English Synonyms and Antonyms by James Champlin Fernald (best ebook reader for laptop TXT) 📕

as fable. Compare ALLEGORY. Antonyms: certainty, fact, history, literalness, reality, truth, verity. FIERCE. Synonyms: ferocious, furious, raging, uncultivated, violent, fiery, impetuous, savage, untrained, wild.

Fierce signifies having a furious and cruel nature, or being in a furious and cruel mood, more commonly the latter. It applies to that which is now intensely excited, or liable to intense and sudden excitement. Ferocious refers to a state or disposition; that which is fierce flashes or blazes; that which is ferocious steadily burns; we speak of a ferocious animal, a fierce passion. A fiery spirit with a good disposition is quickly excitable in a good cause, but may not be fierce or ferocious. Savage signifies untrained, uncultivated. Ferocious always denotes a tendency to violence; it is more distinctly bloodthirsty than the other words; a person may be deeply, intensely cruel, and not at all ferocious; a ferocious countenance expresses habitual ferocity; a fierce countenance may express habitual fierceness, or only the sudden anger of the moment. That which is wild is simply unrestrained; the word may imply no anger or harshness; as, wild delight, wild alarm.

Antonyms: affectionate, gentle, kind, patient, submissive, tame, docile, harmless, mild, peaceful, sweet, tender.

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FINANCIAL. Synonyms: fiscal, monetary, pecuniary.

These words all relate to money, receipts, or expenditures. Monetary relates to actual money, coin, currency; as, the monetary system; a monetary transaction is one in which money is transferred. Pecuniary refers to that in which money is involved, but less directly; we speak of one's pecuniary affairs or interests, with no special reference to the handling of cash. Financial applies especially to governmental revenues or expenditures, or to private transactions of considerable moment; we speak of a pecuniary reward, a financial enterprise; we give a needy person pecuniary (not financial) assistance. It is common to speak of the fiscal rather than the financial year.

FINE. Synonyms: beautiful, excellent, polished, small, clarified, exquisite, pure, smooth, clear, gauzy, refined, splendid, comminuted, handsome, sensitive, subtile, dainty, keen, sharp, subtle, delicate, minute, slender, tenuous, elegant, nice, slight, thin.

Fine (L. finis, end) denotes that which has been brought to a full end, finished. From this root-sense many derived meanings branch out, causing words quite remote from each other to be alike synonyms of fine. That which is truly finished, brought to an ideal end, is excellent of its kind, and beautiful, if a thing that admits of beauty; as, a fine house, fine trees, a fine woman, a fine morning; if a thing that admits of the removal of impurities, it is not finished till these are removed, and hence fine signifies clarified, clear, pure, refined; as, fine gold. That which is finished is apt to be polished, smooth to the touch, minutely exact in outline; hence fine comes to be a synonym for all words like dainty, delicate, exquisite; as, fine manners, a fine touch, fine perceptions. As that which is delicate is apt to be small, by an easy extension of meaning fine becomes a synonym for slender, slight, minute, comminuted; as, a fine thread, fine sand; or for filmy, tenuous, thin; as, a fine lace, fine wire; and as a thin edge is keen, sharp, fine becomes also a synonym for these words; as, a fine point, a fine edge. Compare BEAUTIFUL; MINUTE.

Antonyms: big, clumsy, great, huge, large, stout, blunt, coarse, heavy, immense, rude, thick.

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FIRE. Synonyms: blaze, burning, combustion, conflagration, flame.

Combustion is the essential fact which is at the basis of that assemblage of visible phenomenon which we call fire; combustion being the continuous chemical combination of a substance with some element, as oxygen, evolving heat, and extending from slow processes, such as those by which the heat of the human body is maintained, to the processes producing the most intense light also, as in a blast-furnace, or on the surface of the sun. Fire is always attended with light, as well as heat; blaze, flame, etc., designate the mingled light and heat of a fire. Combustion is the scientific, fire the popular term. A conflagration is an extensive fire. Compare LIGHT.

FLOCK. Synonyms: bevy, covey, group, herd, lot, set, brood, drove, hatch, litter, pack, swarm.

Group is the general word for any gathering of a small number of objects, whether of persons, animals, or inanimate things. The individuals in a brood or litter are related to each other; those in the other groups may not be. Brood is used chiefly of fowls and birds, litter of certain quadrupeds which bring forth many young at a birth; we speak of a brood of chickens, a litter of puppies; brood is sometimes applied to a family of young children. Bevy is used of birds, and figuratively of any bright and lively group of women or children, but rarely of men. Flock is applied to birds and to some of the smaller animals; herd is confined to the larger animals; we speak of a bevy of quail, a covey of partridges, a flock of blackbirds, or a flock of sheep, a herd of cattle, horses, buffaloes, or elephants, a pack of wolves, a pack of hounds, a swarm of bees. A collection of animals driven or gathered for driving is called a drove.

FLUCTUATE. Synonyms: hesitate, swerve, vacillate, veer, oscillate, undulate, vary, waver.

To fluctuate (L. fluctus, a wave) is to move like a wave with alternate rise and fall. A pendulum oscillates; waves fluctuate or undulate; a light or a flame wavers; a frightened steed swerves[174] from his course; a tool or weapon swerves from the mark or line; the temperature varies; the wind veers when it suddenly changes its direction. That which veers may steadily hold the new direction; that which oscillates, fluctuates, undulates, or wavers returns upon its way. As regards mental states, he who hesitates sticks (L. hærere) on the verge of decision; he who wavers does not stick to a decision; he who vacillates decides now one way, and now another; one vacillates between contrasted decisions or actions; he may waver between decision and indecision, or between action and inaction. Persons hesitate, vacillate, waver; feelings fluctuate or vary. Compare SHAKE.

Antonyms: abide, adhere, hold fast, persist, stand fast, stay, stick. FLUID. Synonyms: gas, liquid.

A fluid is a substance that, like air or water, yields to any force that tends to change its form; a liquid is a body in that state in which the particles move freely among themselves, but remain in one mass, keeping the same volume, but taking always the form of the containing vessel; a liquid is an inelastic fluid; a gas is an elastic fluid that tends to expand to the utmost limits of the containing space. All liquids are fluids, but not all fluids are liquids; air and all the gases are fluids, but they are not liquids under ordinary circumstances, tho capable of being reduced to a liquid form by special means, as by cold and pressure. Water at the ordinary temperature is at once a fluid and a liquid.

FOLLOW. Synonyms: accompany, come after, go after, obey, pursue, attend, copy, heed, observe, result, chase, ensue, imitate, practise, succeed.

Anything that comes after or goes after another, either in space or in time, is said to follow it. A servant follows or attends his master; a victorious general may follow the retiring enemy merely to watch and hold him in check; he chases or pursues with intent to overtake and attack; the chase is closer and hotter than the pursuit. (Compare synonyms for HUNT.) One event may follow another either with or without special connection; if it[175] ensues, there is some orderly connection; as, the ensuing year; if it results from another, there is some relation of effect, consequence, or inference. A clerk observes his employer's directions. A child obeys his parent's commands, follows or copies his example, imitates his speech and manners. The compositor follows copy; the incoming succeeds the outgoing official.

FOOD. Synonyms: aliment, feed, nourishment, pabulum, sustenance, diet, fodder, nutriment, provender, viands, fare, forage, nutrition, regimen, victuals.

Food is, in the popular sense, whatever one eats in contradistinction to what one drinks. Thus, we speak of food and drink, of wholesome, unwholesome, or indigestible food; but in a more scientific sense whatever, when taken into the digestive organs, serves to build up structure or supply waste may be termed food; the word is extended to plants to signify whatever taken in any way into the organism serves similar purposes; thus, we speak of liquid food, plant food, etc.; in this wider sense food is closely synonymous with nutriment, nourishment, and sustenance. Diet refers to the quantity and quality of food habitually taken, with reference to preservation of health. Victuals is a plain, homely word for whatever may be eaten; we speak of choice viands, cold victuals. Nourishment and sustenance apply to whatever can be introduced into the system as a means of sustaining life; we say of a convalescent, he is taking nourishment. Nutriment and nutrition have more of scientific reference to the vitalizing principles of various foods; thus, wheat is said to contain a great amount of nutriment. Regimen considers food as taken by strict rule, but applies more widely to the whole ordering of life. Fare is a general word for all table supplies, good or bad; as, sumptuous fare; wretched fare. Feed, fodder, and provender are used only of the food of the lower animals, feed denoting anything consumed, but more commonly grain, fodder denoting hay, cornstalks, or the like, sometimes called "long feed;" provender is dry feed, whether grain or hay, straw, etc. Forage denotes any kind of food suitable for horses and cattle, primarily as obtained by a military force in scouring the country, especially an enemy's country.

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FORMIDABLE. Synonyms: dangerous, redoubted, terrible, tremendous.

That which is formidable is worthy of fear if encountered or opposed; as, a formidable array of troops, or of evidence. Formidable is a word of more dignity than dangerous, and suggests more calm and collected power than terrible; formidable is less overwhelming than tremendous. A loaded gun is dangerous; a park of artillery is formidable; a charge of cavalry is terrible; the full shock of great armies is tremendous. A dangerous man is likely to do mischief, and needs watching; a formidable man may not be dangerous if not attacked; an enraged maniac is terrible; the force of ocean waves in a storm, and the silent pressure in the ocean depths, are tremendous.

Antonyms: contemptible, despicable, feeble, harmless, helpless, powerless, weak. Prepositions:

Formidable by or in numbers; in strength; formidable to the enemy.

FORTIFICATION. Synonyms: castle, citadel, fastness, fort, fortress, stronghold.

Fortification is the general word for any artificial defensive work; a fortress is a fortification of especial size and strength; a fortress is regarded as permanent, and is ordinarily an independent work; a fort or fortification may be temporary; a fortification may be but part of a defensive system; we speak of the fortifications of a city. A citadel is a fortification within a city, or the fortified inner part of a city or fortress, within which a garrison may be placed to overawe the citizens, or to which the defenders may retire if the outer works are captured; the medieval castle was the fortified residence of a king or baron. Fort is the common military term for a detached fortified building or enclosure of moderate size occupied or designed to be occupied by troops. The fortifications of a modern city usually consist of a chain of forts. Any defensible place, whether made so by nature or by art, is a fastness or stronghold.

FORTITUDE. Synonyms: courage, endurance, heroism, resolution.

Fortitude (L. fortis, strong) is the strength or firmness of mind[177] or soul to endure pain or adversity patiently and determinedly. Fortitude has been defined as "passive courage," which is a good definition, but not complete. Fortitude might be termed "still courage," or "enduring courage;" it is that quality which is able not merely to endure pain or trial, but steadily to confront dangers that can not be actively opposed, or against which one has no adequate defense; it takes courage to charge a battery, fortitude to stand still under an enemy's fire. Resolution is of the mind; endurance is partly physical; it requires resolution to resist