English Synonyms and Antonyms — Body to By

Synonyms: ashes, clay, dust, frame, system, carcass, corpse, form, remains, trunk.

_Body_ denotes the entire physical structure, considered as a whole, of man or animal; _form_ looks upon it as a thing of shape and outline, perhaps of beauty; _frame_ regards it as supported by its bony framework; _system_ views it as an assemblage of many related and harmonious organs.

_Body_, _form_, _frame_, and _system_ may be either dead or living; _clay_ and _dust_ are sometimes so used in religious or poetic style, tho ordinarily these words are used only of the dead.

_Corpse_ and _remains_ are used only of the dead.

_Corpse_ is the plain technical word for a dead body still retaining its unity; _remains_ may be used after any lapse of time; the latter is also the more refined and less ghastly term; as, friends are invited to view the _remains_.

_Carcass_ applies only to the _body_ of an animal, or of a human being regarded with contempt and loathing.

Compare COMPANY.

Antonyms: intellect, intelligence, mind, soul, spirit.

* * * * * BOTH.

Synonyms: twain, two.

_Both_ refers to _two_ objects previously _mentioned_, or had in mind, viewed or acting in connection; as, _both_ men fired at once; "_two_ men fired" might mean any two, out of any number, and without reference to any previous thought or mention.

_Twain_ is a nearly obsolete form of _two_.

_The two_, or _the twain_, is practically equivalent to _both_;

_both_, however, expresses a closer unity.

We would say _both_ men rushed against the enemy; the _two_ men flew at each other.

Compare EVERY.

Antonyms: each, either, every, neither, none, no one, not any.

* * * * * BOUNDARY.

Synonyms: barrier, confines, limit, margin, border, edge, line, term, bound, enclosure, marches, termination, bourn, frontier, marge, verge.

bourne, landmark, The _boundary_ was originally the _landmark_, that which marked off one piece of territory from another.

The _bound_ is the _limit_, marked or unmarked.

Now, however, the difference between the two words has come to be simply one of usage.

As regards territory, we speak of the _boundaries_ of a nation or of an estate; the _bounds_ of a college, a ball-ground, etc. _Bounds_ may be used for all within the _limits_, _boundary_ for the limiting line only.

_Boundary_ looks to that which is without; _bound_ only to that which is within.

Hence we speak of the _bounds_, not the _boundaries_, of a subject, of the universe, etc. ; we say the students were forbidden to go beyond the _bounds_.

A _barrier_ is something that bars ingress or egress.

A _barrier_ may be a _boundary_, as was the Great Wall of China.

_Bourn_, or _bourne_, is a poetical expression for _bound_ or _boundary_.

A _border_ is a strip of land along the _boundary_.

_Edge_ is a sharp terminal line, as where river or ocean meets the land.

_Limit_ is now used almost wholly in the figurative sense; as, the _limit_ of discussion, of time, of jurisdiction.

_Line_ is a military term; as, within the _lines_, or through the _lines_, of an army.

Compare BARRIER; END.

Antonyms: center, citadel, estate, inside, interior, land, region, territory.

Prepositions: The boundaries _of_ an estate; the boundary _between_ neighboring territories.

* * * * * BRAVE.

Synonyms: adventurous, courageous, fearless, undaunted, bold, daring, gallant, undismayed, chivalric, dauntless, heroic, valiant, chivalrous, doughty, intrepid, venturesome.

The _adventurous_ man goes in quest of danger; the _bold_ man stands out and faces danger or censure; the _brave_ man combines confidence with resolution in presence of danger; the _chivalrous_ man puts himself in peril for others' protection.

The _daring_ step out to defy danger; the _dauntless_ will not flinch before anything that may come to them; the _doughty_ will give and take limitless hard knocks.

The _adventurous_ find something romantic in dangerous enterprises; the _venturesome_ may be simply heedless, reckless, or ignorant.

All great explorers have been _adventurous_; children, fools, and criminals are _venturesome_.

The _fearless_ and _intrepid_ possess unshaken nerves in any place of danger.

_Courageous_ is more than _brave_, adding a moral element: the _courageous_ man steadily encounters perils to which he may be keenly sensitive, at the call of duty; the _gallant_ are _brave_ in a dashing, showy, and splendid way; the _valiant_ not only dare great dangers, but achieve great results; the _heroic_ are nobly _daring_ and _dauntless_, truly _chivalrous_, sublimely _courageous_.

Compare FORTITUDE.

Antonyms: afraid, cringing, fearful, pusillanimous, timid, cowardly, faint-hearted, frightened, shrinking, timorous.

* * * * * BREAK.

Synonyms: bankrupt, crack, destroy, rive, shatter, split, burst, crush, fracture, rupture, shiver, sunder, cashier, demolish, rend, sever, smash, transgress.

To _break_ is to divide sharply, with severance of particles, as by a blow or strain.

To _burst_ is to _break_ by pressure from within, as a bombshell, but it is used also for the result of violent force otherwise exerted; as, to _burst_ in a door, where the door yields as if to an explosion.

To _crush_ is to _break_ by pressure from without, as an egg-shell.

To _crack_ is to _break_ without complete severance of parts;

a _cracked_ cup or mirror may still hold together.

_Fracture_ has a somewhat similar sense.

In a _fractured_ limb, the ends of the _broken_ bone may be separated, tho both portions are still retained within the common muscular tissue.

A _shattered_ object is _broken_ suddenly and in numerous directions; as, a vase is _shattered_ by a blow, a building by an earthquake.

A _shivered_ glass is _broken_ into numerous minute, needle-like fragments.

To _smash_ is to _break_ thoroughly to pieces with a crashing sound by some sudden act of violence; a watch once _smashed_ will scarcely be worth repair.

To _split_ is to cause wood to crack or part in the way of the grain, and is applied to any other case where a natural tendency to separation is enforced by an external cause;

as, to _split_ a convention or a party.

To _demolish_ is to beat down, as a mound, building, fortress, etc. ; to _destroy_ is to put by any process beyond restoration physically, mentally, or morally; to _destroy_ an army is so to _shatter_ and scatter it that it can not be rallied or reassembled as a fighting force.

Compare REND.

Antonyms: attach, bind, fasten, join, mend, secure, solder, unite, weld.

Prepositions: Break _to_ pieces, or _in_ pieces, _into_ several pieces (when the object is thought of as divided rather than shattered); break _with_ a friend; _from_ or _away from_ a suppliant; break _into_ a house; _out of_ prison; break _across_ one's knee; break _through_ a hedge; break _in upon_ one's retirement; break _over_ the rules; break _on_ or _upon_ the shore, _against_ the rocks.

* * * * * BRUTISH.

Synonyms: animal, brutal, ignorant, sensual, swinish, base, brute, imbruted, sottish, unintellectual, beastly, carnal, insensible, stolid, unspiritual, bestial, coarse, lascivious, stupid, vile.

A _brutish_ man simply follows his _animal_ instincts, without special inclination to do harm; the _brutal_ have always a spirit of malice and cruelty.

_Brute_ has no special character, except as indicating what a brute might possess; much the same is true of _animal_, except that _animal_ leans more to the side of sensuality, _brute_ to that of force, as appears in the familiar phrase "_brute_ force."

Hunger is an _animal_ appetite; a _brute_ impulse suddenly prompts one to strike a blow in anger.

_Bestial_, in modern usage, implies an intensified and degrading animalism.

Any supremacy of the _animal_ or _brute_ instincts over the intellectual and spiritual in man is _base_ and _vile_.

_Beastly_ refers largely to the outward and visible consequences of excess; as, _beastly_ drunkenness.

Compare ANIMAL.

Antonyms: elevated, exalted, great, intellectual, noble, enlightened, grand, humane, intelligent, refined.

* * * * * BURN.

Synonyms: blaze, char, flame, incinerate, set fire to, brand, consume, flash, kindle, set on fire, cauterize, cremate, ignite, scorch, singe.

To _burn_ is to subject to the action of fire, or of intense heat so as to effect either partial change or complete combustion; as, to _burn_ wood in the fire; to _burn_ one's hand on a hot stove; the sun _burns_ the face.

One _brands_ with a hot iron, but _cauterizes_ with some corrosive substance, as silver nitrate.

_Cremate_ is now used specifically for _consuming_ a dead body by intense heat.

To _incinerate_ is to reduce to ashes; the sense differs little from that of _cremate_, but it is in less popular use.

To _kindle_ is to _set on fire_, as if with a candle; _ignite_ is the more learned and scientific word for the same thing, extending even to the heating of metals to a state of incandescence without burning.

To _scorch_ and to _singe_ are superficial, and to _char_ usually so.

Both _kindle_ and _burn_ have an extensive figurative use; as, to _kindle_ strife; to _burn_ with wrath, love, devotion, curiosity.

Compare LIGHT.

Antonyms: cool, extinguish, put out, smother, stifle, subdue.

Prepositions: To burn _in_ the fire, burn _with_ fire; burn _to_ the ground, burn _to_ ashes; burn _through_ the skin, or the roof; burn _into_ the soil, etc. * * * * * BUSINESS.

Synonyms: affair, commerce, handicraft, trading, art, concern, job, traffic, avocation, craft, occupation, transaction, barter, duty, profession, vocation, calling, employment, trade, work.

A _business_ is what one follows regularly; an _occupation_ is what he happens at any time to be engaged in; trout-fishing may be one's _occupation_ for a time, as a relief from _business_; _business_ is ordinarily for profit, while the _occupation_ may be a matter of learning, philanthropy, or religion.

A _profession_ implies scholarship;

as, the learned _professions_.

_Pursuit_ is an _occupation_ which one follows with ardor.

An _avocation_ is what calls one away from other work; a _vocation_ or _calling_, that to which one is called by some special fitness or sense of duty; thus, we speak of the gospel ministry as a _vocation_ or _calling_, rather than a _business_.

_Trade_ or _trading_ is, in general, the exchanging of one thing for another; in the special sense, a _trade_ is an _occupation_ involving manual training and skilled labor; as, the ancient Jews held that every boy should learn a _trade_.

A _transaction_ is a single action, whether in _business_, diplomacy, or otherwise; _affair_ has a similar, but lighter meaning; as, this little _affair_; an important _transaction_.

The plural _affairs_ has a distinctive meaning, including all activities where men deal with one another on any considerable scale; as, a man of _affairs_.

A _job_ is a piece of work viewed as a single undertaking, and ordinarily paid for as such.

_Trade_ and _commerce_ may be used as equivalents, but _trade_ is capable of a more limited application; we speak of the _trade_ of a village, the _commerce_ of a nation.

_Barter_ is the direct exchange of commodities; _business_, _trade_, and _commerce_ are chiefly transacted by means of money, bills of exchange, etc. _Business_, _occupation_, etc. , may be what one does independently;

_employment_ may be in the service of another.

_Work_ is any application of energy to secure a result, or the result thus secured; thus, we speak of the _work_ of God.

_Art_ in the industrial sense is a system of rules and accepted methods for the accomplishment of some practical result;

as, the _art_ of printing; collectively, the _arts_.

A _craft_ is some occupation requiring technical skill or manual dexterity, or the persons, collectively, engaged in its exercise; as, the weaver's _craft_.

Prepositions: The business _of_ a druggist; in business _with_ his father; doing business _for_ his father; have you business _with_ me?

business _in_ New York; business _about_, _concerning_, or _in regard to_ certain property.

* * * * * BUT.

Synonyms: and, however, notwithstanding, that, barely, just, only, tho, besides, merely, provided, unless, except, moreover, save, yet.

further, nevertheless, still, _But_ ranges from the faintest contrast to absolute negation; as, I am willing to go, _but_ (on the other hand) content to stay; he is not an honest man, _but_ (on the contrary) a villain.

The contrast may be with a silent thought; as, _but_ let us go (it being understood that we might stay longer).

In restrictive use, _except_ and _excepting_ are slightly more emphatic than _but_; we say, no injury _but_ a scratch; or, no injury _except_ some painful bruises.

Such expressions as "words are _but_ breath" (nothing _but_) may be referred to the restrictive use by ellipsis.

So may the use of _but_ in the sense of _unless_; as, "it never rains _but_ it pours."

To the same head must be referred the conditional use; as, "you may go, _but_ with your father's consent" (_i.

e. _, "_provided_ you have," "_except_ that you must have," etc. ).

"Doubt _but_" is now less used than the more logical "doubt _that_."

_But_ never becomes a full synonym for _and_; _and_ adds something like, _but_ adds something different; "brave _and_ tender" implies that tenderness is natural to the brave; "brave _but_ tender" implies that bravery and tenderness are rarely combined.

For the concessive use, compare NOTWITHSTANDING.

* * * * * BY.

Synonyms: by dint of, by means of, through, with.

_By_ refers to the agent; _through_, to the means, cause, or condition;

_with_, to the instrument.

_By_ commonly refers to persons; _with_, to things; _through_ may refer to either.

The road having become impassable _through_ long disuse, a way was opened _by_ pioneers _with_ axes.

_By_ may, however, be applied to any object which is viewed as partaking of action and agency; as, the metal was corroded _by_ the acid; skill is gained _by_ practise.

We speak of communicating _with_ a person _by_ letter.

_Through_ implies a more distant connection than _by_ or _with_, and more intervening elements.

Material objects are perceived _by_ the mind _through_ the senses.

* * * * * CABAL.

Synonyms: