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

[B] The whole discussion from which the quotation is taken is worthy of, and will well repay, careful study.

IMMEDIATELY. Synonyms: at once, instanter, presently, straightway, directly, instantly, right away, this instant, forthwith, now, right off, without delay.

The strong and general human tendency to procrastination is shown in the progressive weakening of the various words in this group. Immediately primarily signifies without the intervention of anything as a medium, hence without the intervention of any, even the briefest, interval or lapse of time. By and by, which was once a synonym, has become an antonym of immediately, meaning at some (perhaps remote) future time. Directly, which once meant with no intervening time, now means after some little while; presently no longer means in this very present, but before very long. Even immediately is sliding from its instantaneousness, so that we are fain to substitute at once, instantly, etc., when we would make promptness emphatic. Right away and right off are vigorous conversational expressions in the United States.

Antonyms: after a while, by and by, hereafter, in the future, some time.

[212]

IMMERSE. Synonyms: bury, dip, douse, duck, immerge, plunge, sink, submerge.

Dip is Saxon, while immerse is Latin for the same initial act; dip is accordingly the more popular and commonplace, immerse the more elegant and dignified expression in many cases. To speak of baptism by immersion as dipping now seems rude; tho entirely proper and usual in early English. Baptists now universally use the word immerse. To dip and to immerse alike signify to bury or submerge some object in a liquid; but dip implies that the object dipped is at once removed from the liquid, while immerse is wholly silent as to the removal. Immerse also suggests more absolute completeness of the action; one may dip his sleeve or dip a sponge in a liquid, if he but touches the edge; if he immerses it, he completely sinks it under, and covers it with the liquid. Submerge implies that the object can not readily be removed, if at all; as, a submerged wreck. To plunge is to immerse suddenly and violently, for which douse and duck are colloquial terms. Dip is used, also, unlike the other words, to denote the putting of a hollow vessel into a liquid in order to remove a portion of it; in this sense we say dip up, dip out. Compare synonyms for BURY.

Preposition:

The object is immersed in water.

IMMINENT. Synonyms: impending, threatening.

Imminent, from the Latin, with the sense of projecting over, signifies liable to happen at once, as some calamity, dangerous and close at hand. Impending, also from the Latin, with the sense of hanging over, is closely akin to imminent, but somewhat less emphatic. Imminent is more immediate, impending more remote, threatening more contingent. An impending evil is almost sure to happen at some uncertain time, perhaps very near; an imminent peril is one liable to befall very speedily; a threatening peril may be near or remote, but always with hope that it may be averted.

Antonyms: chimerical, contingent, doubtful, improbable, problematical, unexpected, unlikely.

[213]

IMPEDIMENT. Synonyms: bar, clog, encumbrance, obstacle, barrier, difficulty, hindrance, obstruction.

Difficulty makes an undertaking otherwise than easy. That which rests upon one as a burden is an encumbrance. An impediment is primarily something that checks the foot or in any way makes advance slow or difficult; an obstacle is something that stands across the way, an obstruction something that is built or placed across the way. An obstruction is always an obstacle, but an obstacle may not always be properly termed an obstruction; boxes and bales placed on the sidewalk are obstructions to travel; an ice-floe is an obstacle to navigation, and may become an obstruction if it closes an inlet or channel. A hindrance (kindred with hind, behind) is anything that makes one come behind or short of his purpose. An impediment may be either what one finds in his way or what he carries with him; impedimenta was the Latin name for the baggage of a soldier or of an army. The tendency is to view an impediment as something constant or, at least for a time, continuous; as, an impediment in one's speech. A difficulty or a hindrance may be either within one or without; a speaker may find difficulty in expressing himself, or difficulty in holding the attention of restless children. An encumbrance is always what one carries with him; an obstacle or an obstruction is always without. To a marching soldier the steepness of a mountain path is a difficulty, loose stones are impediments, a fence is an obstruction, a cliff or a boulder across the way is an obstacle; a knapsack is an encumbrance.

Antonyms: advantage, aid, assistance, benefit, help, relief, succor. IMPUDENCE. Synonyms: assurance, impertinence, intrusiveness, presumption, boldness, incivility, officiousness, rudeness, effrontery, insolence, pertness, sauciness. forwardness,

Impertinence primarily denotes what does not pertain or belong to the occasion or the person, and hence comes to signify interference by word or act not consistent with the age, position, or relation of the person interfered with or of the one who interferes; especially, forward, presumptuous, or meddlesome speech. Impudence is shameless impertinence. What would be arrogance in a[214] superior becomes impertinence or impudence in an inferior. Impertinence has less of intent and determination than impudence. We speak of thoughtless impertinence, shameless impudence. Insolence is literally that which is against custom, i. e., the violation of customary respect and courtesy. Officiousness is thrusting upon others unasked and undesired service, and is often as well-meant as it is annoying. Rudeness is the behavior that might be expected from a thoroughly uncultured person, and may be either deliberate and insulting or unintentional and even unconscious. Compare ARROGANCE; ASSURANCE; EFFRONTERY; PERTNESS.

Antonyms: bashfulness, diffidence, lowliness, modesty, coyness, humility, meekness, submissiveness. Prepositions:

The impudence of, or impudence from, a subordinate to a superior.

INCONGRUOUS. Synonyms: absurd, ill-matched, inharmonious, conflicting, inapposite, irreconcilable, contradictory, inappropriate, mismatched, contrary, incommensurable, mismated, discordant, incompatible, repugnant, discrepant, inconsistent, unsuitable.

Two or more things that do not fit well together, or are not adapted to each other, are said to be incongruous; a thing is said to be incongruous that is not adapted to the time, place, or occasion; the term is also applied to a thing made up of ill-assorted parts or inharmonious elements. Discordant is applied to all things that jar in association like musical notes that are not in accord; inharmonious has the same original sense, but is a milder term. Incompatible primarily signifies unable to sympathize or feel alike; inconsistent means unable to stand together. Things are incompatible which can not exist together in harmonious relations, and whose action when associated tends to ultimate extinction of one by the other. Inconsistent applies to things that can not be made to agree in thought with each other, or with some standard of truth or right; slavery and freedom are inconsistent with each other in theory, and incompatible in fact. Incongruous applies to relations, unsuitable to purpose or use; two colors are incongruous which can not be agreeably associated; either may be unsuitable for a person, a room, or an occasion.[215] Incommensurable is a mathematical term, applying to two or more quantities that have no common measure or aliquot part.

Antonyms: accordant, agreeing, compatible, consistent, harmonious, suitable. Preposition:

The illustrations were incongruous with the theme.

INDUCTION. Synonyms: deduction, inference.

Deduction is reasoning from the general to the particular; induction is reasoning from the particular to the general. Deduction proceeds from a general principle through an admitted instance to a conclusion. Induction, on the other hand, proceeds from a number of collated instances, through some attribute common to them all, to a general principle. The proof of an induction is by using its conclusion as the premise of a new deduction. Thus what is ordinarily known as scientific induction is a constant interchange of induction and deduction. In deduction, if the general rule is true, and the special case falls under the rule, the conclusion is certain; induction can ordinarily give no more than a probable conclusion, because we can never be sure that we have collated all instances. An induction is of the nature of an inference, but while an inference may be partial and hasty, an induction is careful, and aims to be complete. Compare DEMONSTRATION; HYPOTHESIS.

INDUSTRIOUS. Synonyms: active, busy, employed, occupied, assiduous, diligent, engaged, sedulous.

Industrious signifies zealously or habitually applying oneself to any work or business. Busy applies to an activity which may be temporary, industrious to a habit of life. We say a man is busy just now; that is, occupied at the moment with something that takes his full attention. It would be ridiculous or satirical to say, he is industrious just now. But busy can be used in the sense of industrious, as when we say he is a busy man. Diligent indicates also a disposition, which is ordinarily habitual, and suggests more of heartiness and volition than industrious. We say one is a diligent, rather than an industrious, reader of the Bible. In the use[216] of the nouns, we speak of plodding industry, but not of plodding diligence. Compare ACTIVE; INDUSTRY.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for IDLE.

INDUSTRY. Synonyms: application, diligence, labor, persistence, assiduity, effort, pains, sedulousness. attention, exertion, patience, constancy, intentness, perseverance,

Industry is the quality, action, or habit of earnest, steady, and continued attention or devotion to any useful or productive work or task, manual or mental. Assiduity (L. ad, to, and sedeo, sit), as the etymology suggests, sits down to a task until it is done. Diligence (L. diligo, love, choose) invests more effort and exertion, with love of the work or deep interest in its accomplishment; application (L. ad, to, and plico, fold) bends to its work and concentrates all one's powers upon it with utmost intensity; hence, application can hardly be as unremitting as assiduity. Constancy is a steady devotion of heart and principle. Patience works on in spite of annoyances; perseverance overcomes hindrances and difficulties; persistence strives relentlessly against opposition; persistence has very frequently an unfavorable meaning, implying that one persists in spite of considerations that should induce him to desist. Industry is diligence applied to some avocation, business,