English Synonyms and Antonyms Part 70

Synonyms:

barbarism, expression, patois, vernacular, dialect, idiom, speech, vocabulary.

diction, mother tongue, tongue,

_Language_ (F. _langage_ < l.="" _lingua_,="" the="" tongue)="" signified="" originally="" _expression_="" of="" thought="" by="" spoken="" words,="" but="" now="" in="" its="" widest="" sense="" it="" signifies="" _expression_="" of="" thought="" by="" any="" means;="" as,="" the="" _language_="" of="" the="" eyes,="" the="" _language_="" of="" flowers.="" as="" regards="" the="" use="" of="" words,="" _language_="" in="" its="" broadest="" sense="" denotes="" all="" the="" uttered="" sounds="" and="" their="" combinations="" into="" words="" and="" sentences="" that="" human="" beings="" employ="" for="" the="" communication="" of="" thought,="" and,="" in="" a="" more="" limited="" sense,="" the="" words="" or="" combinations="" forming="" a="" means="" of="" communication="" among="" the="" members="" of="" a="" single="" nation,="" people,="" or="" race.="" _speech_="" involves="" always="" the="" power="" of="" articulate="" utterance;="" we="" can="" speak="" of="" the="" _language_="" of="" animals,="" but="" not="" of="" their="" _speech_.="" a="" _tongue_="" is="" the="" _speech_="" or="" _language_="" of="" some="" one="" people,="" country,="" or="" race.="" a="" _dialect_="" is="" a="" special="" mode="" of="" speaking="" a="" _language_="" peculiar="" to="" some="" locality="" or="" cla.s.s,="" not="" recognized="" as="" in="" accordance="" with="" the="" best="" usage;="" a="" _barbarism_="" is="" a="" perversion="" of="" a="" _language_="" by="" ignorant="" foreigners,="" or="" some="" usage="" akin="" to="" that.="" _idiom_="" refers="" to="" the="" construction="" of="" phrases="" and="" sentences,="" and="" the="" way="" of="" forming="" or="" using="" words;="" it="" is="" the="" peculiar="" mold="" in="" which="" each="" _language_="" casts="" its="" thought.="" the="" great="" difficulty="" of="" translation="" is="" to="" give="" the="" thought="" expressed="" in="" one="" _language_="" in="" the="" _idiom_="" of="" another.="" a="" _dialect_="" may="" be="" used="" by="" the="" highest="" as="" well="" as="" the="" lowest="" within="" its="" range;="" a="" _patois_="" is="" distinctly="" illiterate,="" belonging="" to="" the="" lower="" cla.s.ses;="" those="" who="" speak="" a="" _patois_="" understand="" the="" cultured="" form="" of="" their="" own="" language,="" but="" speak="" only="" the="" degraded="" form,="" as="" in="" the="" case="" of="" the="" italian="" lazzaroni="" or="" the="" former="" negro="" slaves="" in="" the="" united="">

_Vernacular_, from the Latin, has the same general sense as the Saxon _mother tongue_, of one's native _language_, or that of a people; as, the Scriptures were translated into the _vernacular_. Compare DICTION.

LARGE.

Synonyms:

abundant, coa.r.s.e, gigantic, long, ample, colossal, grand, ma.s.sive, big, commodious, great, s.p.a.cious, broad, considerable, huge, vast, bulky, enormous, immense, wide.

capacious, extensive,

_Large_ denotes extension in more than one direction, and beyond the average of the cla.s.s to which the object belongs; we speak of a _large_ surface or a _large_ solid, but of a _long_ line; a _large_ field, a _large_ room, a _large_ apple, etc. A _large_ man is a man of more than ordinary size; a _great_ man is a man of remarkable mental power. _Big_ is a more emphatic word than _large_, but of less dignity. We do not say that George Was.h.i.+ngton was a _big_ man.

Antonyms:

brief, limited, minute, scanty, small, diminutive, little, narrow, short, tiny, inconsiderable, mean, paltry, slender, trifling, infinitesimal, microscopic, petty, slight, trivial.

insignificant,

LAW.

Synonyms:

canon, economy, legislation, principle, code, edict, mandate, regulation, command, enactment, order, rule, commandment, formula, ordinance, statute.

decree, jurisprudence, polity,

_Law_, in its ideal, is the statement of a _principle_ of right in mandatory form, by competent authority, with adequate penalty for disobedience; in common use, the term is applied to any legislative act, however imperfect or unjust. _Command_ and _commandment_ are personal and particular; as, the _commands_ of a parent; the ten _commandments_.

An _edict_ is the act of an absolute sovereign or other authority; we speak of the _edict_ of an emperor, the _decree_ of a court. A _mandate_ is specific, for an occasion or a purpose; a superior court issues its _mandate_ to an inferior court to send up its records. _Statute_ is the recognized legal term for a specific _law_; _enactment_ is the more vague and general expression. We speak of algebraic or chemical _formulas_, munic.i.p.al _ordinances_, military _orders_, army _regulations_, ecclesiastical _canons_, the _rules_ of a business house.

_Law_ is often used, also, for a recognized _principle_, whose violation is attended with injury or loss that acts like a penalty; as, the _laws_ of business; the _laws_ of nature. In more strictly scientific use, a natural _law_ is simply a recognized system of sequences or relations; as, Kepler's _laws_ of planetary distances. A _code_ is a system of _laws_; _jurisprudence_ is the science of _law_, or a system of _laws_ scientifically considered, cla.s.sed, and interpreted; _legislation_, primarily the act of legislating, denotes also the body of _statutes_ enacted by a legislative body. An _economy_ (Gr. _oikonomia_, primarily the management of a house) is any comprehensive system of administration; as, domestic _economy_; but the word is extended to the administration or government of a state or people, signifying a body of _laws_ and _regulations_, with the entire system, political or religious, especially the latter, of which they form a part; as, the _code_ of Draco, Roman _jurisprudence_, British _legislation_, the Mosaic _economy_. _Law_ is also used as a collective noun for a system of _laws_ or recognized _rules_ or _regulations_, including not only all special _laws_, but the _principles_ on which they are based. The Mosaic _economy_ is known also as the Mosaic _law_, and we speak of the English common _law_, or the _law_ of nations. _Polity_ (Gr. _politeia_, from _polis_, a city) signifies the form, const.i.tution, or method of government of a nation, state, church, or other inst.i.tution; in usage it differs from _economy_ as applying rather to the system, while _economy_ applies especially to method, or to the system as administered; an _economy_ might be termed a _polity_ considered with especial reference to its practical administration, hence commonly with special reference to details or particulars, while _polity_ has more reference to broad _principles_.

LIBERTY.

Synonyms:

emanc.i.p.ation, freedom, independence, license.

In general terms, it may be said that _freedom_ is absolute, _liberty_ relative; _freedom_ is the absence of restraint, _liberty_ is primarily the removal or avoidance of restraint; in its broadest sense, it is the state of being exempt from the domination of others or from restricting circ.u.mstances. _Freedom_ and _liberty_ are constantly interchanged; the slave is set at _liberty_, or gains his _freedom_; but _freedom_ is the n.o.bler word. _Independence_ is said of states or nations, _freedom_ and _liberty_ of individuals; the _independence_ of the United States did not secure _liberty_ or _freedom_ to its slaves. _Liberty_ keeps quite strictly to the thought of being clear of restraint or compulsion; _freedom_ takes a wider range, applying to other oppressive influences; thus, we speak of _freedom_ from annoyance or intrusion. _License_ is, in its limited sense, a permission or privilege granted by adequate authority, a bounded _liberty_; in the wider sense, _license_ is an ignoring and defiance of all that should restrain, and a reckless doing of all that individual caprice or pa.s.sion may choose to do--a base and dangerous counterfeit of _freedom_. Compare ALLOW; PERMISSION.

Antonyms:

captivity, imprisonment, oppression, slavery, compulsion, necessity, serfdom, superst.i.tion, constraint, obligation, servitude, thraldom.

LIGHT.

Synonyms:

blaze, gleam, glow, s.h.i.+mmer, flame, gleaming, illumination, s.h.i.+ne, flare, glimmer, incandescence, s.h.i.+ning, flash, glistening, l.u.s.ter, sparkle, flicker, glistering, scintillation, twinkle, glare, glitter, sheen, twinkling.

_Light_, strictly denoting a form of radiant energy, is used as a general term for any luminous effect discernible by the eye, from the faintest phosph.o.r.escence to the _blaze_ of the noonday sun. A _flame_ is both hot and luminous; if it contains few solid particles it will yield little _light_, tho it may afford intense heat, as in the case of a hydrogen-_flame_. A _blaze_ is an extensive, brilliant _flame_. A _flare_ is a wavering _flame_ or _blaze_; a _flash_ is a _light_ that appears and disappears in an instant; as, a _flash_ of lightning; the _flash_ of gunpowder. The _glare_ and _glow_ are steady, the _glare_ painfully bright, the _glow_ subdued; as, the _glare_ of torches; the _glow_ of dying embers. _s.h.i.+ne_ and _s.h.i.+ning_ refer to a steady or continuous emission of _light_; _sheen_ is a faint _s.h.i.+ning_, usually by reflection. _Glimmer_, _glitter_, and _s.h.i.+mmer_ denote wavering _light_.

We speak of the _glimmer_ of distant lamps through the mist; of the _s.h.i.+mmer_ of waves in sun_light_ or moon_light_. A _gleam_ is not wavering, but transient or intermittent; a sudden _gleam_ of _light_ came through the half-open door; a _glitter_ is a hard _light_; as, the _glitter_ of burnished arms. A _sparkle_ is a sudden _light_, as of sparks thrown out; _scintillation_ is the more exact and scientific term for the actual emission of sparks, also the figurative term for what suggests such emission; as, _scintillations_ of wit or of genius.

_Twinkle_ and _twinkling_ are used of the intermittent _light_ of the fixed stars. _Glistening_ is a _s.h.i.+ning_ as from a wet surface.

_Illumination_ is a wide-spread, brilliant _light_, as when all the windows of a house or of a street are lighted. The _light_ of _incandescence_ is intense and white like that from metal at a white heat.

Antonyms:

blackness, darkness, dusk, gloominess, shade, dark, dimness, gloom, obscurity, shadow.

LIKELY.

Synonyms:

apt, conceivable, liable, probable, credible, conjectural, presumable, reasonable.

_Apt_ implies a natural fitness or tendency; an impetuous person is _apt_ to speak hastily. _Liable_ refers to a contingency regarded as unfavorable; as, the s.h.i.+p was _liable_ to founder at any moment.

_Likely_ refers to a contingent event regarded as very probable, and usually, tho not always, favorable; as, an industrious worker is _likely_ to succeed. _Credible_ signifies readily to be believed; as, a _credible_ narrative; _likely_ in such connection is used ironically to signify the reverse; as, a _likely_ story! A thing is _conceivable_ of which the mind can entertain the possibility; a thing is _conjectural_ which is conjectured as possible or probable without other support than a conjecture, or tentative judgment; a thing is _presumable_ which, from what is antecedently known, may betaken for granted in advance of proof.

_Reasonable_ in this connection signifies such as the reason can be satisfied with, independently of external grounds for belief or disbelief; as, that seems a _reasonable_ supposition. Compare APPARENT.

Antonyms:

doubtful, improbable, questionable, unreasonable.

dubious, incredible, unlikely,

LISTEN.