English Synonyms and Antonyms Part 109

Synonyms:

deviate, diverge, go astray, range, rove, swerve, digress, err, ramble, roam, stray, veer.

To _wander_ (AS. _windan_, wind) is to move in an indefinite or indeterminate way which may or may not be a departure from a prescribed way; to _deviate_ (L. _de_, from, and _via_, a way) is to turn from a prescribed or right way, physically, mentally, or morally, usually in an unfavorable sense; to _diverge_ (L. _di_, apart, and _vergo_, incline, tend) is to turn from a course previously followed or that something else follows, and has no unfavorable implication; to _digress_ (L. _di_, apart, aside, and _gradior_, step) is used only with reference to speaking or writing; to _err_ is used of intellectual or moral action, and of the moral with primary reference to the intellectual, an error being viewed as in some degree due to ignorance. _Range_, _roam_, and _rove_ imply the traversing of considerable, often of vast, distances of land or sea; _range_ commonly implies a purpose; as, cattle _range_ for food; a hunting-dog _ranges_ a field for game. _Roam_ and _rove_ are often purposeless, and always without definite aim. To _swerve_ or _veer_ is to turn suddenly from a prescribed or previous course, and often but momentarily; _veer_ is more capricious and repet.i.tious; the horse _swerves_ at the flash of a sword; the wind _veers_; the s.h.i.+p _veers_ with the wind. To _stray_ is to go in a somewhat purposeless way aside from the regular path or usual limits or abode, usually with unfavorable implication; cattle _stray_ from their pastures; an author _strays_ from his subject; one _strays_ from the path of virtue. _Stray_ is in most uses a lighter word than _wander_. _Ramble_, in its literal use, is always a word of pleasant suggestion, but in its figurative use always somewhat contemptuous; as, _rambling_ talk.

WAY.

Synonyms:

alley, course, lane, path, route, avenue, driveway, pa.s.s, pathway, street, bridle-path, highroad, pa.s.sage, road, thoroughfare, channel, highway, pa.s.sageway, roadway, track.

Wherever there is room for one object to pa.s.s another there is a _way_.

A _road_ (originally a ride_way_) is a prepared _way_ for traveling with horses or vehicles, always the latter unless the contrary is expressly stated; a _way_ suitable to be traversed only by foot-pa.s.sengers or by animals is called a _path_, _bridle-path_, or _track_; as, the _roads_ in that country are mere _bridle-paths_. A _road_ may be private; a _highway_ or _highroad_ is public, _highway_ being a specific name for a _road_ legally set apart for the use of the public forever; a _highway_ may be over water as well as over land. A _route_ is a line of travel, and may be over many _roads_. A _street_ is in some center of habitation, as a city, town, or village; when it pa.s.ses between rows of dwellings the country _road_ becomes the village _street_. An _avenue_ is a long, broad, and imposing or princ.i.p.al street. _Track_ is a word of wide signification; we speak of a goat-_track_ on a mountain-side, a railroad-_track_, a race-_track_, the _track_ of a comet; on a traveled _road_ the line worn by regular pa.s.sing of hoofs and wheels in either direction is called the _track_. A _pa.s.sage_ is between any two objects or lines of enclosure, a _pa.s.s_ commonly between mountains. A _driveway_ is within enclosed grounds, as of a private residence. A _channel_ is a water_way_. A _thoroughfare_ is a _way_ through; a _road_ or _street_ temporarily or permanently closed at any point ceases for such time to be a _thoroughfare_. Compare AIR; DIRECTION.

WISDOM.

Synonyms:

attainment, insight, prudence, depth, judgment, reason, discernment, judiciousness, reasonableness, discretion, knowledge, sagacity, enlightenment, learning, sense, erudition, prescience, skill, foresight, profundity, understanding.

information,

_Enlightenment_, _erudition_, _information_, _knowledge_, _learning_, and _skill_ are acquired, as by study or practise. _Insight_, _judgment_, _profundity_ or _depth_, _reason_, _sagacity_, _sense_, and _understanding_ are native qualities of mind, tho capable of increase by cultivation. The other qualities are on the border-line. _Wisdom_ has been defined as "the right use of _knowledge_," or "the use of the most important means for attaining the best ends," _wisdom_ thus presupposing _knowledge_ for its very existence and exercise. _Wisdom_ is mental power acting upon the materials that fullest _knowledge_ gives in the most effective way. There may be what is termed "practical _wisdom_"

that looks only to material results; but in its full sense, _wisdom_ implies the highest and n.o.blest exercise of all the faculties of the moral nature as well as of the intellect. _Prudence_ is a lower and more negative form of the same virtue, respecting outward and practical matters, and largely with a view of avoiding loss and injury; _wisdom_ transcends _prudence_, so that while the part of _prudence_ is ordinarily also that of _wisdom_, cases arise, as in the exigencies of business or of war, when the highest _wisdom_ is in the disregard of the maxims of _prudence_. _Judgment_, the power of forming decisions, especially correct decisions, is broader and more positive than _prudence_, leading one to do, as readily as to refrain from doing; but _judgment_ is more limited in range and less exalted in character than _wisdom_; to say of one that he displayed good _judgment_ is much less than to say that he manifested _wisdom_. _Skill_ is far inferior to _wisdom_, consisting largely in the practical application of acquired _knowledge_, power, and habitual processes, or in the ingenious contrivance that makes such application possible. In the making of something perfectly useless there may be great _skill_, but no _wisdom_.

Compare Ac.u.mEN; ASTUTE; KNOWLEDGE; MIND; PRUDENCE; SAGACIOUS; SKILFUL.

Antonyms:

absurdity, folly, imbecility, miscalculation, senselessness, error, foolishness, imprudence, misjudgment, silliness, fatuity, idiocy, indiscretion, nonsense, stupidity.

Compare synonyms for ABSURD; IDIOCY.

WIT.

Synonyms:

banter, fun, joke, waggery, burlesque, humor, playfulness, waggishness, drollery, jest, pleasantry, witticism.

facetiousness, jocularity, raillery,

_Wit_ is the quick perception of unusual or commonly unperceived a.n.a.logies or relations between things apparently unrelated, and has been said to depend upon a union of surprise and pleasure; it depends certainly on the production of a diverting, entertaining, or merrymaking surprise. The a.n.a.logies with which _wit_ plays are often superficial or artificial; _humor_ deals with real a.n.a.logies of an amusing or entertaining kind, or with traits of character that are seen to have a comical side as soon as brought to view. _Wit_ is keen, sudden, brief, and sometimes severe; _humor_ is deep, thoughtful, sustained, and always kindly. _Pleasantry_ is lighter and less vivid than _wit_. _Fun_ denotes the merry results produced by _wit_ and _humor_, or by any fortuitous occasion of mirth, and is p.r.o.nounced and often hilarious.

Antonyms:

dulness, seriousness, sobriety, solemnity, stolidity, stupidity.

gravity,

WORK.

Synonyms:

achievement, doing, labor, product, action, drudgery, occupation, production, business, employment, performance, toil.

deed, exertion.

_Work_ is the generic term for any continuous application of energy toward an end; _work_ may be hard or easy. _Labor_ is hard and wearying _work_; _toil_ is straining and exhausting _work_. _Work_ is also used for any result of working, physical or mental, and has special senses, as in mechanics, which _labor_ and _toil_ do not share. _Drudgery_ is plodding, irksome, and often menial _work_. Compare ACT; BUSINESS.

Antonyms:

ease, leisure, recreation, relaxation, repose, rest, vacation.

idleness,

YET.

Synonyms:

besides, further, hitherto, now, still, thus far.

_Yet_ and _still_ have many closely related senses, and, with verbs of past time, are often interchangeable; we may say "while he was _yet_ a child," or "while he was _still_ a child." _Yet_, like _still_, often applies to past action or state extending to and including the present time, especially when joined with _as_; we can say "he is feeble _as yet_," or "he is _still_ feeble," with scarcely appreciable difference of meaning, except that the former statement implies somewhat more of expectation than the latter. _Yet_ with a negative applies to completed action, often replacing a positive statement with _still_; "he is not gone _yet_" is nearly the same as "he is here _still_." _Yet_ has a reference to the future which _still_ does not share; "we may be successful _yet_" implies that success may begin at some future time; "we may be successful _still_" implies that we may continue to enjoy in the future such success as we are winning now.

YOUTHFUL.

Synonyms:

adolescent, callow, childlike, immature, puerile, boyish, childish, girlish, juvenile, young.

_Boyish_, _childish_, and _girlish_ are used in a good sense of those to whom they properly belong, but in a bad sense of those from whom more maturity is to be expected; _childish_ eagerness or glee is pleasing in a child, but unbecoming in a man; _puerile_ in modern use is distinctly contemptuous. _Juvenile_ and _youthful_ are commonly used in a favorable and kindly sense in their application to those still _young_; _youthful_ in the sense of having the characteristics of youth, hence fresh, vigorous, light-hearted, buoyant, may have a favorable import as applied to any age, as when we say the old man still retains his _youthful_ ardor, vigor, or hopefulness; _juvenile_ in such use would belittle the statement. _Young_ is distinctively applied to those in the early stage of life or not arrived at maturity. Compare NEW.

Antonyms: