English Synonyms and Antonyms Part 64

certainty, demonstration, discovery, evidence, fact, proof.

IDEA.

Synonyms:

apprehension, design, impression, plan, archetype, fancy, judgment, purpose, belief, fantasy, model, sentiment, conceit, ideal, notion, supposition, concept, image, opinion, theory, conception, imagination, pattern, thought.

_Idea_ is in Greek a _form_ or an _image_. The word signified in early philosophical use the _archetype_ or primal _image_ which the Platonic philosophy supposed to be the _model_ or _pattern_ that existing objects imperfectly embody. This high sense has nearly disappeared from the word _idea_, and has been largely appropriated by _ideal_, tho something of the original meaning still appears when in theological or philosophical language we speak of the _ideas_ of G.o.d. The present popular use of _idea_ makes it to signify any product of mental _apprehension_ or activity, considered as an object of knowledge or thought; this coincides with the primitive sense at but a single point--that an _idea_ is mental as opposed to anything substantial or physical; thus, almost any mental product, as a _belief_, _conception_, _design_, _opinion_, etc., may now be called an _idea_. Compare FANCY; IDEAL.

Antonyms:

actuality, fact, reality, substance.

IDEAL.

Synonyms:

archetype, model, pattern, prototype, standard.

idea, original,

An _ideal_ is that which is conceived or taken as the highest type of excellence or ultimate object of attainment. The _archetype_ is the primal form, actual or imaginary, according to which any existing thing is constructed; the _prototype_ has or has had actual existence; in the derived sense, as in metrology, a _prototype_ may not be the original form, but one having equal authority with that as a _standard_. An _ideal_ may be primal, or may be slowly developed even from failures and by negations; an _ideal_ is meant to be perfect, not merely the thing that has been attained or is to be attained, but the best conceivable thing that could by possibility be attained. The artist's _ideal_ is his own mental image, of which his finished work is but an imperfect expression. The _original_ is the first specimen, good or bad; the _original_ of a master is superior to all copies. The _standard_ may be below the _ideal_. The _ideal_ is imaginary, and ordinarily unattainable; the _standard_ is concrete, and ordinarily attainable, being a measure to which all else of its kind must conform; as, the _standard_ of weights and measures, of corn, or of cotton. The _idea_ of virtue is the mental concept or image of virtue in general; the _ideal_ of virtue is the mental concept or image of virtue in its highest conceivable perfection. Compare EXAMPLE; IDEA.

Antonyms:

accomplishment, action, doing, fact, practise, achievement, attainment, embodiment, incarnation, reality, act, development, execution, performance, realization.

IDIOCY.

Synonyms:

fatuity, foolishness, incapacity, stupidity.

folly, imbecility, senselessness,

_Idiocy_ is a state of mental unsoundness amounting almost or quite to total absence of understanding. _Imbecility_ is a condition of mental weakness, which may or may not be as complete as that of _idiocy_, but is at least such as to incapacitate for the serious duties of life.

_Incapacity_, or lack of legal qualification for certain acts, necessarily results from _imbecility_, but may also result from other causes, as from insanity or from age, s.e.x, etc.; as, the _incapacity_ of a minor to make a contract. _Idiocy_ or _imbecility_ is weakness of mind, while insanity is disorder or abnormal action of mind. _Folly_ and _foolishness_ denote a want of mental and often of moral balance.

_Fatuity_ is sometimes used as equivalent to _idiocy_, but more frequently signifies conceited and excessive _foolishness_ or _folly_.

_Stupidity_ is dulness and slowness of mental action which may range all the way from lack of normal readiness to absolute _imbecility_. Compare INSANITY.

Antonyms:

acuteness, brilliancy, common sense, sagacity, soundness, astuteness, capacity, intelligence, sense, wisdom.

IDLE.

Synonyms:

inactive, inert, slothful, trifling, unoccupied, indolent, lazy, sluggish, unemployed, vacant.

_Idle_ in all uses rests upon its root meaning, as derived from the Anglo-Saxon _idel_, which signifies vain, empty, useless. _Idle_ thus denotes not primarily the absence of action, but vain action--the absence of useful, effective action; the _idle_ schoolboy may be very actively whittling his desk or tormenting his neighbors. Doing nothing whatever is the secondary meaning of _idle_. One may be temporarily _idle_ of necessity; if he is habitually _idle_, it is his own fault.

_Lazy_ signifies indisposed to exertion, averse to labor; idleness is in fact; laziness is in disposition or inclination. A _lazy_ person may chance to be employed in useful work, but he acts without energy or impetus. We speak figuratively of a _lazy_ stream. The _inert_ person seems like dead matter (characterized by inertia), powerless to move; the _sluggish_ moves heavily and toilsomely; the most active person may sometimes find the bodily or mental powers _sluggish_. _Slothful_ belongs in the moral realm, denoting a self-indulgent aversion to exertion. "The _slothful_ hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth," _Prov._ xxvi, 15. _Indolent_ is a milder term for the same quality; the _slothful_ man hates action; the _indolent_ man loves inaction. Compare VAIN.

Antonyms:

active, busy, diligent, employed, industrious, occupied, working.

IGNORANT.

Synonyms:

ill-informed, unenlightened, unlearned, untaught, illiterate, uninformed, unlettered, untutored.

uneducated, uninstructed, unskilled,

_Ignorant_ signifies dest.i.tute of education or knowledge, or lacking knowledge or information; it is thus a relative term. The most learned man is still _ignorant_ of many things; persons are spoken of as _ignorant_ who have not the knowledge that has become generally diffused in the world; the _ignorant_ savage may be well instructed in matters of the field and the chase, and is thus more properly _untutored_ than _ignorant_. _Illiterate_ is without letters and the knowledge that comes through reading. _Unlettered_ is similar in meaning to _illiterate_, but less absolute; the _unlettered_ man may have acquired the art of reading and writing and some elementary knowledge; the _uneducated_ man has never taken any systematic course of mental training. _Ignorance_ is relative; _illiteracy_ is absolute; we have statistics of _illiteracy_; no statistics of _ignorance_ are possible.

Antonyms:

educated, learned, sage, skilled, trained, well-informed, wise.

instructed,

IMAGINATION.

Synonyms:

fancy, fantasy, phantasy.

The old psychology treated of the _Reproductive Imagination_, which simply reproduces the images that the mind has in any way acquired, and the _Productive Imagination_ which modifies and combines mental images so as to produce what is virtually new. To this _Reproductive Imagination_ President Noah Porter and others have given the name of _phantasy_ or _fantasy_ (many psychologists preferring the former spelling). _Phantasy_ or _fantasy_, so understood, presents numerous and varied images, often combining them into new forms with exceeding vividness, yet without any true constructive power, but with the mind adrift, blindly and pa.s.sively following the laws of a.s.sociation, and with reason and will in torpor; the mental images being perhaps as varied and as vivid, but also as purposeless and unsystematized as the visual images in a kaleidoscope; such _fantasy_ (often loosely called _imagination_) appears in dreaming, reverie, somnambulism, and intoxication. _Fantasy_ in ordinary usage simply denotes capricious or erratic _fancy_, as appears in the adjective _fantastic_. _Imagination_ and _fancy_ differ from _fantasy_ in bringing the images and their combinations under the control of the will; _imagination_ is the broader and higher term, including _fancy_; _imagination_ is the act or power of imaging or of reimaging objects of perception or thought, of combining the products of knowledge in modified, new, or ideal forms--the creative or constructive power of the mind; while _fancy_ is the act or power of forming pleasing, graceful, whimsical, or odd mental images, or of combining them with little regard to rational processes of construction; _imagination_ in its lower form. Both _fancy_ and _imagination_ recombine and modify mental images; either may work with the other's materials; _imagination_ may glorify the tiniest flower; _fancy_ may play around a mountain or a star; the one great distinction between them is that _fancy_ is superficial, while _imagination_ is deep, essential, spiritual. Wordsworth, who was the first clearly to draw the distinction between the _fancy_ and the _imagination_, states it as follows: