English Synonyms and Antonyms Part 108

Aside from its technical ecclesiastical use, _venial_ is always understood as marking some fault comparatively _slight_ or _trivial_. A _venial_ offense is one readily overlooked; a _pardonable_ offense requires more serious consideration, but on deliberation is found to be susceptible of pardon. _Excusable_ is scarcely applied to offenses, but to matters open to doubt or criticism rather than direct censure; so used, it often falls little short of justifiable; as, I think, under those circ.u.mstances, his action was _excusable_. Protestants do not recognize the distinction between _venial_ and mortal sins. _Venial_ must not be confounded with the very different word VENAL. Compare VENAL.

Antonyms:

inexcusable, inexpiable, mortal, unpardonable, unjustifiable.

VERACITY.

Synonyms:

candor, honesty, reality, truthfulness, frankness, ingenuousness, truth, verity.

_Truth_ is primarily and _verity_ is always a quality of thought or speech, especially of speech, as in exact conformity to fact. _Veracity_ is properly a quality of a person, the habit of speaking and the disposition to speak the _truth_; a habitual liar may on some occasions speak the _truth_, but that does not const.i.tute him a man of _veracity_; on the other hand, a person of undoubted _veracity_ may state (through ignorance or misinformation) what is not the _truth_. _Truthfulness_ is a quality that may inhere either in a person or in his statements or beliefs. _Candor_, _frankness_, _honesty_, and _ingenuousness_ are allied with _veracity_, and _verity_ with _truth_, while _truthfulness_ may accord with either. _Truth_ in a secondary sense may be applied to intellectual action or moral character, in the former case becoming a close synonym of _veracity_; as, I know him to be a man of _truth_.

Antonyms:

deceit, duplicity, falsehood, fiction, lie, deception, error, falseness, guile, mendacity, delusion, fabrication, falsity, imposture, untruth.

Compare synonyms for DECEPTION.

VERBAL.

Synonyms:

literal, oral, vocal.

_Oral_ (L. _os_, the mouth) signifies uttered through the mouth or (in common phrase) by word of mouth; _verbal_ (L. _verb.u.m_, a word) signifies of, pertaining to, or connected with words, especially with words as distinguished from the ideas they convey; _vocal_ (L. _vox_, the voice) signifies of or pertaining to the voice, uttered or modulated by the voice, and especially uttered with or sounding with full, resonant voice; _literal_ (L. _litera_, a letter) signifies consisting of or expressed by letters, or according to the letter, in the broader sense of the exact meaning or requirement of the words used; what is called "the letter of the law" is its _literal_ meaning without going behind what is expressed by the letters on the page. Thus _oral_ applies to that which is given by spoken words in distinction from that which is written or printed; as, _oral_ tradition; an _oral_ examination. By this rule we should in strictness speak of an _oral_ contract or an _oral_ message, but _verbal_ contract and _verbal_ message, as indicating that which is by spoken rather than by written words, have become so fixed in the language that they can probably never be changed; this usage is also in line with other idioms of the language; as, "I give you my _word_,"

"a true man's _word_ is as good as his bond," "by _word_ of mouth," etc.

A _verbal_ translation may be _oral_ or written, so that it is word for word; a _literal_ translation follows the construction and idiom of the original as well as the words; a _literal_ translation is more than one that is merely _verbal_; both _verbal_ and _literal_ are opposed to _free_. In the same sense, of attending to words only, we speak of _verbal_ criticism, a _verbal_ change. _Vocal_ has primary reference to the human voice; as, _vocal_ sounds, _vocal_ music; _vocal_ may be applied within certain limits to inarticulate sounds given forth by other animals than man; as, the woods were _vocal_ with the songs of birds; _oral_ is never so applied, but is limited to articulate utterance regarded as having a definite meaning; as, an _oral_ statement.

VICTORY.

Synonyms:

achievement, conquest, success, triumph.

advantage, mastery, supremacy,

_Victory_ is the state resulting from the overcoming of an opponent or opponents in any contest, or from the overcoming of difficulties, obstacles, evils, etc., considered as opponents or enemies. In the latter sense any hard-won _achievement_, _advantage_, or _success_ may be termed a _victory_. In _conquest_ and _mastery_ there is implied a permanence of state that is not implied in _victory_. _Triumph_, originally denoting the public rejoicing in honor of a _victory_, has come to signify also a peculiarly exultant, complete, and glorious _victory_. Compare CONQUER.

Antonyms:

defeat, disappointment, failure, miscarriage, retreat, destruction, disaster, frustration, overthrow, rout.

VIGILANT.

Synonyms:

alert, cautious, on the lookout, wary, awake, circ.u.mspect, sleepless, watchful, careful, on the alert, wakeful, wide-awake.

_Vigilant_ implies more sustained activity and more intelligent volition than _alert_; one may be habitually _alert_ by reason of native quickness of perception and thought, or one may be momentarily _alert_ under some excitement or expectancy; one who is _vigilant_ is so with thoughtful purpose. One is _vigilant_ against danger or harm; he may be _alert_ or _watchful_ for good as well as against evil; he is _wary_ in view of suspected stratagem, trickery, or treachery. A person may be _wakeful_ because of some merely physical excitement or excitability, as through insomnia; yet he may be utterly careless and negligent in his wakefulness, the reverse of _watchful_; a person who is truly _watchful_ must keep himself _wakeful_ while on watch, in which case _wakeful_ has something of mental quality. _Watchful_, from the Saxon, and _vigilant_, from the Latin, are almost exact equivalents; but _vigilant_ has somewhat more of sharp definiteness and somewhat more suggestion of volition; one may be habitually _watchful_; one is _vigilant_ of set purpose and for direct cause, as in the presence of an enemy. Compare ALERT.

Antonyms:

careless, heedless, inconsiderate, oblivious, drowsy, inattentive, neglectful, thoughtless, dull, incautious, negligent, unwary.

VIRTUE.

Synonyms:

chast.i.ty, honesty, probity, truth, duty, honor, purity, uprightness, excellence, integrity, rect.i.tude, virtuousness, faithfulness, justice, righteousness, worth, goodness, morality, rightness, worthiness.

_Virtue_ (L. _virtus_, primarily manly strength or courage, from _vir_, a man, a hero) is, in its full sense, _goodness_ that is victorious through trial, perhaps through temptation and conflict. _Goodness_, the being morally good, may be much less than _virtue_, as lacking the strength that comes from trial and conflict, or it may be very much more than _virtue_, as rising sublimely above the possibility of temptation and conflict--the infantile as contrasted with the divine _goodness_.

_Virtue_ is distinctively human; we do not predicate it of G.o.d.

_Morality_ is conformity to the moral law in action, whether in matters concerning ourselves or others, whether with or without right principle.

_Honesty_ and _probity_ are used especially of one's relations to his fellow men, _probity_ being to _honesty_ much what _virtue_ in some respects is to _goodness_; _probity_ is _honesty_ tried and proved, especially in those things that are beyond the reach of legal requirement; above the commercial sense, _honesty_ may be applied to the highest truthfulness of the soul to and with itself and its Maker.

_Integrity_, in the full sense, is moral wholeness without a flaw; when used, as it often is, of contracts and dealings, it has reference to inherent character and principle, and denotes much more than superficial or conventional _honesty_. _Honor_ is a lofty _honesty_ that scorns fraud or wrong as base and unworthy of itself. _Honor_ rises far above thought of the motto that "_honesty_ is the best policy." _Purity_ is freedom from all admixture, especially of that which debases; it is _chast.i.ty_ both of heart and life, but of the life because from the heart. _Duty_, the rendering of what is due to any person or in any relation, is, in this connection, the fulfilment of moral obligation.

_Rect.i.tude_ and _righteousness_ denote conformity to the standard of right, whether in heart or act; _righteousness_ is used especially in the religious sense. _Uprightness_ refers especially to conduct.

_Virtuousness_ is a quality of the soul or of action; in the latter sense it is the essence of virtuous action. Compare INNOCENT; JUSTICE; RELIGION.

Antonyms:

evil, vice, viciousness, wickedness, wrong.

Compare synonyms for SIN.

WANDER.