English Synonyms and Antonyms Part 118

AIRY (page 27).

QUESTIONS.

1. How does _airy_ agree with and differ from _aerial_? Give instances of the uses of the two words. 2. What does _ethereal_ signify?

_sprightly_? 3. Are _lively_ and _animated_ used in the favorable or unfavorable sense?

EXAMPLES.

---- tongues that syllable men's names, on sands and sh.o.r.es and desert wildernesses.

The ---- mold Incapable of stain, would soon expel Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire, Victorious.

Society became my glittering bride, And ---- hopes my children.

Soft o'er the shrouds ---- whispers breathe, That seemed but zephyrs to the train beneath.

ALARM (page 28).

QUESTIONS.

1. What is the derivation and distinctive meaning of _alarm_? 2. What do _affright_ and _fright_ express? Give an ill.u.s.tration of the contrasted terms. 3. How are _apprehension_, _disquietude_, _dread_, and _misgiving_ related to the danger that excites them? 4. What are _consternation_, _dismay_, and _terror_, and how are they related to the danger? 5. What is _timidity_?

ALERT (page 28).

QUESTIONS.

1. To what do _alert_, _wide-awake_, and _ready_ refer? 2. How does _ready_ differ from _alert_? from _prepared_? 3. What does _prompt_ signify? 4. What is the secondary meaning of _alert_?

EXAMPLES.

To be ---- for war is one of the most effectual ways of preserving peace.

He who is not ---- to-day will be less so to-morrow.

Thus ending loudly, as he would o'erleap His destiny, ---- he stood.

ALIEN, _a. & n._ (page 29).

QUESTIONS.

1. How does _alien_ differ from _foreign_? 2. Is a _foreigner_ by birth necessarily an _alien_? 3. Are the people of one country while residing in their own land _foreigners_ or _aliens_ to the people of other lands?

4. How can one residing in a _foreign_ country cease to be an _alien_ in that country? 5. How do _foreign_ and _alien_ differ in their figurative use?

EXAMPLES.

By ---- hands thy dying eyes were closed . . .

By ---- hands thy humble grave adorned By strangers honored and by strangers mourned.

What is religion? Not a ---- inhabitant, nor something ---- to our nature, which comes and takes up its abode in the soul.

---- from the commonwealth of Israel and ---- from the covenants of promise.

ALIKE (page 30).

QUESTIONS.

1. How does _alike_ compare with _similar_? with _identical_? 2. What is the distinction often made between _equal_ and _equivalent_? 3. What is the sense of _a.n.a.logous_? (Compare synonyms for a.n.a.lOGY.) 4. In what sense is _h.o.m.ogeneous_ used?

EXAMPLES.

Sometimes gentle, sometimes capricious, sometimes awful; never the ---- for two moments together.

Fas.h.i.+oned for himself, a bride; An ----, taken from his side.

ALLAY (page 31).

QUESTIONS.

1. What is the distinction between _allay_ and _alleviate_? Which word implies a partial removal of the cause of suffering, or an actual _lightening_ of the burden? 2. With which of the above words are we to cla.s.s _appease_, _pacify_, _soothe_, and the like? 3. With what words is _alleviate_ especially to be grouped? (See synonyms for ALLEVIATE.)

EXAMPLES.

Such songs have power to ---- The restless pulse of care, And come like the benediction That follows after prayer.

Many a word, at random spoken May ---- or wound a heart that's broken!