The Century Vocabulary Builder Part 27

SYNONYMS IN LARGER GROUPS (2)

You have now seen enough of the method of discriminating synonyms to take more of the responsibility for such work upon yourself. In this chapter, therefore, the plan followed in Exercise A is abandoned and no discriminations are supplied you.

EXERCISE B

For some of the generic words in Exercise A you will find antonyms in Exercise C. Here is a list:

In Exercise A: walk, laugh, busy, hate, masculine, old

In Exercise C: run, cry, idle, love, feminine, young.

Now each of the generic terms in C is followed by a list of its synonyms.

But for the six generic terms just given let us see how many synonyms you can find for yourself. Simply study each word in turn, think of all the synonyms for it you can summon, strike out those you consider far-fetched.

Then compare your list with the list under the antonym in Exercise A; if possible, improve your list by means of this comparison. Finally, compare your revised list with the list in Exercise C.

In Exercise C are two generic terms that carry the same idea (but not in the same part of speech) as generic terms in Exercise A. They are as follows:

In Exercise A: sing, death

In Exercise C: song, die.

Take _song_ and _die_. First, find all the satisfactory synonyms you can for yourself. Then if possible improve your list by studying the list under the corresponding word in Exercise A. Finally, compare your revised list with the one in Exercise C.

EXERCISE C

After three introductory groups (dealing with thoroughly concrete ideas and words) the synonyms in this exercise are arranged alphabetically according to the first word in each group.

Discriminate the words in each group, and fill each blank in the ill.u.s.trative sentences with the word that conveys the meaning exactly.

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_Sentences_: The intruder he ____ in the early dawn-light might have been man or beast; he could not have ____ one from the other. After a long search I ____ on the map the name of the town. The teacher ____ the throwing of the paper wad, but thought best not to ____ it. "He that hath eyes to ____, let him ____." I ____ the encounter. "I hope to ____ my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar." "When my eyes turn to ____ for the last time the sun in heaven." I sat by the flower and ____ the bee plunder it. The scrawl on the paper was meaningless, but at length by close attention he ____ secret writing. "Your young men shall ____ visions, and your old men shall dream dreams." He had ____ human nature manifesting itself under various conditions.

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_Sentences_: With the jawbone of an a.s.s Samson ____ a thousand of his enemies. It was his duty as sheriff to ____ the criminal, and the method decreed by the state was that he should ____ him. Previously the method of carrying out a sentence of death had been to ____ the criminal. On our left wing we lost one man in ten: thus our lines were literally ____ On our right wing, where we advanced to the attack in the open, our men were simply ____. After the garrison had laid down its arms the Indians ____ men, women, and children. "I would not ____ thy soul." During the French Revolution many of the n.o.bility were ____. In the country late fall is the time to ____ hogs. Thinking that his accomplice was no longer of use, he quietly ____ him. The anarchist who had ____ the governor was taken by a mob and ____.

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_Sentences_: Since he had not exerted himself beforehand, his state was one of ____ rather than one of ____. The sultry heat of the day put him into a ____. "Not poppy, nor mandragora, Nor all the ____ syrops of the world, Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet ____ Which thou ow[n]edst yesterday." Light and pleasant be thy ____. "And still she slept an azure-lidded ____." From the ____ induced by his injury the physicians were unable to arouse him. "Oh ____! it is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole!" "The poppied warmth of ____ oppress'd Her soothed limbs, and soul fatigued away." In Spanish-speaking South American countries every one expects to take his ____. He lay down under the tree for a short ____ and had just fallen into a preliminary ____ when the picnic party arrived. "Macheth does murder ____, the innocent ____, ____ that knits up the ravel'd sleave of care."

_Sentences_: A declaration of war would of course ____ the treaty.

The legislature has the right to ____ old laws as well as to enact new ones. Because they left his grounds littered with paper, he ____ their privilege of holding picnics there. The king ____ the decree that the conspirators should be exiled. Slavery was ____ by the Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation. The emperor ____ many of the ancient rights of the people.

They ____ the mortgage when he paid the money. The violation of these provisions has ____ the contract. It was an ill day for France when the Edict of Nantes was ____ by Louis XIV. The Supreme Court ____ the decision of the lower tribunal. The Mormons have officially ____ polygamy. The codicil ____ some of the earlier provisions in his will.

_Sentences_: He ____ himself from all blame. The king ____ them from their allegiance. The teacher ____ the student who had been suspected of theft. The father confessor ____ the penitent. The jury ____ the man on the first ballot.

_Sentences:_ One child was to ____ to speak to the strangers; the other too ____ to do anything but squall. "If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper 'Lo, Caesar is ____'?" Any one might have been ____ by this noise in a room said to be haunted; and for my part, I stood ____.

_Sentences:_ The judge ____ the severity of the punishment. They collected funds to ____ the sufferings of the poor. He could not ____ the wrath of the angry man. Shall we try to ____ their fears by telling them the accident may have been less calamitous than they have heard? A mustard plaster ____ the pain. The grief of the mother was ____ by the presence of her child. This experience had by no means ____ his temper.

_Sentences:_ Visitors are not ____ to see the king. The over-running of yard by the neighbors' chickens is a nuisance I shall not ____. "____ little children to come unto me." The use of bicycles and velocipedes on the pavement, though not ____ by the city, is good-naturedly ____ by most of the citizens. She ____ her children to play in the street.

_Sentences:_ I ____ my failure to poor judgment. He ____ sinister motives for their actions. So many ideal characteristics have been ____ to Was.h.i.+ngton that it is difficult to think of him as a man.

_Sentences:_ An elephant is ____ in its movements. Some ____ countrymen hung around the circus entrance. He was tall and ____; he seemed to be a mere prop on which clothes were hung. Isn't that man ____ in his carriage? The fingers of the ball-players might as well have been thumbs, so ____ were they from the cold. Girls throw a ball in a[n] ____ manner.

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_Sentences_: Fletcher taught people to ____ their food well. The mouse ____ the cheese, but the trap did not spring. A horse ____ his bits.

When I ____ into the apple, I found that it was sour. The rat ____ a hole through the board.

above under Parallels.)

_Sentences_: "____ my timbers!" the old salt exclaimed. The anaconda is an immense serpent that wraps itself about its victim and ____ it.

The child blew the soap bubble wider and wider till it ____. "You may ____, you may ____ the vase if you will." Looking closely at the eggs, she perceived that one of them was ____. With a board the thoughtless child ____ the anthill. During a violent fit of coughing he ____ a blood vessel. The thick cloud was ____ and the suns.h.i.+ne streamed through.

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