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Putnam's Word Book / A Practical Aid in Expressing Ideas Through the Use of an Exact and Varied Vocabulary cover

Putnam's Word Book / A Practical Aid in Expressing Ideas Through the Use of an Exact and Varied Vocabulary

Chapter 16: K
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About This Book

The volume compiles synonyms, antonyms, and associated words in alphabetic order to aid precise expression, including abbreviations and usage notes. It emphasizes that listed words are similar but not always interchangeable and encourages consulting a dictionary for exact meanings. The collection includes technical and regional terms, memory-help associated-word lists, and an addenda of additional entries. Its practical organization targets students, writers, and specialists seeking alternatives and nuanced vocabulary.

K

Keel over. (Colloq.) overturn, capsize, tip over.

keen, a. sharp, acute, trenchant; penetrating, shrewd, astute, discerning; piercing, poignant, excruciating, a crimonious, mordacious, bitter, intense, severe; eager, ardent, ravenous, vehement.

keep, n. custody, charge; maintenance, support; stronghold, donjon; condition, case.

keep, v. detain, restrain, hold, retain, repress, withhold; preserve, conserve; maintain, continue; guard, shield, defend, protect, screen, preserve; entertain, harbor; observe, adhere to, fulfill; commemorate, celebrate, solemnize; support, sustain, provide for.

keep back. reserve, withhold; restrain, repress, check.

keep company with. associate with, accompany, go with.

keep down. hold in subjection, restrain, hinder, subdue.

keeper, n. warden; superintendent, curator, custodian, guardian, attendant, defender, overseer.

keep from. abstain from, refrain from.

keeping, n. holding, restraint, custody, guard, guardianship, protection, tutelage; detention, retention; maintenance support, subsistence, board; conformity, congruity, harmony, consistency, correspondence; observance; celebration, commemoration, fulfillment.

keeping back. reservation, reserving, withholding; restraint, repression, checking.

keep on. proceed, continue, persist.

keepsake, n. memento, souvenir.

keep to. adhere to.

keep under. hold in subjection, subdue, mortify.

keep up. maintain, continue.

kelter, n. (Colloq.) condition, order.

kernel, n. seed, grain; nucleus; gist, core, pith, substance, essence, marrow. Associated words: enucleate, enucleation, exacinate, exacination.

kerosene, n. coal oil, petroleum.

kettle, n. caldron (a large kettle).

kettledrum, n. tympano; pl. tympani.

key, n. Associated words: claviger, clavigerous, cleidomancy, escutcheon, lock.

key, n. pitch, tone.

key, n. clew, solution, guide, explanation, elucidation, clavis; wharf, quay; forelock, cotter, bar, pin; samara.

keyboard, n. clavier.

kick, v. spurn, calcitrate, recalcitrate, winch; resist, oppose; recoil.

kick, n. kicking, opposition.

kicking, n. spurning, recalcitration, calcitration, winch; opposition, resistance.

kicking, a. recalcitrant, calcitrant, resistant.

kiddy, v. (Slang) deceive, outwit, hoax.

kidnap, v. abduct.

kidnapper, n. abductor, man-stealer.

kidnapping, n. abduction.

kidney, n. Associated words: nephrology, nephrotomy, nephritis, renal, emunctory, nephritic, loins, reins.

kidney, n. sort, kind, variety, disposition.

kidney-shaped, a. reniform.

kidney stone. nephrite, jade.

kill, v. slay, slaughter, murder, assassinate, butcher, despatch, execute, lynch, massacre, burke, immolate, guillotine, decimate, destroy, blast; counteract, neutralize; quell, extinguish.

killer, n. slayer, murderer, butcher, assassin, assassinator, executor, destroyer.

killing, n. slaying, slaughter, butchering, butchery, assassination, massacre, strangulation, immolation, holocaust, execution, fusillade, carnage, murder, manslaughter, chaud-medley, lynching, guillotine, burkism, garrote, chance-medley, decimation, assideration, destruction, blasting; counteraction, neutralization.

killing, a. fatal, mortal, deadly, destructive; captivating, charming, fascinating.

kilt, n. filibeg.

kilter, n. (Colloq.) condition, order.

kin, n. relationship; relatives, relations, kindred, kinsfolk, kinsmen.

kin, a. kindred.

kind, a. indulgent, compassionate, merciful, lenient, clement, benignant, gracious, benevolent, kind-hearted, forbearing, benign, beneficent, humane, obliging.

kind, n. variety, genus, species, strain, breed, nature, genre, sort, style, character, description, kidney.

kind-hearted, a. compassionate, lenient, clement, kind.

kindle, v. enkindle, fire, ignite, incite, inflame, rouse.

kindling, n. enkindling, incitement, accension.

kindly, a. kind.

kindness, n. compassion, benignity, benevolence, kindliness, graciousness, clemency, compassionateness; favor, service, good turn.

kindred, n. relationship; relatives, relations, kinsfolk, kin, kinsmen.

kindred, a. related, congenial, allied, similar.

kine, n. pl. cows, cattle.

king, n. monarch, sovereign, potentate, regulus. Associated words: regicide royalty, regnal, regnant, regnancy, regalia, viceroy, camarilla, dynastic, dynasty.

kingdom, n. empire, dominion, sovereignty, monarchy, realm.

kingly, a. royal, regal, monarchical; sovereign, august, majestic, grand. Antonyms: servile, mean, abject, slavish, unkingly.

king's evil. scrofula.

kink, v. snarl, become entangled.

kink, n. snarl, knot, entanglement, twist; crotchet, whim, caprice, eccentricity.

kinky, a. snarled, tangled, knotted; crotchety, eccentric, capricious.

kinsman, n. relative.

kiss, v. osculate.

kiss, n. osculation, buss, smack; pax (kiss of peace).

kissing, n. osculation.--a. osculant, oscillatory.

kitchen, n. cookroom, cuisine, scullery (back kitchen); galley (Nautical). Associated words: scullion, culinary, olitory.

kith, n. acquaintance.

knack, n. gimcrack, trinket, toy, plaything, knickknack, kickshaws, gewgaw, bauble; skill, readiness, aptitude, proficiency, dexterity, adroitness; trick, device.

knarl, n. knot, gnarl, knag, knurl, node.

knarled, a. knotted, gnarled, knurly, gnarly, knotty, knurled, knarred.

knave, n. villain, rascal, scamp. See scoundrel.

knavery, n. villainy, rascality, scoundrelism, chicanery, knavishness, roguery.

knavish, a. unprincipled, rascally, villainous.

knee, n. Associated words: genuflect, genuflection, ham, hock, gonitis, stifle, geniculate, dib, quadriceps.

knee breeches. smallclothes, knickerbockers.

kneecap, n. patella, kneepan.

kneeling desk. priedieu.

knees, n. pl. marrowbones.

knickerbockers, n. pl. knee breeches, smallclothes.

knickknack, n. gimcrack, gewgaw, bauble, trinket, knack, curio, bric-a-brac.

knife, n. dagger, stiletto, dirk, poniard, bowie-knife, misericorde, anlace, yataghan, machete, bolo, handjar, skean, creese, barong, sword, billhook, saber; scalpel, lancet, bistoury; jackknife, pen-knife, pocket-knife. Associated words: cutler, cutlery, sheath, sheathe, unsheathe, scabbard, cultrivorous, cultrate, cultriform, tang, scale, spring, blade, kick, spatula.

knight, n. man-at-arms; champion, partisan, lover, gallant.

knighthood, n. chivalry. Associated word: accolade.

knightly, a. chivalrous, gallant.

knob, n. excrescence, boss, lump, tubercle, knop, stud, hard swelling; finial, knosp.

knock, v. rap; clash, bump; strike, beat.--n. blow, stroke; rap.

knock about. (Colloq.) wander about, saunter, stroll.

knock down. fell, floor, prostrate.

knockknee, n. inknee.

knock under. yield, submit, give in.

knoll, n. hillock, mound.

knop, n. See knob.

knot, n. entanglement, snarl, intricacy, complication; cluster, group, band, bevy, gang, company; joint, node, knag, burl, gnarl, knob, nodule, nodosity; tuft, bunch.

knot, v. entangle, tie, snarl. Antonyms: disentangle, unravel, untie.

knotted, a. knurled, knaggy, gnarled, gnarly; snarled, entangled, interwoven.

knotty, a. knotted, gnarled, crossgrained; intricate, difficult, complicated.

knowable, a. ascertainable, cognizable, cognoscible, intelligible, recognizable. Antonyms: unknowable, unascertainable, incognoscible, unrecognizable.

knowall, n. (Colloq.) wiseacre, quidnunc.

knowing, a. intelligent, sagacious, wise, clever; expressive, significant; (Colloq.) artful, sharp, cunning.

knowingly, adv. consciously, intelligently, wittingly, designedly, sagely, purposely, sapiently, significantly, expressively.

knowledge, n. learning, lore, erudition, culture, enlightenment, attainments, information; cognizance, apprehension, cognition, understanding, ken; omniscience (universal knowledge); prescience (foreknowledge); polymathy. Antonyms: sciolism, ignorance, inerudition, dilettanteism pedantry, unfamiliarity.

knuckle bones. dibs.

knuckle to. (Colloq.) submit to, yield, cringe, obey.

kodak, n. camera (portable).