QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 377
INDEX 509
PREFACE.
The English language is peculiarly rich in synonyms, as, with such a
history, it could not fail to be. From the time of Julius Caesar,
Britons, Romans, Northmen, Saxons, Danes, and Normans fighting,
fortifying, and settling upon the soil of England, with Scotch and Irish
contending for mastery or existence across the mountain border and the
Channel, and all fenced in together by the sea, could not but influence
each other's speech. English merchants, sailors, soldiers, and
travelers, trading, warring, and exploring in every clime, of necessity
brought back new terms of sea and shore, of shop and camp and
battlefield. English scholars have studied Greek and Latin for a
thousand years, and the languages of the Continent and of the Orient in
more recent times. English churchmen have introduced words from Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin, through Bible and prayer-book, sermon and tract. From
all this it results that there is scarcely a language ever spoken among
men that has not some representative in English speech. The spirit of
the Anglo-Saxon race, masterful in language as in war and commerce, has
subjugated all these various elements to one idiom, making not a
patchwork, but a composite language. Anglo-Saxon thrift, finding often
several words that originally expressed the same idea, has detailed them
to different parts of the common territory or to different service, so
that we have an almost unexampled variety of words, kindred in meaning
but distinct in usage, for expressing almost every shade of human
thought.
Scarcely any two of such words, commonly known as synonyms, are
identical at once in signification and in use. They have certain common
ground within which they are interchangeable; but outside of that each
has its own special province, within which any other word comes as an
intruder. From these two qualities arises the great value of synonyms as
contributing to beauty and effectiveness of expression. As
interchangeable, they make possible that freedom and variety by which
the diction of an accomplished writer or speaker differs from the wooden
uniformity of a legal document. As distinct and specific, they enable a
master of style to choose in every instance the one term that is the
most perfect mirror of his thought. To write or speak to the best
purpose, one should know in the first place all the words from which he
may choose, and then the exact reason why in any case any particular
word should be chosen. To give such knowledge in these two directions is
the office of a book of synonyms.
Of Milton's diction Macaulay writes:
"His poetry acts like an incantation. Its merit lies less in its
obvious meaning than in its occult power. There would seem, at first
sight, to be no more in his words than in other words. But they are
words of enchantment. No sooner are they pronounced, than the past
is present and the distant near. New forms of beauty start at once
into existence, and all the burial places of the memory give up
their dead. Change the structure of the sentence; _substitute one
synonym for another_, and the whole effect is destroyed. The spell
loses its power; and he who should then hope to conjure with it
would find himself as much mistaken as Cassim in the Arabian tale,
when he stood crying, 'Open Wheat,' 'Open Barley,' to the door which
obeyed no sound but 'Open Sesame.' The miserable failure of Dryden
in his attempt to translate into his own diction some parts of the
'Paradise Lost' is a remarkable instance of this."
Macaulay's own writings abound in examples of that exquisite precision
in the choice of words, which never seems to be precise, but has all the
aspect of absolute freedom. Through his language his thought bursts upon
the mind as a landscape is seen instantly, perfectly, and beautifully
from a mountain height. A little vagueness of thought, a slight
infelicity in the choice of words would be like a cloud upon the
mountain, obscuring the scene with a damp and chilling mist. Let anyone
try the experiment with a poem like Gray's "Elegy," or Goldsmith's
"Traveller" or "Deserted Village," of substituting other words for those
the poet has chosen, and he will readily perceive how much of the charm
of the lines depends upon their fine exactitude of expression.
In our own day, when so many are eager to write, and confident that they
can write, and when the press is sending forth by the ton that which is
called literature, but which somehow lacks the imprint of immortality,
it is of the first importance to revive the study of synonyms as a
distinct branch of rhetorical culture. Prevalent errors need at times to
be noted and corrected, but the teaching of pure English speech is the
best defense against all that is inferior, unsuitable, or repulsive. The
most effective condemnation of an objectionable word or phrase is that
it is not found in scholarly works, and a student who has once learned
the rich stores of vigorous, beautiful, exact, and expressive words that
make up our noble language, is by that very fact put beyond the reach of
all temptation to linguistic corruption.
Special instruction in the use of synonyms is necessary, for the reason
that few students possess the analytical power and habit of mind
required to hold a succession of separate definitions in thought at
once, compare them with each other, and determine just where and how
they part company; and the persons least able to do this are the very
ones most in need of the information. The distinctions between words
similar in meaning are often so fine and elusive as to tax the ingenuity
of the accomplished scholar; yet when clearly apprehended they are as
important for the purposes of language as the minute differences between
similar substances are for the purposes of chemistry. Often definition
itself is best secured by the comparison of kindred terms and the
pointing out where each differs from the other. We perceive more clearly
and remember better what each word is, by perceiving where each divides
from another of kindred meaning; just as we see and remember better the
situation and contour of adjacent countries, by considering them as
boundaries of each other, rather than by an exact statement of the
latitude and longitude of each as a separate portion of the earth's
surface.
The great mass of untrained speakers and writers need to be reminded, in
the first place, _that there are synonyms_--a suggestion which they
would not gain from any precision of separate definitions in a
dictionary. The deplorable repetition with which many slightly educated
persons use such words as "elegant," "splendid," "clever," "awful,"
"horrid," etc., to indicate (for they can not be said to express) almost
any shade of certain approved or objectionable qualities, shows a
limited vocabulary, a poverty of language, which it is of the first
importance to correct. Many who are not given to such gross misuse would
yet be surprised to learn how often they employ a very limited number of
words in the attempt to give utterance to thoughts and feelings so
unlike, that what is the right word on one occasion must of necessity be
the wrong word at many other times. Such persons are simply unconscious
of the fact that there are other words of kindred meaning from which
they might choose; as the United States surveyors of Alaska found "the
shuddering tenant of the frigid zone" wrapping himself in furs and
cowering over a fire of sticks with untouched coal-mines beneath his
feet.
Such poverty of language is always accompanied with poverty of thought.
One who is content to use the same word for widely different ideas has
either never observed or soon comes to forget that there is any
difference between the ideas; or perhaps he retains a vague notion of a
difference which he never attempts to define to himself, and dimly hints
to others by adding to his inadequate word some such phrase as "you see"
or "you know," in the helpless attempt to inject into another mind by
suggestion what adequate words would enable him simply and distinctly to
say. Such a mind resembles the old maps of Africa in which the interior
was filled with cloudy spaces, where modern discovery has revealed great
lakes, fertile plains, and mighty rivers. One main office of a book of
synonyms is to reveal to such persons the unsuspected riches of their
own language; and when a series of words is given them, from which they
may choose, then, with intelligent choice of words there comes of
necessity a clearer perception of the difference of the ideas that are
to be expressed by those different words. Thus, copiousness and
clearness of language tend directly to affluence and precision of
thought.
Hence there is an important use for mere lists of classified synonyms,
like Roget's Thesaurus and the works of Soule and Fallows. Not one in a
thousand of average students would ever discover, by independent study
of the dictionary, that there are fifteen synonyms for _beautiful_,
twenty-one for _beginning_, fifteen for _benevolence_, twenty for
_friendly_, and thirty-seven for _pure_. The mere mention of such
numbers opens vistas of possible fulness, freedom, and variety of
utterance, which will have for many persons the effect of a revelation.
But it is equally important to teach _that synonyms are not identical_
and to explain why and how they differ. A person of extensive reading
and study, with a fine natural sense of language, will often find all
that he wants in the mere list, which recalls to his memory the
appropriate word. But for the vast majority there is needed some work
that compares or contrasts synonymous words, explains their differences
of meaning or usage, and shows in what connections one or the other may
be most fitly used. This is the purpose of the present work, to be a
guide to selection from the varied treasures of English speech.
This work treats within 375 pages more than 7500 synonyms. It has been
the study of the author to give every definition or distinction in the
fewest possible words consistent with clearness of statement, and this
not merely for economy of space, but because such condensed statements
are most easily apprehended and remembered.
The method followed has been to select from every group of synonyms one
word, or two contrasted words, the meaning of which may be settled by
clear definitive statement, thus securing some fixed point or points to
which all the other words of the group may be referred. The great source
of vagueness, error, and perplexity in many discussions of synonyms is,
that the writer merely associates stray ideas loosely connected with the
different words, sliding from synonym to synonym with no definite point
of departure or return, so that a smooth and at first sight pleasing
statement really gives the mind no definite resting-place and no sure
conclusion. A true discussion of synonyms is definition by comparison,
and for this there must be something definite with which to compare.
When the standard is settled, approximation or differentiation can be
determined with clearness and certainty. It is not enough to tell
something about each word. The thing to tell is how each word is related
to others of that particular group. When a word has more than one
prominent meaning, the synonyms for one signification are treated in one
group and a reference is made to some other group in which the synonyms
for another signification are treated, as may be seen by noting the
synonyms given under APPARENT, and following the reference to EVIDENT.
It has been impossible within the limits of this volume to treat in full
all the words of each group of synonyms. Sometimes it has been necessary
to restrict the statement to a mere suggestion of the correct use; in
some cases only the chief words of a group could be considered, giving
the key to the discussion, and leaving the student to follow out the
principle in the case of other words by reference to the definitive
statements of the dictionary. It is to be hoped that at some time a
dictionary of synonyms may be prepared, giving as full a list as that of
Roget or of Soule, with discriminating remarks upon every word. Such a
work would be of the greatest value, but obviously beyond the scope of a
text-book for the class-room.
The author has here incorporated, by permission of the publishers of the
Standard Dictionary, much of the synonym matter prepared by him for that
work. All has been thoroughly revised or reconstructed, and much wholly
new matter has been added.
The book contains also more than 3700 antonyms. These are valuable as
supplying definition by contrast or by negation, one of the most
effective methods of defining being in many cases to tell what a thing
is not. To speakers and writers antonyms are useful as furnishing
oftentimes effective antitheses.
Young writers will find much help from the indication of the correct use
of prepositions, the misuse of which is one of the most common of
errors, and one of the most difficult to avoid, while their right use
gives to style cohesion, firmness, and compactness, and is an important
aid to perspicuity. To the text of the synonyms is appended a set of
Questions and Examples to adapt the work for use as a text-book. Aside
from the purposes of the class-room, this portion will be found of value
to the individual student. Excepting those who have made a thorough
study of language most persons will discover with surprise how difficult
it is to answer any set of the Questions or to fill the blanks in the
Examples without referring to the synonym treatment in Part I., or to a
dictionary, and how rarely they can give any intelligent reason for
preference even among familiar words. There are few who can study such a
work without finding occasion to correct some errors into which they
have unconsciously fallen, and without coming to a new delight in the
use of language from a fuller knowledge of its resources and a clearer
sense of its various capabilities.
_West New Brighton, N. Y._, Sept. 4, 1896.