RIGHT, n.

Synonyms:

A right is that which one may properly demand upon considerations of justice, morality, equity, or of natural or positive law. A right may be either general or special, natural or artificial. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" are the natural and inalienable rights of all men; rights of property, inheritance, etc., are individual and special, and often artificial, as the right of inheritance by primogeniture. A privilege is always special, exceptional, and artificial; it is something not enjoyed by all, or only to be enjoyed on certain special conditions, a peculiar benefit, favor, advantage, etc. A privilege may be of doing or avoiding; in the latter case it is an exemption or immunity; as, a privilege of hunting or fishing; exemption from military service; immunity from arrest. A franchise is a specific right or privilege granted by the government or established as such by governmental authority; as, the elective franchise; a railroad franchise. A prerogative is an official right or privilege, especially one inherent in the royal or sovereign power; in a wider sense it is an exclusive and peculiar privilege which one possesses by reason of being what he is; as, reason is the prerogative of man; kings and nobles have often claimed prerogatives and privileges opposed to the inherent rights of the people. Compare DUTY; JUSTICE.

RISE.

Synonyms:

To rise is to move up or upward whether slowly or quickly,[320] whether through the least or greatest distance; the waves rise; the mists rise; the river rises after heavy rains; as said of persons, to rise is to come to an erect position after kneeling, sitting, reclining, or lying down; as, to rise from a sick-bed; my friend rose as I entered; the guests rose to depart; so a deliberative assembly or a committee is said to rise when it breaks up a session; a sun or star rises when to our apprehension it comes above the horizon and begins to go up the sky. To ascend is to go far upward, and is often used in a stately sense; as, Christ ascended to heaven. The shorter form rise is now generally preferred to the longer form arise, except in poetic or elevated style. The sun rises or arises; the river springs at a bound from the foot of the glacier and flows through the lands to the ocean. Smoke issues from a chimney and ascends toward the sky. Light and heat emanate from the sun.

Antonyms:

Prepositions:

Rise from slumber; rise to duty; rise at the summons; we rose with the lark.

ROBBER.

Synonyms:

A robber seeks to obtain the property of others by force or intimidation; a thief by stealth and secrecy. In early English thief was freely used in both senses, as in Shakespeare and the Authorized Version of the English Bible, which has "two thieves" (Matt. xxvii, 38), where the Revised Version more correctly substitutes "two robbers."

ROYAL.

Synonyms:

Royal denotes that which actually belongs or pertains to a monarch; the royal residence is that which the king occupies, royal raiment that which the king wears. Regal denotes that which in outward state is appropriate for a king; a subject may assume regal magnificence in residence, dress, and equipage. Kingly denotes that which is worthy of a king in personal qualities,[321] especially of character and conduct; as, a kingly bearing; a kingly resolve. Princely is especially used of treasure, expenditure, gifts, etc., as princely munificence, a princely fortune, where regal could not so well be used and royal would change the sense. The distinctions between these words are not absolute, but the tendency of the best usage is as here suggested.

Antonyms:

RUSTIC.

Synonyms:

Rural and rustic are alike derived from the Latin rus, country, and may be alike defined as pertaining to, characteristic of, or dwelling in the country; but in usage rural refers especially to scenes or objects in the country, considered as the work of nature; rustic refers to their effect upon man or to their condition as affected by human agency; as, a rural scene; a rustic party; a rustic lass. We speak, however, of the rural population, rural simplicity, etc. Rural has always a favorable sense; rustic frequently an unfavorable one, as denoting a lack of culture and refinement; thus, rustic politeness expresses that which is well-meant, but awkward; similar ideas are suggested by a rustic feast, rustic garb, etc. Rustic is, however, often used of a studied simplicity, an artistic rudeness, which is pleasing and perhaps beautiful; as, a rustic cottage; a rustic chair. Pastoral refers to the care of flocks, and to the shepherd's life with the pleasing associations suggested by the old poetic ideal of that life; as, pastoral poetry. Bucolic is kindred to pastoral, but is a less elevated term, and sometimes slightly contemptuous.

Antonyms:

SACRAMENT.

Any religious act, especially a public act, viewed as a means[322] of serving God is called a service; the word commonly includes the entire series of exercises of a single occasion of public worship. A religious service ordained as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace is called a sacrament. Ceremony is a form expressing reverence, or at least respect; we may speak of religious ceremonies, the ceremonies of polite society, the ceremonies of a coronation, an inauguration, etc. An observance has more than a formal obligation, reaching or approaching a religious sacredness; a stated religious observance, viewed as established by authority, is called an ordinance; viewed as an established custom, it is a rite. The terms sacrament and ordinance, in the religious sense, are often used interchangeably; the ordinance derives its sacredness from the authority that ordained it, while the sacrament possesses a sacredness due to something in itself, even when viewed simply as a representation or memorial. The Lord's Supper is the Scriptural name for the observance commemorating the death of Christ; the word communion is once applied to it (1 Cor. x, 16), but not as a distinctive name; at an early period, however, the name communion was so applied, as denoting the communing of Christians with their Lord, or with one another. The term eucharist describes the Lord's Supper as a thanksgiving service; it is also called by preeminence the sacrament, as the ratifying of a solemn vow of consecration to Christ.

SAGACIOUS.

Sagacious refers to a power of tracing the hidden or recondite by slight indications, as by instinct or intuition; it is not now applied to mere keenness of sense-perception. We do not call a hound sagacious in following a clear trail; but if he loses the scent, as at the edge of a stream, and circles around till he strikes it again, his conduct is said to be sagacious. In human affairs sagacious refers to a power of ready, far-reaching, and accurate inference from observed facts perhaps in themselves very slight, that seems like a special sense; or to a similar readiness to foresee the results of any action, especially upon human motives or conduct—a kind of prophetic common sense. Sagacious is a broader[323] and nobler word than shrewd, and not capable of the invidious sense which the latter word often bears; on the other hand, sagacious is less lofty and comprehensive than wise in its full sense, and more limited to matters of direct practical moment. Compare ASTUTE; WISDOM.

Antonyms:

SALE.

SAMPLE.

A sample is a portion taken at random out of a quantity supposed to be homogeneous, so that the qualities found in the sample may reasonably be expected to be found in the whole; as, a sample of sugar; a sample of cloth. A specimen is one unit of a series,[324] or a fragment of a mass, all of which is supposed to possess the same essential qualities; as, a specimen of coinage, or of architecture, or a specimen of quartz. No other unit or portion may be exactly like the specimen, while all the rest is supposed to be exactly like the sample. An instance is a sample or specimen of action. Compare EXAMPLE.

Antonyms:

SATISFY.

Synonyms:

To satisfy is to furnish just enough to meet physical, mental, or spiritual desire. To sate or satiate is to gratify desire so fully as for a time to extinguish it. To cloy or surfeit is to gratify to the point of revulsion or disgust. Glut is a strong but somewhat coarse word applied to the utmost satisfaction of vehement appetites and passions; as, to glut a vengeful spirit with slaughter; we speak of glutting the market with a supply so excessive as to extinguish the demand. Much less than is needed to satisfy may suffice a frugal or abstemious person; less than a sufficiency may content one of a patient and submissive spirit. Compare PAY; REQUITE.

Antonyms:

Prepositions:

Satisfy with food, with gifts, etc.; satisfy one (in the sense of make satisfaction) for labors and sacrifices; satisfy oneself by or upon inquiry.

SCHOLAR.

Synonyms:

The primary sense of a scholar is one who is being schooled; thence the word passes to denote one who is apt in school work, and finally one who is thoroughly schooled, master of what the schools can teach, an erudite, accomplished person: when used without qualification, the word is generally understood in this latter sense; as, he is manifestly a scholar. Pupil signifies one under the close personal supervision or instruction of a teacher or tutor. Those under instruction in schools below the academic[325] grade are technically and officially termed pupils. The word pupil is uniformly so used in the Reports of the Commissioner of Education of the United States, but popular American usage prefers scholar in the original sense; as, teachers and scholars enjoyed a holiday. Those under instruction in Sunday-schools are uniformly designated as Sunday-school scholars. Student is applied to those in the higher grades or courses of study, as the academic, collegiate, scientific, etc. Student suggests less proficiency than scholar in the highest sense, the student being one who is learning, the scholar one who has learned. On the other hand, student suggests less of personal supervision than pupil; thus, the college student often becomes the private pupil of some instructor in special studies. For disciple, etc., compare synonyms for ADHERENT.

Antonyms:

SCIENCE.

Knowledge of a single fact, not known as related to any other, or of many facts not known as having any mutual relations or as comprehended under any general law, does not reach the meaning of science; science is knowledge reduced to law and embodied in system. The knowledge of various countries gathered by an observant traveler may be a heterogeneous medley of facts, which gain real value only when coordinated and arranged by the man of science. Art always relates to something to be done, science to something to be known. Not only must art be discriminated from science, but art in the industrial or mechanical sense must be distinguished from art in the esthetic sense; the former aims chiefly at utility, the latter at beauty. The mechanic arts are the province of the artisan, the esthetic or fine arts are the province of the artist; all the industrial arts, as of weaving or printing, arithmetic or navigation, are governed by exact rules. Art in the highest esthetic sense, while it makes use of rules, transcends all rule; no rules can be given for the production of a painting like Raffael's "Transfiguration," a statue like the Apollo Belvedere, or a poem like the Iliad. Science does not, like the mechanic arts, make production its direct aim, yet its possible productive application in the arts is a constant stimulus to scientific[326] investigation; the science, as in the case of chemistry or electricity, is urged on to higher development by the demands of the art, while the art is perfected by the advance of the science. Creative art seeking beauty for its own sake is closely akin to pure science seeking knowledge for its own sake. Compare KNOWLEDGE; LITERATURE.

SECURITY.

Synonyms:

The first four words agree in denoting something given or deposited as an assurance of something to be given, paid, or done. An earnest is of the same kind as that to be given, a portion of it delivered in advance, as when part of the purchase-money is paid, according to the common expression, "to bind the bargain." A pledge or security may be wholly different in kind from that to be given or paid, and may greatly exceed it in value. Security may be of real or personal property—anything of sufficient value to make the creditor secure; a pledge is always of personal property or chattels. Every pawnshop contains unredeemed pledges; land, merchandise, bonds, etc., are frequently offered and accepted as security. A person may become security or surety for another's payment of a debt, appearance in court, etc.; in the latter case, he is said to become bail for that person; the person accused gives bail for himself. Gage survives only as a literary word, chiefly in certain phrases; as, "the gage of battle."

Prepositions:

Security for the payment of a debt; security to the state, for the prisoner, in the sum of a thousand dollars.

SELF-ABNEGATION.

Synonyms:

Self-control is holding oneself within due limits in pleasures and duties, as in all things else; self-denial, the giving up of pleasures for the sake of duty. Self-renunciation surrenders conscious rights and claims; self-abnegation forgets that there is anything to surrender. There have been devotees who practised very little self-denial with very much self-renunciation. A mother will care for a sick child with complete self-abnegation, but without a thought of self-denial. Self-devotion is heart-consecration[327] of self to a person or cause with readiness for any needed sacrifice. Self-sacrifice is the strongest and completest term of all, and contemplates the gift of self as actually made. We speak of the self-sacrifice of Christ, where any other of the above terms would be feeble or inappropriate.

Antonyms:

SEND.

Synonyms:

To send is to cause to go or pass from one place to another, and always in fact or thought away from the agent or agency that controls the act. Send in its most common use involves personal agency without personal presence; according to the adage, "If you want your business done, go; if not, send;" one sends a letter or a bullet, a messenger or a message. In all the derived uses this same idea controls; if one sends a ball into his own heart, the action is away from the directing hand, and he is viewed as the passive recipient of his own act; it is with an approach to personification that we speak of the bow sending the arrow, or the gun the shot. To despatch is to send hastily or very promptly, ordinarily with a destination in view; to dismiss is to send away from oneself without reference to a destination; as, to dismiss a clerk, an application, or an annoying subject. To discharge is to send away so as to relieve a person or thing of a load; we discharge a gun or discharge the contents; as applied to persons, discharge is a harsher term than dismiss. To emit is to send forth from within, with no reference to a destination; as, the sun emits light and heat. Transmit, from the Latin, is a dignified term, often less vigorous than the Saxon send, but preferable at times in literary or scientific use; as, to transmit the crown, or the feud, from generation to generation; to transmit a charge of electricity. Transmit fixes the attention more on the intervening agency, as send does upon the points of departure and destination.

Antonyms:

Prepositions:

To send from the hand to or toward (rarely at) a mark; send[328] to a friend by a messenger or by mail; send a person into banishment; send a shell among the enemy.

SENSATION.

Sensibility in the philosophical sense, denotes the capacity of emotion or feeling, as distinguished from the intellect and the will. (Compare synonyms for SENSATION.) In popular use sensibility denotes sometimes capacity of feeling of any kind; as, sensibility to heat or cold; sometimes, a peculiar readiness to be the subject of feeling, especially of the higher feelings; as, the sensibility of the artist or the poet; a person of great or fine sensibility. Sensitiveness denotes an especial delicacy of sensibility, ready to be excited by the slightest cause, as displayed, for instance, in the "sensitive-plant." Susceptibility is rather a capacity to take up, receive, and, as it were, to contain feeling, so that a person of great susceptibility is capable of being not only readily but deeply moved; sensitiveness is more superficial, susceptibility more pervading. Thus, in physics, the sensitiveness of a magnetic needle is the ease with which it may be deflected, as by another magnet; its susceptibility is the degree to which it can be magnetized by a[329] given magnetic force or the amount of magnetism it will hold. So a person of great sensitiveness is quickly and keenly affected by any external influence, as by music, pathos, or ridicule, while a person of great susceptibility is not only touched, but moved to his inmost soul.

Antonyms:

Prepositions:

The sensibility of the organism to atmospheric changes.

SEVERE.

Synonyms:

That is severe which is devoid of all softness, mildness, tenderness, indulgence or levity, or (in literature and art) devoid of unnecessary ornament, amplification, or embellishment of any kind; as, a severe style; as said of anything painful, severe signifies such as heavily taxes endurance or resisting power; as, a severe pain, fever, or winter. Rigid signifies primarily stiff, resisting any effort to change its shape; a corpse is said to be rigid in death; hence, in metaphorical sense, a rigid person or character is one that resists all efforts to change the will or course of conduct; a rigid rule or statement is one that admits of no deviation. Rigorous is nearly akin to rigid, but is a stronger word, having reference to action or active qualities, as rigid does to state or character; a rigid rule may be rigorously enforced. Strict (L. stringo, bind) signifies bound or stretched tight, tense, strenuously exact. Stern unites harshness and authority with strictness or severity; stern, as said even of inanimate objects, suggests something authoritative or forbidding. Austere signifies severely simple or temperate, strict in self-restraint or discipline, and similarly unrelenting toward others. We speak of austere morality, rigid rules, rigorous discipline, stern commands, severe punishment, harsh speech or a harsh voice, hard requirements, strict injunctions, and strict obedience. Strict discipline holds one exactly and unflinchingly to the rule; rigorous discipline punishes severely any infraction of it. The austere character is seldom lovely, but it is always strong and may be grand, commanding, and estimable.

Antonyms:

[330]

SHAKE.

A thing is shaken which is subjected to short and abruptly checked movements, as forward and backward, up and down, from side to side, etc. A tree is "shaken with a mighty wind;" a man slowly shakes his head. A thing rocks that is sustained from below; it swings if suspended from above, as a pendulum, or pivoted at the side, as a crane or a bridge-draw; to oscillate is to swing with a smooth and regular returning motion; a vibrating motion may be tremulous or jarring. The pendulum of a clock may be said to swing, vibrate, or oscillate; a steel bridge vibrates under the passage of a heavy train; the term vibrate is also applied to molecular movements. Jolting is a lifting from and letting down suddenly upon an unyielding surface; as, a carriage jolts over a rough road. A jarring motion is abruptly and very rapidly repeated through an exceedingly limited space; the jolting of the carriage jars the windows. Rattling refers directly to the sound produced by shaking. To joggle is to shake slightly; as, a passing touch joggles the desk on which one is writing. A thing trembles that shakes perceptibly and with an appearance of uncertainty and instability, as a person under the influence of fear; a thing shivers when all its particles are stirred with a slight but pervading tremulous motion, as a human body under the influence of cold; shuddering is a more pronounced movement of a similar kind, in human beings often the effect of emotional or moral recoil; hence, the word is applied by extension to such feelings even when they have no such outward manifestation; as, one says, "I shudder at the thought." To quiver is to have slight and often spasmodic contractile motions, as the flesh under the surgeon's knife. Thrill is applied to a pervasive movement felt rather than seen; as, the nerves thrill with delight; quiver is similarly used, but suggests somewhat more of outward manifestation. To agitate in its literal use is nearly the same as to shake, tho we speak of the sea as agitated when we could not say it is shaken; the Latin agitate is preferred in scientific or technical use to the Saxon shake, and especially as applied to the action of mechanical contrivances; in the metaphorical use agitate is more transitory and superficial, shake more fundamental and enduring; a person's[331] feelings are agitated by distressing news; his courage, his faith, his credit, or his testimony is shaken. Sway applies to the movement of a body suspended from above or not firmly sustained from below, and the motion of which is less pronounced than swinging, smoother than vibrating, and not necessarily constant as oscillating; as, the swaying of a reed in the wind. Sway used transitively especially applies to motions of grace or dignity; brandish denotes a threatening or hostile motion; a monarch sways the scepter; the ruffian brandishes a club. To reel or totter always implies liability to fall; reeling is more violent than swaying, tottering more irregular; a drunken man reels; we speak of the tottering step of age or infancy. An extended mass which seems to lack solidity or cohesion is said to quake; as, a quaking bog. Quaver is applied almost exclusively to tremulous sounds of the human voice. Flap, flutter, and fluctuate refer to wave-like movements, flap generally to such as produce a sharp sound; a cock flaps his wings; flutter applies to a less pronounced and more irregular motion; a captive bird or a feeble pulse flutters. Compare FLUCTUATE.

SHELTER.

Synonyms:

Anything is covered over which something is completely extended; a vessel is covered with a lid; the head is covered with a hat. That which covers may also defend or protect; thus, troops interposed between some portion of their own army and the enemy are often called a covering party. To shelter is to cover so as to protect from injury or annoyance; as, the roof shelters from the storm; woods shelter from the heat. To defend (L. defendere, to strike away) implies the actual, protect (L. protegere, to cover before) implies the possible use of force or resisting power; guard implies sustained vigilance with readiness for conflict; we defend a person or thing against actual attack; we guard or protect against possible assault or injury. A powerful person may protect one who is weak by simply declaring himself his friend; he defends him by some form of active championship. An inanimate object may protect, as a garment from cold; defend is used but rarely, and by somewhat violent metaphor, in such connection. Protect is more complete than guard or defend; an object may be faithfully guarded or bravely defended in vain, but that which is protected is secure. To shield is to interpose something[332] over or before that which is assailed, so as to save from harm, and has a comparatively passive sense; one may guard another by standing armed at his side, defend him by fighting for him, or shield him from a missile or a blow by interposing his own person. Harbor is generally used in an unfavorable sense; confederates or sympathizers harbor a criminal; a person harbors evil thoughts or designs. See CHERISH. Compare synonyms for HIDE; DEFENSE.

Antonyms:

Prepositions:

Shelter under a roof from the storm; in the fortress, behind or within the walls, from attack.

SIGN.

A sign (L. signum) is any distinctive mark by which a thing may be recognized or its presence known, and may be intentional or accidental, natural or artificial, suggestive, descriptive, or wholly arbitrary; thus, a blush may be a sign of shame; the footprint of an animal is a sign that it has passed; the sign of a business house now usually declares what is done or kept within, but formerly might be an object having no connection with the business, as "the sign of the trout;" the letters of the alphabet are signs of certain sounds. While a sign may be involuntary, and even unconscious, a signal is always voluntary, and is usually concerted; a ship may show signs of distress to the casual observer, but signals of distress are a distinct appeal for aid. A symptom is a vital phenomenon resulting from a diseased condition; in medical language a sign is an indication of any physical condition, whether morbid or healthy; thus, a hot skin and rapid pulse are symptoms of pneumonia; dulness of some portion of the lungs under percussion is one of the physical signs. Compare AUGUR; CHARACTERISTIC; EMBLEM.

SIN.

Sin is any lack of holiness, any defect of moral purity and[333] truth, whether in heart or life, whether of commission or omission. "All unrighteousness is sin," 1 John v, 17. Transgression, as its etymology indicates, is the stepping over a specific enactment, whether of God or man, ordinarily by overt act, but in the broadest sense, in volition or desire. Sin may be either act or state; transgression is always an act, mental or physical. Crime is often used for a flagrant violation of right, but in the technical sense denotes specific violation of human law. Guilt is desert of and exposure to punishment because of sin. Depravity denotes not any action, but a perverted moral condition from which any act of sin may proceed. Sin in the generic sense, as denoting a state of heart, is synonymous with depravity; in the specific sense, as in the expression a sin, the term may be synonymous with transgression, crime, offense, misdeed, etc., or may denote some moral activity that could not be characterized by terms so positive. Immorality denotes outward violation of the moral law. Sin is thus the broadest word, and immorality next in scope; all crimes, properly so called, and all immoralities, are sins; but there may be sin, as ingratitude, which is neither crime, transgression, nor immorality; and there may be immorality which is not crime, as falsehood. Compare CRIMINAL.

Antonyms:

Compare synonyms for VIRTUE.

SING.

Synonyms:

To sing is primarily and ordinarily to utter a succession of articulate musical sounds with the human voice. The word has come to include any succession of musical sounds; we say the bird or the rivulet sings; we speak of "the singing quality" of an instrument, and by still wider extension of meaning we say the teakettle or the cricket sings. To chant is to sing in solemn and somewhat uniform cadence; chant is ordinarily applied to non-metrical religious compositions. To carol is to sing joyously, and to warble (kindred with whirl) is to sing with trills or quavers, usually also with the idea of joy. Carol and warble are especially applied to the singing of birds. To chirp is to utter a brief musical sound, perhaps often repeated in the same key, as by certain[334] small birds, insects, etc. To chirrup is to utter a somewhat similar sound; the word is often used of a brief, sharp sound uttered as a signal to animate or rouse a horse or other animal. To hum is to utter murmuring sounds with somewhat monotonous musical cadence, usually with closed lips; we speak also of the hum of machinery, etc.

SKEPTIC.

Synonyms:

The skeptic doubts divine revelation; the disbeliever and the unbeliever reject it, the disbeliever with more of intellectual dissent, the unbeliever (in the common acceptation) with indifference or with opposition of heart as well as of intellect. Infidel is an opprobrious term that might once almost have been said to be geographical in its range. The Crusaders called all Mohammedans infidels, and were so called by them in return; the word is commonly applied to any decided opponent of an accepted religion. The atheist denies that there is a God; the deist admits the existence of God, but denies that the Christian Scriptures are a revelation from him; the agnostic denies either that we do know or that we can know whether there is a God.

Antonyms:

SKETCH.

Synonyms:

A sketch is a rough, suggestive presentation of anything, whether graphic or literary, commonly intended to be preliminary[335] to a more complete or extended treatment. An outline gives only the bounding or determining lines of a figure or a scene; a sketch may give not only lines, but shading and color, but is hasty and incomplete. The lines of a sketch are seldom so full and continuous as those of an outline, being, like the shading or color, little more than indications or suggestions according to which a finished picture may be made; the artist's first representation of a sunset, the hues of which change so rapidly, must of necessity be a sketch. Draft and plan apply especially to mechanical drawing, of which outline, sketch, and drawing are also used; a plan is strictly a view from above, as of a building or machine, giving the lines of a horizontal section, originally at the level of the ground, now in a wider sense at any height; as, a plan of the cellar; a plan of the attic. A mechanical drawing is always understood to be in full detail; a draft is an incomplete or unfinished drawing; a design is such a preliminary sketch as indicates the object to be accomplished or the result to be attained, and is understood to be original. One may make a drawing of any well-known mechanism, or a drawing from another man's design; but if he says, "The design is mine," he claims it as his own invention or composition. In written composition an outline gives simply the main divisions, and in the case of a sermon is often called a skeleton; a somewhat fuller suggestion of illustration, treatment, and style is given in a sketch. A lawyer's brief is a succinct statement of the main facts involved in a case, and of the main heads of his argument on points of law, with reference to authorities cited; the brief has none of the vagueness of a sketch, being sufficiently exact and complete to form, on occasion, the basis for the decision of the court without oral argument, when the case is said to be "submitted on brief." Compare DESIGN.

SKILFUL.

Skilful signifies possessing and using readily practical knowledge and ability, having alert and well-trained faculties with reference to a given work. One is adept in that for which he has a natural gift improved by practise; he is expert in that of which training, experience, and study have given him a thorough mastery; he is dexterous in that which he can do effectively, with or without training, especially in work of the hand or bodily activities. In the case of the noun, "an expert" denotes one who is "experienced" in the fullest sense, a master of his branch of knowledge. A skilled workman is one who has thoroughly learned his trade, though he may be naturally quite dull; a skilful workman has some natural brightness, ability, and power of adaptation, in addition to his acquired knowledge and dexterity. Compare CLEVER; DEXTERITY; POWER.[336]

Antonyms:

Prepositions:

Skilful at or in a work, with a pen or tool of any kind.

SLANDER.

A colloquialism is an expression not coarse or low, and perhaps not incorrect, but below the literary grade; educated persons are apt to allow themselves some colloquialisms in familiar conversation, which they would avoid in writing or public speaking. Slang, in the primary sense, denotes expressions that are either coarse and rude in themselves or chiefly current among the coarser and ruder part of the community; there are also many expressions current in special senses in certain communities that may be characterized[337] as slang; as, college slang; club slang; racing slang. In the evolution of language many words originally slang are adopted by good writers and speakers, and ultimately take their place as accepted English. A vulgarism is an expression decidedly incorrect, and the use of which is a mark of ignorance or low breeding. Cant, as used in this connection, denotes the barbarous jargon used as a secret language by thieves, tramps, etc. Compare DICTION; LANGUAGE.

SLOW.

Synonyms:

Slow signifies moving through a relatively short distance, or with a relatively small number of motions in a given time; slow also applies to that which is a relatively long while in beginning or accomplishing something; a watch or a clock is said to be slow when its indications are behind those of the standard time. Tardy is applied to that which is behind the proper or desired time, especially in doing a work or arriving at a place. Deliberate and dilatory are used of persons, tho the latter may be used also of things, as of a stream; a person is deliberate who takes a noticeably long time to consider and decide before acting or who acts or speaks as if he were deliberating at every point; a person is dilatory who lays aside, or puts off as long as possible, necessary or required action; both words may be applied either to undertaking or to doing. Gradual (L. gradus, a step) signifies advancing by steps, and refers to slow but regular and sure progression. Slack refers to action that seems to indicate a lack of tension, as of muscle or of will, sluggish to action that seems as if reluctant to advance.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for NIMBLE.

SNEER.

Synonyms:

A sneer may be simply a contemptuous facial contortion, or it may be some brief satirical utterance that throws a contemptuous side-light on what it attacks without attempting to prove or disprove; a depreciatory implication may be given in a sneer such[338] as could only be answered by elaborate argument or proof, which would seem to give the attack undue importance: