sense, mind is nearly synonymous with intellect, but includes disposition, or the tendency toward action, as appears in the phrase "to have a mind to work." As the seat of mental activity, brain (colloquially brains) is often used as a synonym for mind, intellect, intelligence. Thought, the act, process, or power of thinking, is often used to denote the thinking faculty, and especially the reason. The instinct of animals is now held by many philosophers to be of the same nature as the intellect of man, but inferior and limited; yet the apparent difference is very great. <div class="bq1">An instinct is a propensity prior to experience and independent of instruction. Paley Natural Philosophy ch. 18. </div> In this sense we speak of human instincts, thus denoting tendencies independent of reasoning or instruction. The soul includes the intellect, sensibilities, and will; beyond what is expressed by the word mind, the soul denotes especially the moral, the immortal nature; we say of a dead body, the soul (not the mind) has fled. Spirit is used especially in contradistinction from matter; it may in many cases be substituted for soul, but soul has commonly a fuller and more determinate meaning; we can conceive of spirits as having no moral nature; the fairies, elves, and brownies of mythology might be termed spirits, but not souls. In the figurative sense, spirit denotes animation, excitability, perhaps impatience; as, a lad of spirit; he sang with spirit; he replied with spirit. Soul denotes energy and depth of feeling, as when we speak of soulful eyes; or it may denote the very life of anything; as, "the hidden soul of harmony," Milton L'Allegro l. 144. Sense may be an antonym of intellect, as when we speak of the sense of hearing; but sense is used also as denoting clear mental action, good judgment, acumen; as, he is a man of sense, or, he showed good sense; sense, even in its material signification, must be reckoned among the activities of mind, tho dependent on bodily functions; the mind, not the eye, really sees; the mind, not the ear, really hears. Consciousness includes all that a sentient being perceives, knows, thinks, or feels, from whatever source arising and of whatever character, kind, or degree, whether with or without distinct thinking, feeling, or willing; we speak of the consciousness of the brute, of the savage, or of the sage. The intellect is that assemblage of faculties which is concerned with knowledge, as distinguished from emotion and volition. Understanding is the Saxon word of the same general import, but is chiefly used of the reasoning powers; the understanding, which Sir Wm. Hamilton has called "the faculty of relations and comparisons," is distinguished by many philosophers from reason in that "reason is the faculty of the higher cognitions or a priori truth." <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>body,</td><td>brawn,</td><td>brute force,</td><td>material substance,</td><td>matter.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>MINUTE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>circumstantial,</td><td>diminutive,</td><td>little,</td><td>slender,</td></tr> <tr><td>comminuted,</td><td>exact,</td><td>particular,</td><td>small,</td></tr> <tr><td>critical,</td><td>fine,</td><td>precise,</td><td>tiny.</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="4">detailed,</td></tr> </table> That is minute which is of exceedingly limited dimensions, as a grain of dust, or which attends to matters of exceedingly slight amount or apparent importance; as, a minute account; minute observation. That which is broken up into minute particles is said to be comminuted; things may be termed fine which would not be termed comminuted; as, fine sand; fine gravel; but, in using the adverb, we say a substance is finely comminuted, comminuted referring more to the process, fine to the result. An account extended to very minute particulars is circumstantial, detailed, particular; an examination so extended is critical, exact, precise. Compare FINE. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> See synonyms for LARGE. <hr /> <h3>MISFORTUNE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>adversity,</td><td>disappointment,</td><td>ill fortune,</td><td>ruin,</td></tr> <tr><td>affliction,</td><td>disaster,</td><td>ill luck,</td><td>sorrow,</td></tr> <tr><td>bereavement,</td><td>distress,</td><td>misadventure,</td><td>stroke,</td></tr> <tr><td>blow,</td><td>failure,</td><td>mischance,</td><td>trial,</td></tr> <tr><td>calamity,</td><td>hardship,</td><td>misery,</td><td>tribulation,</td></tr> <tr><td>chastening,</td><td>harm,</td><td>mishap,</td><td>trouble,</td></tr> <tr><td>chastisement,</td><td>ill,</td><td>reverse,</td><td>visitation.</td></tr> </table> Misfortune is adverse fortune or any instance thereof, any untoward event, usually of lingering character or consequences, and such as the sufferer is not deemed directly responsible for; as, he had the misfortune to be born blind. Any considerable disappointment, failure, or misfortune, as regards outward circumstances, as loss of fortune, position, and the like, when long continued or attended with enduring consequences, constitutes adversity. For the loss of friends by death we commonly use affliction or bereavement. Calamity and disaster are used of sudden and severe misfortunes, often overwhelming; ill fortune and ill luck, of lighter troubles and failures. We speak of the misery of the poor, the hardships of the soldier. Affliction, chastening, trial, and tribulation have all an especially religious bearing, suggesting some disciplinary purpose of God with beneficent design. Affliction may be keen and bitter, but brief; tribulation is long and wearing. We speak of an affliction, but rarely of a tribulation, since tribulation is viewed as a continuous process, which may endure for years or for a lifetime; but we speak of our daily trials. Compare CATASTROPHE. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>blessing,</td><td>consolation,</td><td>gratification,</td><td>pleasure,</td><td>success,</td></tr> <tr><td>boon,</td><td>good fortune,</td><td>happiness,</td><td>prosperity,</td><td>triumph.</td></tr> <tr><td>comfort,</td><td>good luck,</td><td>joy,</td><td colspan="2">relief,</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>MOB.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>canaille,</td><td>dregs of the people,</td><td>masses,</td><td>rabble,</td></tr> <tr><td>crowd,</td><td>lower classes,</td><td>populace,</td><td>the vulgar.</td></tr> </table> The populace are poor and ignorant, but may be law-abiding; a mob is disorderly and lawless, but may be rich and influential. The rabble is despicable, worthless, purposeless; a mob may have effective desperate purpose. A crowd may be drawn by mere curiosity; some strong, pervading excitement is needed to make it a mob. Compare PEOPLE. <hr /> <h3>MODEL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>archetype,</td><td>facsimile,</td><td>original,</td><td>representation,</td></tr> <tr><td>copy,</td><td>image,</td><td>pattern,</td><td>standard,</td></tr> <tr><td>design,</td><td>imitation,</td><td>prototype,</td><td>type.</td></tr> <tr><td>example,</td><td colspan="3">mold,</td></tr> </table> A pattern is always, in modern use, that which is to be copied; a model may be either the thing to be copied or the copy that has been made from it; as, the models in the Patent Office. A pattern is commonly superficial; a model is usually in relief. A pattern must be closely followed in its minutest particulars by a faithful copyist; a model may allow a great degree of freedom. A sculptor may idealize his living model; his workmen must exactly copy in marble or metal the model he has made in clay. Compare EXAMPLE; IDEA; IDEAL. <hr /> <h3>MODESTY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>backwardness,</td><td>constraint,</td><td>reserve,</td><td>timidity,</td></tr> <tr><td>bashfulness,</td><td>coyness,</td><td>shyness,</td><td>unobtrusiveness.</td></tr> <tr><td>coldness,</td><td colspan="3">diffidence,</td></tr> </table> Bashfulness is a shrinking from notice without assignable reason. Coyness is a half encouragement, half avoidance of offered attention, and may be real or affected. Diffidence is self-distrust; modesty, a humble estimate of oneself in comparison with others, or with the demands of some undertaking. Modesty has also the specific meaning of a sensitive shrinking from anything indelicate. Shyness is a tendency to shrink from observation; timidity, a distinct fear of criticism, error, or failure. Reserve is the holding oneself aloof from others, or holding back one's feelings from expression, or one's affairs from communication to others. Reserve may be the retreat of shyness, or, on the other hand, the contemptuous withdrawal of pride and haughtiness. Compare ABASH; PRIDE; TACITURN. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>abandon,</td><td>boldness,</td><td>forwardness,</td><td>impudence,</td><td>pertness,</td><td rowspan="4">sociability.</td></tr> <tr><td>arrogance,</td><td>conceit,</td><td>frankness,</td><td>indiscretion,</td><td>sauciness,</td></tr> <tr><td>assumption,</td><td>confidence,</td><td>freedom,</td><td>loquaciousness,</td><td>self-conceit,</td></tr> <tr><td>assurance,</td><td>egotism,</td><td>haughtiness,</td><td>loquacity,</td><td>self-sufficiency,</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>MONEY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bills,</td><td>cash,</td><td>funds,</td><td>property,</td></tr> <tr><td>bullion,</td><td>coin,</td><td>gold,</td><td>silver,</td></tr> <tr><td>capital,</td><td>currency,</td><td>notes,</td><td>specie.</td></tr> </table> Money is the authorized medium of exchange; coined money is called coin or specie. What are termed in England bank-notes are in the United States commonly called bills; as, a five-dollar bill. The notes of responsible men are readily transferable in commercial circles, but they are not money; as, the stock was sold for $500 in money and the balance in merchantable paper. Cash is specie or money in hand, or paid in hand; as, the cash account; the cash price. In the legal sense, property is not money, and money is not property; for property is that which has inherent value, while money, as such, has but representative value, and may or may not have intrinsic value. Bullion is either gold or silver uncoined, or the coined metal considered without reference to its coinage, but simply as merchandise, when its value as bullion may be very different from its value as money. The word capital is used chiefly of accumulated property or money invested in productive enterprises or available for such investment. <hr /> <h3>MOROSE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>acrimonious,</td><td>dogged,</td><td>ill-natured,</td><td>splenetic,</td></tr> <tr><td>churlish,</td><td>gloomy,</td><td>severe,</td><td>sulky,</td></tr> <tr><td>crabbed,</td><td>gruff,</td><td>snappish,</td><td>sullen,</td></tr> <tr><td>crusty,</td><td>ill-humored,</td><td>sour,</td><td>surly.</td></tr> </table> The sullen and sulky are discontented and resentful in regard to that against which they are too proud to protest, or consider all protest vain; sullen denotes more of pride, sulky more of resentful obstinacy. The morose are bitterly dissatisfied with the world in general, and disposed to vent their ill nature upon others. The sullen and sulky are for the most part silent; the morose growl out bitter speeches. A surly person is in a state of latent anger, resenting approach as intrusion, and ready to take offense at anything; thus we speak of a surly dog. Sullen and sulky moods may be transitory; one who is morose or surly is commonly so by disposition or habit. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>amiable,</td><td>complaisant,</td><td>gentle,</td><td>kind,</td><td>pleasant,</td></tr> <tr><td>benignant,</td><td>friendly,</td><td>good-natured,</td><td>loving,</td><td>sympathetic,</td></tr> <tr><td>bland,</td><td>genial,</td><td>indulgent,</td><td>mild,</td><td>tender.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>MOTION.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>act,</td><td>change,</td><td>movement,</td><td>process,</td><td>transition.</td></tr> <tr><td>action,</td><td>move,</td><td>passage,</td><td colspan="2">transit,</td></tr> </table> Motion is change of place or position in space; transition is a passing from one point or position in space to another. Motion may be either abstract or concrete, more frequently the former; movement is always concrete, that is, considered in connection with the thing that moves or is moved; thus, we speak of the movements of the planets, but of the laws of planetary motion; of military movements, but of perpetual motion. Move is used chiefly of contests or competition, as in chess or politics; as, it is your move; a shrewd move of the opposition. Action is a more comprehensive word than motion. We now rarely speak of mental or spiritual motions, but rather of mental or spiritual acts or processes, or of the laws of mental action, but a formal proposal of action in a deliberative assembly is termed a motion. Compare ACT. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>immobility,</td><td>quiescence,</td><td>quiet,</td><td>repose,</td><td>rest,</td><td>stillness.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>MOURN.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bemoan,</td><td>deplore,</td><td>lament,</td><td>regret,</td><td>rue,</td><td>sorrow.</td></tr> <tr><td>bewail,</td><td colspan="5">grieve,</td></tr> </table> To mourn is to feel or express sadness or distress because of some loss, affliction, or misfortune; mourning is thought of as prolonged, grief or regret may be transient. One may grieve or mourn, regret, rue, or sorrow without a sound; he bemoans with suppressed and often inarticulate sounds of grief; he bewails with passionate utterance, whether of inarticulate cries or of spoken words. He laments in plaintive or pathetic words, as the prophet Jeremiah in his "Lamentations." One deplores with settled sorrow which may or may not find relief in words. One is made to rue an act by some misfortune resulting, or by some penalty or vengeance inflicted because of it. One regrets a slight misfortune or a hasty word; he sorrows over the death of a friend. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>be joyful,</td><td>exult,</td><td>joy,</td><td>make merry,</td><td>rejoice,</td><td>triumph.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>MUTUAL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>common,</td><td>correlative,</td><td>interchangeable,</td><td>joint,</td><td>reciprocal.</td></tr> </table> That is common to which two or more persons have the same or equal claims, or in which they have equal interest or participation; in the strictest sense, that is mutual (Latin mutare, to change) which is freely interchanged; that is reciprocal in respect to which one act or movement is met by a corresponding act or movement in return; we speak of our common country, mutual affection, reciprocal obligations, the reciprocal action of cause and effect, where the effect becomes in turn a cause. Many good writers hold it incorrect to say "a mutual friend," and insist that "a common friend" would be more accurate; but "common friend" is practically never used, because of the disagreeable suggestion that attaches to common, of ordinary or inferior. "Mutual friend" has high literary authority (of Burke, Scott, Dickens, and others), and a considerable usage of good society in its favor, the expression being quite naturally derived from the thoroughly correct phrase mutual friendship. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>detached,</td><td>distinct,</td><td>separate,</td><td>severed,</td><td>unconnected,</td><td>unrequited,</td></tr> <tr><td>disconnected,</td><td>disunited,</td><td>separated,</td><td>sundered,</td><td>unreciprocated,</td><td>unshared.</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="6">dissociated,</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>MYSTERIOUS.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>abstruse,</td><td>inexplicable,</td><td>recondite,</td></tr> <tr><td>cabalistic,</td><td>inscrutable,</td><td>secret,</td></tr> <tr><td>dark,</td><td>mystic,</td><td>transcendental,</td></tr> <tr><td>enigmatical,</td><td>mystical,</td><td>unfathomable,</td></tr> <tr><td>hidden,</td><td>obscure,</td><td>unfathomed,</td></tr> <tr><td>incomprehensible,</td><td>occult,</td><td>unknown.</td></tr> </table> That is mysterious in the true sense which is beyond human comprehension, as the decrees of God or the origin of life. That is mystic or mystical which has associated with it some hidden or recondite meaning, especially of a religious kind; as, the mystic Babylon of the Apocalypse. That is dark which we can not personally see through, especially if sadly perplexing; as, a dark providence. That is secret which is intentionally hidden. Compare DARK. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> See synonyms for CLEAR. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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