English Synonyms and Antonyms Part 54

Prepositions:

To have a fancy _for_ or take a fancy _to_ a person or thing.

FAREWELL.

Synonyms:

adieu, good-by, parting salutation, valedictory.

conge, leave-taking, valediction,

_Good-by_ is the homely and hearty, _farewell_ the formal English word at parting. _Adieu_, from the French, is still more ceremonious than _farewell_; _conge_, also from the French, is commonly contemptuous or supercilious, and equivalent to dismissal. _Valediction_ is a learned word never in popular use. A _valedictory_ is a public farewell to a company or a.s.sembly.

Prepositions:

I bade farewell _to_ my comrades, or (without preposition) I bade my comrades farewell; I took a sad farewell _of_ my friends.

FEAR.

Synonyms:

affright, dismay, horror, timidity, apprehension, disquietude, misgiving, trembling, awe, dread, panic, tremor, consternation, fright, terror, trepidation.

_Fear_ is the generic term denoting an emotion excited by threatening evil with a desire to avoid or escape it; _fear_ may be sudden or lingering, in view of present, of imminent, or of distant and only possible danger; in the latter sense _dread_ is oftener used. _Horror_ (etymologically a s.h.i.+vering or shuddering) denotes a shuddering _fear_ accompanied with abhorrence or such a shock to the feelings and sensibilities as may exist without _fear_, as when one suddenly encounters some ghastly spectacle; we say of a desperate but fettered criminal, "I looked upon him with _horror_." Where _horror_ includes _fear_, it is _fear_ mingled with abhorrence. (See ABHOR.) _Affright_, _fright_, and _terror_ are always sudden, and in actual presence of that which is terrible. _Fear_ may overwhelm, or may nerve one to desperate defense; _fright_ and _terror_ render one incapable of defense; _fear_ may be controlled by force of will; _fright_ and _terror_ overwhelm the will; _terror_ paralyzes, _fright_ may cause one to fly, to scream, or to swoon. _Fright_ is largely a matter of the nerves; _fear_ of the intellect and the imagination; _terror_ of all the faculties, bodily and mental. _Panic_ is a sudden _fear_ or _fright_, affecting numbers at once; vast armies or crowded audiences are liable to _panic_ upon slight occasion. In a like sense we speak of a financial _panic_. _Dismay_ is a helpless sinking of heart in view of some overwhelming peril or sorrow.

_Dismay_ is more reflective, enduring, and despairing than _fright_; a horse is subject to _fright_ or _terror_, but not to _dismay_. _Awe_ is a reverential _fear_. Compare ALARM.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for FORt.i.tUDE.

FEMININE.

Synonyms:

effeminate, female, womanish, womanly.

We apply _female_ to the s.e.x, _feminine_ to the qualities, especially the finer physical or mental qualities that distinguish the _female_ s.e.x in the human family, or to the objects appropriate for or especially employed by them. A _female_ voice is the voice of a woman; a _feminine_ voice may belong to a man. _Womanish_ denotes the undesirable, _womanly_ the admirable or lovely qualities of woman. _Womanly_ tears would suggest respect and sympathy, _womanish_ tears a touch of contempt. The word _effeminate_ is always used reproachfully, and only of men as possessing _womanly_ traits such as are inconsistent with true manliness.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for MASCULINE.

FETTER.

Synonyms:

bondage, custody, gyves, irons, bonds, durance, handcuffs, manacles, chains, duress, imprisonment, shackles.

_Bonds_ may be of cord, leather, or any other substance that can bind; _chains_ are of linked metal. _Manacles_ and _handcuffs_ are for the hands, _fetters_ are primarily chains or jointed iron fastenings for the feet; _gyves_ may be for either. A _shackle_ is a metallic ring, clasp, or bracelet-like fastening for encircling and restraining a limb: commonly one of a pair, used either for hands or feet. _Bonds_, _fetters_, and _chains_ are used in a general way for almost any form of restraint. _Gyves_ is now wholly poetic, and the other words are mostly restricted to the literary style; _handcuffs_ is the specific and _irons_ the general term in popular usage; as, the prisoner was put in _irons_. _Bonds_, _chains_, and _shackles_ are frequently used in the metaphorical sense.

FEUD.

Synonyms:

affray, brawl, contest, dissension, hostility, animosity, broil, controversy, enmity, quarrel, bitterness, contention, dispute, fray, strife.

A _feud_ is _enmity_ between families, clans, or parties, with acts of _hostility_ mutually retaliated and avenged; _feud_ is rarely used of individuals, never of nations. While all the other words of the group may refer to that which is transient, a _feud_ is long-enduring, and often hereditary. _Dissension_ is used of a number of persons, of a party or other organization. _Bitterness_ is in feeling only; _enmity_ and _hostility_ involve will and purpose to oppose or injure. A _quarrel_ is in word or act, or both, and is commonly slight and transient, as we speak of childish _quarrels_; _contention_ and _strife_ may be in word or deed; _contest_ ordinarily involves some form of action. _Contest_ is often used in a good sense, _contention_ and _strife_ very rarely so. _Controversy_ is commonly in words; _strife_ extends from verbal _controversy_ to the _contests_ of armies. _Affray_, _brawl_, and _broil_, like _quarrel_, are words of inferior dignity. An _affray_ or _broil_ may arise at a street corner; the _affray_ always involves physical force; the _brawl_ or _broil_ may be confined to violent language.

FICTION.

Synonyms:

allegory, fabrication, invention, myth, romance, apologue, falsehood, legend, novel, story.

fable, figment,

_Fiction_ is now chiefly used of a prose work in narrative form in which the characters are partly or wholly imaginary, and which is designed to portray human life, with or without a practical lesson; a _romance_ portrays what is picturesque or striking, as a mere _fiction_ may not do; _novel_ is a general name for any continuous fict.i.tious narrative, especially a love-story; _fiction_ and _novel_ are used with little difference of meaning, except that _novel_ characterizes a work in which the emotional element is especially prominent. The moral of the _fable_ is expressed formally; the lesson of the _fiction_, if any, is inwrought. A _fiction_ is studied; a _myth_ grows up without intent. A _legend_ may be true, but can not be historically verified; a _myth_ has been received as true at some time, but is now known to be false. A _fabrication_ is designed to deceive; it is a less odious word than _falsehood_, but is really stronger, as a _falsehood_ may be a sudden unpremeditated statement, while a _fabrication_ is a series of statements carefully studied and fitted together in order to deceive; the _falsehood_ is all false; the _fabrication_ may mingle the true with the false. A _figment_ is something imaginary which the one who utters it may or may not believe to be true; we say, "That statement is a _figment_ of his imagination." The _story_ may be either true or false, and covers the various senses of all the words in the group. _Apologue_, a word simply transferred from Greek into English, is the same as _fable_. Compare ALLEGORY.

Antonyms:

certainty, fact, history, literalness, reality, truth, verity.

FIERCE.