presage, n. omen, augury, auspice, portent; foreknowledge, premonition.
present, n. gift, donation, largess, gratuity, douceur.
preserve, v. conserve.--n. compote.
press, n. pressure, urgency.
press, v. squeeze, crowd, compress; urge, crowd; express; embrace, hug, clasp; oppress, enjoin, constrain.
pressed together. compact, serried, crowded.
pressing, a. urgent, importunate, exigent.
pretend, v. claim; simulate, feign, affect.
pretense, n. assumption, claim, pretension; simulation, affectation; pretext, feint, subterfuge.
pretty, a. comely, fair; personable, considerable. Antonyms: plain, homely, uncomely, ugly.
prevent, v. thwart, hinder, obstruct, preclude, obviate, forestall, intercept, avert, parry, deter, frustrate.
prevention, n. obstruction, thwarting, interruption, hindrance, preclusion, obviation, interception.
preventive, a. deterrent, prophylactic, obviating.--n. prophylactic.
previous, a. former, foregoing, antecedent, prior, anterior.
prey, n. spoil, loot, plunder, booty; victim, quarry, captive; depredation, ravage, spoliation.
preying upon others. predatory.
prick, n. goad, spur, gad; sting, compunction, qualm; puncture.
prick, v. puncture, pierce, perforate; goad, spur, incite; sting, wound, hurt.
pricking, a. poignant, sharp, piercing, stinging.
prickle, n. thorn, spine, barb.
prickly, a. thorny, spiny, brambly, briery.
pride, n. self-esteem, self-respect; haughtiness, arrogance, hauteur, superciliousness, contumely, conceit, vanity, priggishness, lordliness, imperiousness. Antonyms: humility, shame, self-abasement, modesty, lowliness.
priestly, a. sacerdotal.
priestly garments. vestments, canonicals. See canonicals.
prim, a. formal, precise, demure, prudish.
prime minister. premier.
primer, n. hornbook.
primitive, a. pristine, primordial, primeval, primal; antique, quaint, old-fashioned; original, radical, primary.
principal, a. leading, chief, cardinal, paramount, main, foremost.
printing, n. typography; (for the blind) Braille.
prior, a. previous, former, antedecent, anterior.
priority, n. antecedence, anteriority, precedence.
prison, n. penitentiary, bridewell, jail, house of correction, clink, bastille.--v. imprison, incarcerate. Associated words: mittimus, commit, commitment, turnkey, warden, remand, prisoner, convict.
privacy, n. retirement, seclusion; retreat, solitude, concealment, secrecy, secret.
private, a. personal, individual; secret, secluded, covert, sequestered, hidden, unrevealed.
privates, n. pl. genitals. See sexual organs.
privation, n. deprivation, degradation; destitution, poverty, need; absence.
privilege, n. liberty, right, franchise, prerogative, immunity, advantage.
privy, n. water-closet, backhouse, jakes.
prize, n. meed, guerdon, palm, trophy, laurels, reward, premium, sweepstakes.
prize-fighter, n. pugilist.
prize-fighting, n. pugilism.
probability, n. likelihood, verisimilitude, credibleness.
probable, a. likely, credible, reasonable.
probe, v. investigate, examine.
proboscis, n. snout, trunk; haustellum (sucking proboscis).
procession, n. parade, cavalcade, cortège, train, retinue, file.
proclaim, v. See announce.
procure, v. get, obtain, acquire.
prod, n. goad.
prodigal, a. wasteful, extravagant, lavish, profuse.
profane, v. violate, desecrate; debase, prostitute, defile.
profane, a. unconsecrated, secular; unsanctified, unholy; blasphemous, irreverent, impious, sacrilegious.
profess, v. acknowledge, avow, admit; claim, pretend.
profession, n. acknowledgment, avowal; vocation, business, calling.
proficient, a. expert, adept, skilled.
profit, n. gain, emolument, dividend. Associated words: pernor, fructuary, exploit, exploitation.
profitable, a. remunerative, lucrative, gainful, beneficial. Antonyms: See unprofitable.
profound, a. abysmal, deep; abstruse, recondite. Antonym: shallow.
progress, n. progression, advancement, improvement.
prohibit, v. See forbid.
prominent, a. protuberant; conspicuous, salient; eminent, distinguished.
promiscuous, a. indiscriminate.
promise, n. pledge, word, parole, plight, betrothal, troth, vow, assurance, covenant.
promise, v. pledge, covenant, assure, plight.
promote, v. advance, forward; exalt, elevate, raise, aggrandize; brevet.
promotion, n. preferment, exaltation, advancement, furtherance, aggrandizement; brevet.
prompt, a. quick, expeditious, ready; punctual, timely.
pronunciation, n. orthoëpy; utterance, articulation, enunciation. Associated words: diacritical marks, macron, breve, diæresis, orthoëpic, orthoëpist, cacoëpy.
proof, n. verification, corroboration, attestation, certification, confirmation. Antonyms: disproof, refutation.
prop, n. buttress, stay, support, brace, fulcrum, shore, stanchion.
prop, v. buttress, brace, stay, support, sustain, shore up.
proper, a. appropriate, meet, suitable, seemly, condign, appertinent, conformable, consistent, apposite; decorous, conventional, formal, sedate, demure. Antonyms: improper, inappropriate, unsuitable.
property, n. attribute, trait; estate, wealth, chattels, goods, resources, assets, inheritance.
prophecy, n. prediction, foretelling, divination, soothsaying, prognostication, augury, vaticination.
prophesy, v. prognosticate, foretell, divine, augur, predict, vaticinate.
prophet, n. prognosticator, vaticinator, soothsayer, diviner, oracle, seer, python.
prophetess, n. sibyl, pythoness.
prophetic, a. prognostic, predictive, fatidical, oracular, divinatory, vaticinal.
prosperity, n. weal, success, well-being. Antonyms: adversity, reverses, disaster.
prostitute, n. harlot, whore, strumpet, courtesan.
prostitution, n. harlotry, social evil, whoredom; perversion, misuse, profanation.
prosy, a. prosaic, dull, tiresome, tedious, uninteresting, jejune.
protect, v. shield, defend, guard, fortify, screen, shelter, befriend.
protection, n. defense, shield, shelter, tutelage, refuge, bulwark, coverture, safeguard.
protector, n. defender, guardian, patron.
proud, a. arrogant, vain, haughty, overbearing, supercilious, cavalier, overweening, disdainful, imperious, lordly, magisterial, contumelious. Antonyms: meek, humble.
proud flesh. granulation, fungus.
provable, a. demonstrable.
prove, v. verify, corroborate, substantiate, demonstrate. Antonyms: disprove, refute.
proverb, n. aphorism, maxim, saw, adage. See saying.
provide, v. supply, furnish; stipulate, covenant, agree; cater, purvey.
provider, n. furnisher, caterer, purveyor, provisor.
provoke, v. incite, stimulate, instigate, rouse; exasperate, displease, aggravate, offend.
prowess, n. bravery, intrepidity, valor.
prudence, n. discretion, caution.
prudent, a. discreet, cautious, circumspect, provident. Antonyms: imprudent, incautious.
pry, n. lever; leverage.--v. prize; gaze, inspect.
puberty, n. Associated words: puberal, pubescence, pubescent, hebetic, impuberal.
publish, v. promulgate, proclaim, circulate, blazon, announce. Antonyms: suppress, withhold.
publisher's inscription. colophon, impress, imprint.
pucker, v. crease, corrugate, cockle, purse, wrinkle.
pucker, n. crease, corrugation, cockle, wrinkle; (Colloq.) confusion, bother, perplexity.
puckery, a. astringent.
puddle, n. pool, plashet, plash.
puerile, a. childish, silly, trifling.
puke, v. vomit.
pull, v. draw, tug, haul, tow, drag; pluck, jerk, twitch.
pulverize, v. triturate, comminute, levigate, bray.
pump, v. interrogate, question, quiz.
pun, n. paragram.
punch, v. push, poke; pierce, bore, perforate, puncture.
puncture, v. prick, perforate, pierce.
pungent, a. pricking, stinging; poignant, sharp, excruciating, severe.
punish, v. chastise, castigate, chasten, discipline.
punishment, n. chastisement, castigation, scourging, discipline, penalty, visitation, retaliation, retribution, infliction. Antonyms: immunity, impunity, acquittal, exoneration. Associated words: penal, penology, punitive, penologist, penological, reprieve, commute, commutation, Nemesis, connivance.
punning, n. paronomasia.
puny, a. undeveloped, small, undersized, diminutive, stunted, atrophied, feeble.
pup, n. puppy, whelp.
pupil, n. scholar; learner, disciple, catechumen, neophyte, tyro, novice, probationer.
pupilage, n. nonage, minority.
puppy, n. pup, whelp; coxcomb, dandy, fop.
purchasable, a. venal.
purchase, v. buy.
pure, a. chaste, virtuous, innocent, undefiled, unpolluted, inviolated, unspotted, immaculate, virgin, incorrupt, impeccable, inviolable; unadulterated, unalloyed, unsophisticated, simple, refined, genuine, uncontaminated. Antonyms: See impure.
purge, n. physic, purgative, cathartic.
purification, n. depuration, expurgation, defecation, refinement, cleansing.
purificator, n. mundatory.
purify, v. cleanse, refine, expurgate, sublime, clarify.
purity, n. chastity. Antonyms: See impurity.
purport, n. meaning, signification, import.--v. mean, intend, signify, import.
purpose, n. aim, object, design, intent, goal, view, drift.
purpose, v. intend, design, contemplate.
purveyor, n. caterer, provider; procurer, pimp, bawd, pander.
pus, n. matter, purulence. Associated words: purulent, maturate, maturation, suppurate, suppuration, indigested, fester.
push, v. shove, impel.
push, n. shove.
push, n. (Colloq.) energy, spiritedness, enterprise, aggressiveness; (Slang) crowd, gang, posse.
pushing, a. enterprising, energetic, intrusive, forward, officious, obtrusive, aggressive.
pusillanimous, a. See cowardly.
pussy, a. (Colloq.) pursy, fleshy.
put back. replace, restore, reinstate; retard, impede, delay, hinder.
put between. interpose.
put down. deposit; crush, quell, suppress, repress, vanquish overthrow; reduce, lower.
put in. insert, inject, interpolate, interpose, thrust in, interject, interlard.
put-off, n. shift, evasion, subterfuge, ruse, parry.
put off. discard, doff; delay, defer, postpone, procrastinate.
put out. eject, oust, remove, evict, dispossess, dislodge; extend, protrude; extinguish; issue, publish; dislocate; displease, offend, anger.
putter, v. potter, pother, trifle, fribble, dally, dawdle.
putting back. hindering, delay, retardation; replacement, restoration, reinstatement.
putting in. insertion, injection, interpolation.
putting in practice. application.
putting off. delay, deferment, postponement, procrastination.
putting on. investing, investiture; assumption, arrogation; instigation, incitement.
putting out. ejection, eviction, dispossession, expulsion, ousting; extinguishment, extinction; dislocation.
put to flight. rout.
put-up, a. (Colloq.) arranged, predetermined.
puzzle, v. mystify, pose, nonplus, perplex, bewilder, confuse.
puzzle, n. enigma, conundrum, intricacy, maze, crux, riddle, rebus, poser; confusion, quandary, perplexity, nonplus, bewilderment.