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English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>PHYSICAL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bodily,</td><td>corporeal,</td><td>natural,</td><td>tangible,</td></tr> <tr><td>corporal,</td><td>material,</td><td>sensible,</td><td>visible.</td></tr> </table> Whatever is composed of or pertains to matter may be termed material; physical (Gr. physis, nature) applies to material things considered as parts of a system or organic whole; hence, we speak of material substances, physical forces, physical laws. Bodily, corporal, and corporeal apply primarily to the human body; bodily and corporal both denote pertaining or relating to the body; corporeal signifies of the nature of or like the body; corporal is now almost wholly restricted to signify applied to or inflicted upon the body; we speak of bodily sufferings, bodily presence, corporal punishment, the corporeal frame. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>hyperphysical,</td><td>intangible,</td><td>invisible,</td><td>moral,</td><td>unreal,</td></tr> <tr><td>immaterial,</td><td>intellectual,</td><td>mental,</td><td>spiritual,</td><td>unsubstantial.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PIQUE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>displeasure,</td><td>irritation,</td><td>offense,</td><td>resentment,</td><td>umbrage.</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="5">grudge,</td></tr> </table> Pique, from the French, signifies primarily a prick or a sting, as of a nettle; the word denotes a sudden feeling of mingled pain and anger, but slight and usually transient, arising from some neglect or offense, real or imaginary. Umbrage is a deeper and more persistent displeasure at being overshadowed (L. umbra, a shadow) or subjected to any treatment that one deems unworthy of him. It may be said, as a general statement, that pique arises from wounded vanity or sensitiveness, umbrage from wounded pride or sometimes from suspicion. Resentment rests on more solid grounds, and is deep and persistent. Compare ANGER. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>approval,</td><td rowspan="2">contentment,</td><td rowspan="2">delight,</td><td rowspan="2">gratification,</td><td rowspan="2">pleasure,</td><td rowspan="2">satisfaction.</td></tr> <tr><td>complacency,</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PITIFUL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>abject,</td><td>lamentable,</td><td>paltry,</td><td>sorrowful,</td></tr> <tr><td>base,</td><td>miserable,</td><td>pathetic,</td><td>touching,</td></tr> <tr><td>contemptible,</td><td>mournful,</td><td>piteous,</td><td>woful,</td></tr> <tr><td>despicable,</td><td>moving,</td><td>pitiable,</td><td>wretched.</td></tr> </table> Pitiful originally signified full of pity; as, "the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy," James v, 11; but this usage is now archaic, and the meaning in question is appropriated by such words as merciful and compassionate. Pitiful and pitiable now refer to what may be deserving of pity, pitiful being used chiefly for that which is merely an object of thought, pitiable for that which is brought directly before the senses; as, a pitiful story; a pitiable object; a pitiable condition. Since pity, however, always implies weakness or inferiority in that which is pitied, pitiful and pitiable are often used, by an easy transition, for what might awaken pity, but does awaken contempt; as, a pitiful excuse; he presented a pitiable appearance. Piteous is now rarely used in its earlier sense of feeling pity, but in its derived sense applies to what really excites the emotion; as, a piteous cry. Compare HUMANE; MERCY; PITY. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>august,</td><td>dignified,</td><td>grand,</td><td>lofty,</td><td>sublime,</td></tr> <tr><td>beneficent,</td><td>exalted,</td><td>great,</td><td>mighty,</td><td>superb,</td></tr> <tr><td>commanding,</td><td>glorious,</td><td>helpful,</td><td>noble,</td><td>superior.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PITY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>commiseration,</td><td>condolence,</td><td>sympathy,</td><td>tenderness.</td></tr> <tr><td>compassion,</td><td colspan="3">mercy,</td></tr> </table> Pity is a feeling of grief or pain aroused by the weakness, misfortunes, or distresses of others, joined with a desire to help or relieve. Sympathy (feeling or suffering with) implies some degree of equality, kindred, or union; pity is for what is weak or unfortunate, and so far, at least, inferior to ourselves; hence, pity is often resented where sympathy would be welcome. We have sympathy with one in joy or grief, in pleasure or pain, pity only for those in suffering or need; we may have sympathy with the struggles of a giant or the triumphs of a conqueror; we are moved with pity for the captive or the slave. Pity may be only in the mind, but mercy does something for those who are its objects. Compassion, like pity, is exercised only with respect to the suffering or unfortunate, but combines with the tenderness of pity the dignity of sympathy and the active quality of mercy. Commiseration is as tender as compassion, but more remote and hopeless; we have commiseration for sufferers whom we can not reach or can not relieve. Condolence is the expression of sympathy. Compare MERCY. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>barbarity,</td><td>ferocity,</td><td>harshness,</td><td>pitilessness,</td><td>severity,</td></tr> <tr><td>brutality,</td><td>hard-heartedness,</td><td>inhumanity,</td><td>rigor,</td><td>sternness,</td></tr> <tr><td>cruelty,</td><td>hardness,</td><td>mercilessness,</td><td>ruthlessness,</td><td>truculence.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Pity on or upon that which we help or spare; pity for that which we merely contemplate; "have pity upon me, O ye my friends," Job xix, 21; "pity for a horse o'erdriven," Tennyson In Memoriam lxii, st. 1. <hr /> <h3>PLANT.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>seed,</td><td>seed down,</td><td>set,</td><td>set out,</td><td>sow.</td></tr> </table> We set or set out slips, cuttings, young trees, etc., tho we may also be said to plant them; we plant corn, potatoes, etc., which we put in definite places, as in hills, with some care; we sow wheat or other small grains and seeds which are scattered in the process. Tho by modern agricultural machinery the smaller grains are almost as precisely planted as corn, the old word for broadcast scattering is retained. Land is seeded or seeded down to grass. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>eradicate,</td><td>extirpate,</td><td>root up,</td><td>uproot,</td><td>weed out.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PLEAD.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>advocate,</td><td>ask,</td><td>beseech,</td><td>implore,</td><td>solicit,</td></tr> <tr><td>argue,</td><td>beg,</td><td>entreat,</td><td>press,</td><td>urge.</td></tr> </table> To plead for one is to employ argument or persuasion, or both in his behalf, usually with earnestness or importunity; similarly one may be said to plead for himself or for a cause, etc., or with direct object, to plead a case; in legal usage, pleading is argumentative, but in popular usage, pleading always implies some appeal to the feelings. One argues a case solely on rational grounds and supposably with fair consideration of both sides; he advocates one side for the purpose of carrying it, and under the influence of motives that may range all the way from cold self-interest to the highest and noblest impulses; he pleads a cause, or pleads for a person with still more intense feeling. Beseech, entreat, and implore imply impassioned earnestness, with direct and tender appeal to personal considerations. Press and urge imply more determined or perhaps authoritative insistence. Solicit is a weak word denoting merely an attempt to secure one's consent or cooperation, sometimes by sordid or corrupt motives. <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Plead with the tyrant for the captive; plead against the oppression or the oppressor; plead to the indictment; at the bar; before the court; in open court. <hr /> <h3>PLEASANT.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>agreeable,</td><td>good-natured,</td><td>kindly,</td><td>pleasing,</td></tr> <tr><td>attractive,</td><td>kind,</td><td>obliging,</td><td>pleasurable.</td></tr> </table> That is pleasing from which pleasure is received, or may readily be received, without reference to any action or intent in that which confers it; as, a pleasing picture; a pleasing landscape. Whatever has active qualities adapted to give pleasure is pleasant; as, a pleasant breeze; a pleasant (not a pleasing) day. As applied to persons, pleasant always refers to a disposition ready and desirous to please; one is pleasant, or in a pleasant mood, when inclined to make happy those with whom he is dealing, to show kindness and do any reasonable favor. In this sense pleasant is nearly akin to kind, but kind refers to act or intent, while pleasant stops with the disposition; many persons are no longer in a pleasant mood if asked to do a troublesome kindness. Pleasant keeps always something of the sense of actually giving pleasure, and thus surpasses the meaning of good-natured; there are good-natured people who by reason of rudeness and ill-breeding are not pleasant companions. A pleasing face has good features, complexion, expression, etc.; a pleasant face indicates a kind heart and an obliging disposition, as well as kindly feelings in actual exercise; we can say of one usually good-natured, "on that occasion he did not meet me with a pleasant face." Pleasant, in the sense of gay, merry, jocose (the sense still retained in pleasantry), is now rare, and would not be understood outside of literary circles. Compare AMIABLE; COMFORTABLE; DELIGHTFUL. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>arrogant,</td><td>displeasing,</td><td>glum,</td><td>ill-humored,</td><td>repelling,</td></tr> <tr><td>austere,</td><td>dreary,</td><td>grim,</td><td>ill-natured,</td><td>repulsive,</td></tr> <tr><td>crabbed,</td><td>forbidding,</td><td>harsh,</td><td>offensive,</td><td>unkind,</td></tr> <tr><td>disagreeable,</td><td>gloomy,</td><td>hateful,</td><td>repellent,</td><td>unpleasant.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Pleasant to, with, or toward persons, about a matter. <hr /> <h3>PLENTIFUL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>abounding,</td><td>bountiful,</td><td>generous,</td><td>plenteous,</td></tr> <tr><td>abundant,</td><td>complete,</td><td>large,</td><td>profuse,</td></tr> <tr><td>adequate,</td><td>copious,</td><td>lavish,</td><td>replete,</td></tr> <tr><td>affluent,</td><td>enough,</td><td>liberal,</td><td>rich,</td></tr> <tr><td>ample,</td><td>exuberant,</td><td>luxuriant,</td><td>sufficient,</td></tr> <tr><td>bounteous,</td><td>full,</td><td>overflowing,</td><td>teeming.</td></tr> </table> Enough is relative, denoting a supply equal to a given demand. A temperature of 70° Fahrenheit is enough for a living-room; of 212° enough to boil water; neither is enough to melt iron. Sufficient, from the Latin, is an equivalent of the Saxon enough, with no perceptible difference of meaning, but only of usage, enough being the more blunt, homely, and forcible word, while sufficient is in many cases the more elegant or polite. Sufficient usually precedes its noun; enough usually and preferably follows. That is ample which gives a safe, but not a large, margin beyond a given demand; that is abundant, affluent, bountiful, liberal, plentiful, which is largely in excess of manifest need. Plentiful is used of supplies, as of food, water, etc.; as, "a plentiful rain," Ps. lxviii, 9. We may also say a copious rain; but copious can be applied to thought, language, etc., where plentiful can not well be used. Affluent and liberal both apply to riches, resources; liberal, with especial reference to giving or expending. (Compare synonyms for ADEQUATE.) Affluent, referring especially to riches, may be used of thought, feeling, etc. Neither affluent, copious, nor plentiful can be used of time or space; a field is sometimes called plentiful, not with reference to its extent, but to its productiveness. Complete expresses not excess or overplus, and yet not mere sufficiency, but harmony, proportion, fitness to a design, or ideal. Ample and abundant may be applied to any subject. We have time enough, means that we can reach our destination without haste, but also without delay; if we have ample time, we may move leisurely, and note what is by the way; if we have abundant time, we may pause to converse with a friend, to view the scenery, or to rest when weary. Lavish and profuse imply a decided excess, oftenest in the ill sense. We rejoice in abundant resources, and honor generous hospitality; lavish or profuse expenditure suggests extravagance and wastefulness. Luxuriant is used especially of that which is abundant in growth; as, a luxuriant crop. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>deficient,</td><td>inadequate,</td><td>narrow,</td><td>scanty,</td><td>small,</td></tr> <tr><td>drained,</td><td>insufficient,</td><td>niggardly,</td><td>scarce,</td><td>sparing,</td></tr> <tr><td>exhausted,</td><td>mean,</td><td>poor,</td><td>scrimped,</td><td>stingy,</td></tr> <tr><td>impoverished,</td><td>miserly,</td><td>scant,</td><td>short,</td><td>straitened.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Preposition:</h4> Plentiful in resources. <hr /> <h3>POETRY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>meter,</td><td>numbers,</td><td>poesy,</td><td>song,</td></tr> <tr><td>metrical composition,</td><td>poem,</td><td>rime,</td><td>verse.</td></tr> </table> Poetry is that form of literature that embodies beautiful thought, feeling, or action in melodious, rhythmical, and (usually) metrical language, in imaginative and artistic constructions. Poetry in a very wide sense may be anything that pleasingly addresses the imagination; as, the poetry of motion. In ordinary usage, poetry is both imaginative and metrical. There may be poetry without rime, but hardly without meter, or what in some languages takes its place, as the Hebrew parallelism; but poetry involves, besides the artistic form, the exercise of the fancy or imagination in a way always beautiful, often lofty or even sublime. Failing this, there may be verse, rime, and meter, but not poetry. There is much in literature that is beautiful and sublime in thought and artistic in construction, which is yet not poetry, because quite devoid of the element of song, whereby poetry differs from the most lofty, beautiful, or impassioned prose. Compare METER. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>prosaic speech,</td><td>prosaic writing,</td><td>prose.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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