English Synonyms and Antonyms Part 80

Prepositions:

Part _into_ shares; part _in_ the middle; part one _from_ another; part _among_ the claimants; part _between_ contestants (archaic); in general, to part _from_ is to relinquish companions.h.i.+p; to part _with_ is to relinquish possession; we part _from_ a person or _from_ something thought of with some sense of companions.h.i.+p; a traveler parts _from_ his friends; he maybe said also to part _from_ his native sh.o.r.e; a man parts _with_ an estate, a horse, a copyright; part _with_ may be applied to a person thought of in any sense as a possession; an employer parts _with_ a clerk or servant; but _part with_ is sometimes used by good writers as meaning simply to separate from.

PART, _n._

Synonyms:

atom, fraction, member, section, component, fragment, particle, segment, const.i.tuent, ingredient, piece, share, division, instalment, portion, subdivision.

element,

_Part_, a substance, quant.i.ty, or amount that is the result of the division of something greater, is the general word, including all the others of this group. A _fragment_ is the result of breaking, rending, or disruption of some kind, while a _piece_ may be smoothly or evenly separated and have a certain completeness in itself. A _piece_ is often taken for a sample; a _fragment_ scarcely would be. _Division_ and _fraction_ are always regarded as in connection with the total; _divisions_ may be equal or unequal; a _fraction_ is one of several equal _parts_ into which the whole is supposed to be divided. A _portion_ is a _part_ viewed with reference to some one who is to receive it or some special purpose to which it is to be applied; in a restaurant one _portion_ (_i. e._, the amount designed for one person) is sometimes, by special order, served to two; a _share_ is a _part_ to which one has or may acquire a right in connection with others; an _instalment_ is one of a series of proportionate payments that are to be continued till the entire claim is discharged; a _particle_ is an exceedingly small _part_. A _component_, _const.i.tuent_, _ingredient_, or _element_ is a _part_ of some compound or mixture; an _element_ is necessary to the existence, as a _component_ or _const.i.tuent_ is necessary to the completeness of that which it helps to compose; an _ingredient_ may be foreign or accidental. A _subdivision_ is a _division_ of a _division_. We speak of a _segment_ of a circle. Compare PARTICLE; PORTION.

PARTICLE.

Synonyms:

atom, grain, mite, sc.r.a.p, whit.

corpuscle, iota, molecule, shred, element, jot, scintilla, t.i.ttle,

A _particle_ is a very small part of any material substance; as, a _particle_ of sand or of dust; it is a general term, not accurately determinate in meaning. _Atom_ (Gr. _a-_ privative, not, and _temno_, cut) etymologically signifies that which can not be cut or divided, and is the smallest conceivable _particle_ of matter, regarded as absolutely h.o.m.ogeneous and as having but one set of properties; _atoms_ are the ultimate _particles_ of matter. A _molecule_ is made up of _atoms_, and is regarded as separable into its const.i.tuent parts; as used by physicists, a _molecule_ is the smallest conceivable part which retains all the characteristics of the substance; thus, a _molecule_ of water is made up of two _atoms_ of hydrogen and one _atom_ of oxygen. _Element_ in chemistry denotes, without reference to quant.i.ty, a substance regarded as simple, _i. e._, one incapable of being resolved by any known process into simpler substances; the _element_ gold may be represented by an ingot or by a _particle_ of gold-dust. In popular language, an _element_ is any essential const.i.tuent; the ancients believed that the universe was made up of the four _elements_, earth, air, fire, and water; a storm is spoken of as a manifestation of the fury of the _elements_. We speak of _corpuscles_ of blood. Compare PART.

Antonyms:

aggregate, entirety, ma.s.s, quant.i.ty, sum, sum total, total, whole.

PATIENCE.

Synonyms:

calmness, forbearance, long-suffering, sufferance.

composure, fort.i.tude, resignation, endurance, leniency, submission,

_Patience_ is the quality or habit of mind shown in bearing pa.s.sively and uncomplainingly any pain, evil, or hards.h.i.+p that may fall to one's lot. _Endurance_ hardens itself against suffering, and may be merely stubborn; _fort.i.tude_ is _endurance_ animated by courage; _endurance_ may by modifiers be made to have a pa.s.sive force, as when we speak of "pa.s.sive endurance;" _patience_ is not so hard as _endurance_ nor so self-effacing as _submission_. _Submission_ is ordinarily and _resignation_ always applied to matters of great moment, while _patience_ may apply to slight worries and annoyances. As regards our relations to our fellow men, _forbearance_ is abstaining from retaliation or revenge; _patience_ is keeping kindliness of heart under vexatious conduct; _long-suffering_ is continued _patience_. _Patience_ may also have an active force denoting uncomplaining steadiness in doing, as in tilling the soil. Compare INDUSTRY.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for ANGER.

Prepositions:

Patience _in_ or _amid_ sufferings; patience _with_ (rarely _toward_) opposers or offenders; patience _under_ afflictions; (rarely) patience _of_ heat or cold, etc.

PAY, _n._

Synonyms:

allowance, hire, recompense, salary, compensation, honorarium, remuneration, stipend, earnings, payment, requital, wages.

fee,

An _allowance_ is a stipulated amount furnished at regular intervals as a matter of discretion or gratuity, as of food to besieged soldiers, or of money to a child or ward. _Compensation_ is a comprehensive word signifying a return for a service done. _Remuneration_ is applied to matters of great amount or importance. _Recompense_ is a still wider and loftier word, with less suggestion of calculation and market value; there are services for which affection and grat.i.tude are the sole and sufficient _recompense_; _earnings_, _fees_, _hire_, _pay_, _salary_, and _wages_ are forms of _compensation_ and may be included in _compensation_, _remuneration_, or _recompense_. _Pay_ is commercial and strictly signifies an exact pecuniary equivalent for a thing or service, except when the contrary is expressly stated, as when we speak of "high _pay_" or "poor _pay_." _Wages_ denotes what a worker receives.

_Earnings_ is often used as exactly equivalent to _wages_, but may be used with reference to the real value of work done or service rendered, and even applied to inanimate things; as, the _earnings_ of capital.

_Hire_ is distinctly mercenary or menial, but as a noun has gone out of popular use, tho the verb _to hire_ is common. _Salary_ is for literary or professional work, _wages_ for handicraft or other comparatively inferior service; a _salary_ is regarded as more permanent than _wages_; an editor receives a _salary_, a compositor receives _wages_. _Stipend_ has become exclusively a literary word. A _fee_ is given for a single service or privilege, and is sometimes in the nature of a gratuity.

Compare REQUITE.

PEOPLE.

Synonyms:

commonwealth, nation, race, state, tribe.

community, population,

A _community_ is in general terms the aggregate of persons inhabiting any territory in common and viewed as having common interests; a _commonwealth_ is such a body of persons having a common government, especially a republican government; as, the _commonwealth_ of Ma.s.sachusetts. A _community_ may be very small; a _commonwealth_ is ordinarily of considerable extent. A _people_ is the aggregate of any public _community_, either in distinction from their rulers or as including them; a _race_ is a division of mankind in the line of origin and ancestry; the _people_ of the United States includes members of almost every _race_. The use of _people_ as signifying persons collectively, as in the statement "The hall was full of _people_," has been severely criticized, but is old and accepted English, and may fitly be cla.s.sed as idiomatic, and often better than _persons_, by reason of its collectivism. As Dean Alford suggests, it would make a strange transformation of the old hymn "All _people_ that on earth do dwell" to sing "All _persons_ that on earth do dwell." A _state_ is an organized political _community_ considered in its corporate capacity as "a body politic and corporate;" as, a legislative act is the act of the _state_; every citizen is ent.i.tled to the protection of the _state_. A _nation_ is an organized political _community_ considered with reference to the persons composing it as having certain definite boundaries, a definite number of citizens, etc. The members of a _people_ are referred to as persons or individuals; the individual members of a _state_ or _nation_ are called citizens or subjects. The _population_ of a country is simply the aggregate of persons residing within its borders, without reference to _race_, organization, or allegiance; unnaturalized residents form part of the _population_, but not of the _nation_, possessing none of the rights and being subject to none of the duties of citizens. In American usage _State_ signifies one _commonwealth_ of the federal union known as the United _States_. _Tribe_ is now almost wholly applied to rude _peoples_ with very imperfect political organization; as, the Indian _tribes_; nomadic _tribes_. Compare MOB.

PERCEIVE.

Synonyms:

apprehend, comprehend, conceive, understand.

We _perceive_ what is presented through the senses. We _apprehend_ what is presented to the mind, whether through the senses or by any other means. Yet _perceive_ is used in the figurative sense of seeing through to a conclusion, in a way for which usage would not allow us to subst.i.tute _apprehend_; as, "Sir, I _perceive_ that thou art a prophet,"

_John_ iv, 19. That which we _apprehend_ we catch, as with the hand; that which we _conceive_ we are able to a.n.a.lyze and recompose in our mind; that which we _comprehend_, we, as it were, grasp around, take together, seize, embrace wholly within the mind. Many things may be _apprehended_ which can not be _comprehended_; a child can _apprehend_ the distinction between right and wrong, yet the philosopher can not _comprehend_ it in its fulness. We can _apprehend_ the will of G.o.d as revealed in conscience or the Scriptures; we can _conceive_ of certain attributes of Deity, as his truth and justice; but no finite intelligence can _comprehend_ the Divine Nature, in its majesty, power, and perfection. Compare ANTIc.i.p.aTE; ARREST; CATCH; KNOWLEDGE.

Antonyms:

fail of, ignore, lose, misapprehend, misconceive, miss, overlook.