English Synonyms and Antonyms — Employ to Enmity

Synonyms: call, engage, engross, hire, make use of, use, use up.

In general terms it may be said that to _employ_ is to devote to one's purpose, to _use_ is to render subservient to one's purpose; what is _used_ is viewed as more absolutely an instrument than what is _employed_; a merchant _employs_ a clerk; he _uses_ pen and paper; as a rule, _use_ is not said of persons, except in a degrading sense; as, the conspirators _used_ him as a go-between.

Hence the expression common in some religious circles "that God would _use_ me" is not to be commended;

it has also the fault of representing the human worker as absolutely a passive and helpless instrument; the phrase is altogether unscriptural;

the Scripture says, "We are laborers together with (co-workers with) God."

That which is _used_ is often consumed in the _using_, or in familiar phrase _used up_; as, we _used_ twenty tons of coal last winter; in such cases we could not substitute _employ_.

A person may be _employed_ in his own work or in that of another; in the latter case the service is always understood to be for pay.

In this connection _employ_ is a word of more dignity than _hire_; a general is _employed_ in his country's service; a mercenary adventurer is _hired_ to fight a tyrant's battles.

It is unsuitable, according to present usage, to speak of _hiring_ a pastor; the Scripture, indeed, says of the preacher, "The laborer is worthy of his hire;" but this sense is archaic, and _hire_ now implies that the one _hired_ works directly and primarily for the pay, as expressed in the noun "hireling;" a Pastor is properly said to be _called_, or when the business side of the transaction is referred to, _engaged_, or possibly _employed_, at a certain salary.

Prepositions: Employ _in_, _on_, _upon_, or _about_ a work, business, etc. ; _for_ a purpose; _at_ a stipulated salary.

* * * * * END, _v.

_ Synonyms: break off, close, conclude, expire, quit, terminate, cease, complete, desist, finish, stop, wind up.

That _ends_, or is _ended_, of which there is no more, whether or not more was intended or needed; that is _closed_, _completed_, _concluded_, or _finished_ which has come to an expected or appropriate end.

A speech may be _ended_ almost as soon as begun, because of the speaker's illness, or of tumult in the audience; in such a case, the speech is neither _closed_, _completed_, nor _finished_, nor, in the strict sense, _concluded_.

An argument may be _closed_ with nothing proved; when an argument is _concluded_ all that is deemed necessary to prove the point has been stated.

To _finish_ is to do the last thing there is to do; as, "I have _finished_ my course," _2 Tim.

_ iv, 7. _Finish_ has come to mean, not merely to _complete_ in the essentials, but to perfect in all the minute details, as in the expression "to add the _finishing_ touches."

The enumeration is _completed_; the poem, the picture, the statue is _finished_.

To _terminate_ may be either to bring to an arbitrary or to an appropriate end; as, he _terminated_ his remarks abruptly; the spire _terminates_ in a cross.

A thing _stops_ that comes to rest from motion; or the motion _stops_ or _ceases_ when the object comes to rest; _stop_ frequently signifies to bring or come to a sudden and decided cessation of motion, progress, or action of any kind.

Compare DO; TRANSACT.

Antonyms: See synonyms for BEGIN.

* * * * * END, _n.

_ Synonyms: accomplishment, effect, limit, achievement, expiration, outcome, bound, extent, period, boundary, extremity, point, cessation, finale, purpose, close, finis, result, completion, finish, termination, conclusion, fulfilment, terminus, consequence, goal, tip, consummation, intent, utmost, design, issue, uttermost.

The _end_ is the terminal part of a material object that has length; the _extremity_ is distinctively the terminal _point_, and may thus be but part of the _end_ in the general sense of that word; the _extremity_ is viewed as that which is most remote from some center, or some mean or standard position; the southern _end_ of South America includes all Patagonia, the southern _extremity_ or _point_ is Cape Horn.

_Tip_ has nearly the same meaning as _extremity_, but is said of small or slight and tapering objects; as, the _tip_ of the finger; _point_ in such connections is said of that which is drawn out to exceeding fineness or sharpness, as the _point_ of a needle, a fork, or a sword; _extremity_ is said of something considerable; we do not speak of the _extremity_ of a needle.

_Terminus_ is chiefly used to designate the _end_ of a line of travel or transportation: specifically, the furthermost station in any direction on a railway, or by extension the town or village where it is situated.

_Termination_ is the Latin and more formal word for the Saxon _end_, but is chiefly used of time, words, undertakings, or abstractions of any kind.

_Expiration_ signifies the coming to an _end_ in the natural course of things; as, the _expiration_ of a year, or of a lease;

it is used of things of some consequence; we do not ordinarily speak of the _expiration_ of an hour or of a day.

_Limit_ implies some check to or restraint upon further advance, right, or privilege; as, the _limits_ of an estate (compare BOUNDARY).

A _goal_ is an _end_ sought or striven for, as in a race.

For the figurative senses of _end_ and its associated words, compare the synonyms for the verb END; also for AIM; CONSEQUENCE;

DESIGN.

Antonyms: See synonyms for BEGINNING.

* * * * * ENDEAVOR, _v.

_ Synonyms: attempt, essay, strive, try, undertake.

To _attempt_ is to take action somewhat experimentally with the hope and purpose of accomplishing a certain result; to _endeavor_ is to _attempt_ strenuously and with firm and enduring purpose.

To _attempt_ expresses a single act; to _endeavor_, a continuous exertion; we say I will _endeavor_ (not I will _attempt_) while I live.

To _attempt_ is with the view of accomplishing; to _essay_, with a view of testing our own powers.

To _undertake_ is to accept or take upon oneself as an obligation, as some business, labor, or trust; the word often implies complete assurance of success; as, I will _undertake_ to produce the witness.

To _strive_ suggests little of the result, much of toil, strain, and contest, in seeking it; I will _strive_ to fulfil your wishes, _i.

e. _, I will spare no labor and exertion to do it.

_Try_ is the most comprehensive of these words.

The original idea of testing or experimenting is not thought of when a man says "I will _try_."

To _attempt_ suggests giving up, if the thing is not accomplished at a stroke; to _try_ implies using other means and studying out other ways if not at first successful.

_Endeavor_ is more mild and formal; the pilot in the burning pilot-house does not say "I will _endeavor_" or "I will _attempt_ to hold the ship to her course," but "I'll _try_, sir!"

Antonyms: abandon, give up, omit, throw away, dismiss, let go, overlook, throw over, drop, neglect, pass by, throw up.

* * * * * ENDEAVOR, _n.

_ Synonyms: attempt, effort, essay, exertion, struggle, trial.

_Effort_ denotes the voluntary putting forth of power to attain or accomplish some specific thing; it reaches toward a definite end;

_exertion_ is a putting forth of power without special reference to an object.

Every _effort_ is an _exertion_, but not every _exertion_ is an _effort_.

_Attempt_ is more experimental than _effort_, _endeavor_ less strenuous but more continuous.

An _effort_ is a single act, an _endeavor_ a continued series of acts; an _endeavor_ is sustained and enduring, and may be lifelong; we do not have a society of Christian _Attempt_, or of Christian _Effort_, but of Christian _Endeavor_.

A

_struggle_ is a violent _effort_ or strenuous _exertion_.

An _essay_ is an _attempt_, _effort_, or _endeavor_ made as a test of the powers of the one who makes it.

Compare ENDEAVOR, _v.

_ * * * * * ENDURE.

Synonyms: abide, bear, brook, submit to, sustain, afford, bear up under, permit, suffer, tolerate, allow, bear with, put up with, support, undergo.

_Bear_ is the most general of these words; it is metaphorically to hold up or keep up a burden of care, pain, grief, annoyance, or the like, without sinking, lamenting, or repining.

_Allow_ and _permit_ involve large concession of the will; _put up with_ and _tolerate_ imply decided aversion and reluctant withholding of opposition or interference;

whispering is _allowed_ by the school-teacher who does not forbid nor censure it; one _puts up with_ the presence of a disagreeable visitor; a state _tolerates_ a religion which it would be glad to suppress.

To _endure_ is to _bear with_ strain and resistance, but with conscious power; _endure_ conveys a fuller suggestion of contest and conquest than _bear_.

One may choose to _endure_ the pain of a surgical operation rather than take anesthetics; he _permits_ the thing to come which he must brace himself to _endure_ when it comes.

To _afford_ is to be equal to a pecuniary demand, _i.

e. _, to be able to _bear_ it.

To _brook_ is quietly to _put up with_ provocation or insult.

_Abide_ combines the senses of await and _endure_; as, I will _abide_ the result.

Compare ABIDE; SUPPORT.

Antonyms: break, despair, fail, fall, give out, sink, surrender, break down, droop, faint, falter, give up, succumb, yield.

* * * * * ENEMY.

Synonyms: adversary, antagonist, competitor, foe, opponent, rival.

An _enemy_ in private life is one who is moved by hostile feeling with active disposition to injure; but in military language all who fight on the opposite side are called _enemies_ or collectively "the _enemy_," where no personal animosity may be implied; _foe_, which is rather a poetical and literary word, implies intensely hostile spirit and purpose.

An _antagonist_ is one who opposes and is opposed actively and with intensity of effort; an _opponent_, one in whom the attitude of resistance is the more prominent; a _competitor_, one who seeks the same object for which another is striving; _antagonists_ in wrestling, _competitors_ in business, _opponents_ in debate may contend with no personal ill will; _rivals_ in love, ambition, etc. , rarely avoid inimical feeling.

_Adversary_ was formerly much used in the general sense of _antagonist_ or _opponent_, but is now less common, and largely restricted to the hostile sense; an _adversary_ is ordinarily one who not only opposes another in fact, but does so with hostile spirit, or perhaps out of pure malignity; as, the great _Adversary_.

Compare synonyms for AMBITION.

Antonyms: abettor, accessory, accomplice, ally, friend, helper, supporter.

Prepositions: He was the enemy _of_ my friend _in_ the contest.

* * * * * ENMITY.

Synonyms: acrimony, bitterness, ill will, malignity, animosity, hatred, malevolence, rancor, antagonism, hostility, malice, spite.

_Enmity_ is the state of being an enemy or the feeling and disposition characterizing an enemy (compare ENEMY).

_Animosity_ denotes a feeling more active and vehement, but often less enduring and determined, than _enmity_.

_Enmity_ distinctly recognizes its object as an enemy, to be met or dealt with accordingly.

_Hostility_ is _enmity_ in action; the term _hostilities_ between nations denotes actual armed collision.

_Bitterness_ is a resentful feeling arising from a belief that one has been wronged; _acrimony_ is a kindred feeling, but deeper and more persistent, and may arise from the crossing of one's wishes or plans by another, where no injustice or wrong is felt.

_Antagonism_, as between two competing authors or merchants, does not necessarily imply _enmity_, but ordinarily suggests a shade, at least, of hostile feeling.

_Malice_ is a disposition or intent to injure others, for the gratification of some evil passion; _malignity_ is intense and violent _enmity_, _hatred_, or _malice_.

Compare synonyms for ACRIMONY; ANGER; HATRED.

Antonyms: agreement, amity, friendship, kindliness, regard, alliance, concord, harmony, kindness, sympathy.

* * * * * ENTERTAIN.