English Synonyms and Antonyms Part 44

Synonyms:

arduous, hard, onerous, toilsome, exhausting, laborious, severe, trying.

_Arduous_ (L. _arduus_, steep) signifies primarily so steep and lofty as to be difficult of ascent, and hence applies to that which involves great and sustained exertion and ordinarily for a lofty aim; great learning can only be won by _arduous_ toil. _Hard_ applies to anything that resists our endeavors as a scarcely penetrable ma.s.s resists our physical force. Anything is _hard_ that involves tax and strain whether of the physical or mental powers. _Difficult_ is not used of that which merely taxes physical force; a dead lift is called _hard_ rather than _difficult_; breaking stone on the road would be called _hard_ rather than _difficult_ work; that is _difficult_ which involves skill, sagacity, or address, with or without a considerable expenditure of physical force; a geometrical problem may be _difficult_ to solve, a tangled skein to unravel; a mountain _difficult_ to ascend. _Hard_ may be active or pa.s.sive; a thing may be _hard_ to do or _hard_ to bear.

_Arduous_ is always active. That which is _laborious_ or _toilsome_ simply requires the steady application of labor or toil till accomplished; _toilsome_ is the stronger word. That which is _onerous_ (L. _onus_, a burden) is mentally burdensome or oppressive.

Responsibility may be _onerous_ even when it involves no special exertion.

Antonyms:

easy, facile, light, pleasant, slight, trifling, trivial.

DIRECTION.

Synonyms:

aim, bearing, course, inclination, tendency, way.

The _direction_ of an object is the line of motion or of vision toward it, or the line in which the object is moving, considered from our own actual or mental standpoint. _Way_, literally the road or path, comes naturally to mean the _direction_ of the road or path; conversationally, _way_ is almost a perfect synonym of _direction_; as, which _way_ did he go? or, in which _direction_? _Bearing_ is the _direction_ in which an object is seen with reference to another, and especially with reference to the points of the compa.s.s. _Course_ is the _direction_ of a moving object; _inclination_, that toward which a stationary object leans; _tendency_, the _direction_ toward which anything stretches or reaches out; _tendency_ is stronger and more active than _inclination_. Compare AIM; CARE; ORDER; OVERSIGHT.

DISCERN.

Synonyms:

behold, discriminate, observe, recognize, descry, distinguish, perceive, see.

What we _discern_ we _see_ apart from all other objects; what we _discriminate_ we judge apart; what we _distinguish_ we mark apart, or recognize by some special mark or manifest difference. We _discriminate_ by real differences; we _distinguish_ by outward signs; an officer is readily _distinguished_ from a common soldier by his uniform. Objects may be dimly _discerned_ at twilight, when yet we can not clearly _distinguish_ one from another. We _descry_ (originally _espy_) what is difficult to discover. Compare DISCOVER; LOOK.

DISCOVER.

Synonyms:

ascertain, detect, disclose, ferret out, find out, descry, discern, expose, find, invent.

Of human actions or character, _detect_ is used, almost without exception, in a bad sense; _discover_ may be used in either the good or the bad sense, oftener in the good; he was _detected_ in a fraud; real merit is sure to be _discovered_. In scientific language, _detect_ is used of delicate indications that appear in course of careful watching; as, a slight fluttering of the pulse could be _detected_. We _discover_ what has existed but has not been known to us; we _invent_ combinations or arrangements not before in use; Columbus _discovered_ America; Morse _invented_ the electric telegraph. _Find_ is the most general word for every means of coming to know what was not before certainly known. A man _finds_ in the road some stranger's purse, or _finds_ his own which he is searching for. The expert _discovers_ or _detects_ an error in an account; the auditor _finds_ the account to be correct. Compare DISCERN.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for HIDE.

DISEASE.

Synonyms:

affection, disorder, indisposition, sickness, ailment, distemper, infirmity, unhealthiness, complaint, illness, malady, unsoundness.

_Disease_ is the general term for any deviation from health; in a more limited sense it denotes some definite morbid condition; _disorder_ and _affection_ are rather partial and limited; as, a nervous _affection_; a _disorder_ of the digestive system. _Sickness_ was generally used in English speech and literature, till the close of the eighteenth century at least, for every form of physical _disorder_, as abundantly appears in the English Bible: "Jesus went about ... healing all manner of _sickness_ and all manner of _disease_ among the people," _Matt._ iv, 23; "Elisha was fallen _sick_ of his _sickness_ whereof he died," _2 Kings_ xiii, 14. There is now, in England, a tendency to restrict the words _sick_ and _sickness_ to nausea, or "_sickness_ at the stomach,"

and to hold _ill_ and _illness_ as the only proper words to use in a general sense. This distinction has received but a very limited acceptance in the United States, where _sick_ and _sickness_ have the earlier and wider usage. We speak of trifling _ailments_, a slight _indisposition_, a serious or a deadly _disease_; a slight or severe _illness_; a painful _sickness_. _Complaint_ is a popular term, which may be applied to any degree of ill health, slight or severe.

_Infirmity_ denotes a chronic or lingering weakness or disability, as blindness or lameness.

Antonyms:

health, robustness, soundness, strength, st.u.r.diness, vigor.

DISPARAGE.

Synonyms:

belittle, depreciate, discredit, underestimate, carp at, derogate from, dishonor, underrate, decry, detract from, lower, undervalue.

To _decry_ is to cry down, in some noisy, public, or conspicuous manner.

A witness or a statement is _discredited_; the currency is _depreciated_; a good name is _dishonored_ by unworthy conduct; we _underestimate_ in our own minds; we may _underrate_ or _undervalue_ in statement to others. These words are used, with few exceptions, of things such as qualities, merits, attainments, etc. To _disparage_ is to _belittle_ by damaging comparison or suggestion; it is used only of things. A man's achievements are _disparaged_, his motives _depreciated_, his professions _discredited_; he himself is calumniated, slandered, etc. Compare SLANDER.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for PRAISE.

DISPLACE.

Synonyms:

confuse, derange, disturb, mislay, remove, crowd out, disarrange, jumble, misplace, unsettle.

Objects are _displaced_ when moved out of the place they have occupied; they are _misplaced_ when put into a place where they should not be. One may know where to find what he has _misplaced_; what he has _mislaid_ he can not locate.

Antonyms: