English Synonyms and Antonyms Part 37

Antonyms:

applaud, approve, commend, eulogize, laud, praise.

Prepositions:

Complain _of_ a thing _to_ a person; _of_ one person _to_ another, _of_ or _against_ a person _for_ an act; _to_ an officer; _before_ the court; _about_ a thing.

COMPLEX.

Synonyms:

abstruse, confused, intricate, mixed, complicated, conglomerate, involved, multiform, composite, entangled, manifold, obscure, compound, heterogeneous, mingled, tangled.

That is _complex_ which is made up of several connected parts. That is _compound_ in which the parts are not merely connected, but fused, or otherwise combined into a single substance. In a _composite_ object the different parts have less of unity than in that which is _complex_ or _compound_, but maintain their distinct individuality. In a _heterogeneous_ body unlike parts or particles are intermingled, often without apparent order or plan. _Conglomerate_ (literally, globed together) is said of a _confused_ mingling of ma.s.ses or lumps of various substances. The New England pudding-stone is a _conglomerate_ rock. In a _complex_ object the arrangement and relation of parts may be perfectly clear; in a _complicated_ mechanism the parts are so numerous, or so combined, that the mind can not readily grasp their mutual relations; in an _intricate_ arrangement the parts are so intertwined that it is difficult to follow their windings; things are _involved_ which are rolled together so as not to be easily separated, either in thought or in fact; things which are _tangled_ or _entangled_ mutually hold and draw upon each other. The conception of a material object is usually _complex_, involving form, color, size, and other elements; a clock is a _complicated_ mechanism; the Gordian knot was _intricate_; the twining serpents of the Laoc.o.o.n are _involved_. We speak of an _abstruse_ statement, a _complex_ conception, a _confused_ heap, a _heterogeneous_ ma.s.s, a _tangled_ skein, an _intricate_ problem; of _composite_ architecture, an _involved_ sentence; of the _complicated_ or _intricate_ accounts of a great business, the _entangled_ accounts of an incompetent or dishonest bookkeeper.

Antonyms:

clear, h.o.m.ogeneous, plain, uncombined, uniform, direct, obvious, simple, uncompounded, unraveled.

CONDEMN.

Synonyms:

blame, convict, doom, reprove, censure, denounce, reprobate, sentence.

To _condemn_ is to pa.s.s judicial sentence or render judgment or decision against. We may _censure_ silently; we _condemn_ ordinarily by open and formal utterance. _Condemn_ is more final than _blame_ or _censure_; a _condemned_ criminal has had his trial; a _condemned_ building can not stand; a _condemned_ s.h.i.+p can not sail. A person is _convicted_ when his guilt is made clearly manifest to others; in somewhat archaic use, a person is said to be _convicted_ when guilt is brought clearly home to his own conscience (_convict_ in this sense being allied with _convince_, which see under PERSUADE); in legal usage one is said to be _convicted_ only by the verdict of a jury. In stating the penalty of an offense, the legal word _sentence_ is now more common than _condemn_; as, he was _sentenced_ to imprisonment; but it is good usage to say, he was _condemned_ to imprisonment. To _denounce_ is to make public or official declaration against, especially in a violent and threatening manner.

From the pulpits in the northern States Burr was _denounced_ as an a.s.sa.s.sin.

COFFIN _Building the Nation_ ch. 10, p. 137. [H. '83.]

To _doom_ is to _condemn_ solemnly and consign to evil or destruction or to predetermine to an evil destiny; an inferior race in presence of a superior is _doomed_ to subjugation or extinction. Compare ARRAIGN; REPROVE.

Antonyms:

absolve, applaud, exonerate, pardon, acquit, approve, justify, praise.

Prepositions:

The bandit was condemned _to_ death _for_ his crime.

CONFESS.

Synonyms:

accept, allow, concede, grant, acknowledge, avow, disclose, own, admit, certify, endorse, recognize.

We _accept_ another's statement; _admit_ any point made against us; _acknowledge_ what we have said or done, good or bad; _avow_ our individual beliefs or feelings; _certify_ to facts within our knowledge; _confess_ our own faults; _endorse_ a friend's note or statement; _grant_ a request; _own_ our faults or obligations; _recognize_ lawful authority; _concede_ a claim. _Confess_ has a high and sacred use in the religious sense; as, to _confess_ Christ before men. It may have also a playful sense (often with _to_); as, one _confesses to_ a weakness for confectionery. The chief present use of the word, however, is in the sense of making known to others one's own wrong-doing; in this sense _confess_ is stronger than _acknowledge_ or _admit_, and more specific than _own_; a person _admits_ a mistake; _acknowledges_ a fault; _confesses_ sin or crime. Compare APOLOGY; AVOW.

Antonyms:

cloak, deny, disown, hide, screen, conceal, disavow, dissemble, mask, secrete, cover, disguise, dissimulate, repudiate, veil.

CONFIRM.

Synonyms:

a.s.sure, fix, sanction, substantiate, corroborate, prove, settle, sustain, establish, ratify, strengthen, uphold.

_Confirm_ (L. _con_, together, and _firmus_, firm) is to add firmness or give stability to. Both _confirm_ and _corroborate_ presuppose something already existing to which the confirmation or corroboration is added.

Testimony is _corroborated_ by concurrent testimony or by circ.u.mstances; _confirmed_ by _established_ facts. That which is thoroughly _proved_ is said to be _established_; so is that which is official and has adequate power behind it; as, the _established_ government; the _established_ church. The continents are _fixed_. A treaty is _ratified_; an appointment _confirmed_. An act is _sanctioned_ by any person or authority that pa.s.ses upon it approvingly. A statement is _substantiated_; a report _confirmed_; a controversy _settled_; the decision of a lower court _sustained_ by a higher. Just government should be _upheld_. The beneficent results of Christianity _confirm_ our faith in it as a divine revelation.

Antonyms:

abrogate, cancel, overthrow, shatter, upset, annul, destroy, shake, unsettle, weaken.

Prepositions:

Confirm a statement _by_ testimony; confirm a person _in_ a belief.

CONGRATULATE.

Synonym:

felicitate.

To _felicitate_ is to p.r.o.nounce one happy or wish one joy; to _congratulate_ is to express hearty sympathy in his joys or hopes.