English Synonyms and Antonyms — Immediately to Influence

at once, instanter, presently, straightway, directly, instantly, right away, this instant, forthwith, now, right off, without delay.

The strong and general human tendency to procrastination is shown in the progressive weakening of the various words in this group.

_Immediately_ primarily signifies without the intervention of anything as a medium, hence without the intervention of any, even the briefest, interval or lapse of time.

_By and by_, which was once a synonym, has become an antonym of _immediately_, meaning at some (perhaps remote) future time.

_Directly_, which once meant with no intervening time, now means after some little while; _presently_ no longer means in this very present, but before very long.

Even _immediately_ is sliding from its instantaneousness, so that we are fain to substitute _at once_, _instantly_, etc. , when we would make promptness emphatic.

_Right away_ and _right off_ are vigorous conversational expressions in the United States.

Antonyms: after a while, by and by, hereafter, in the future, some time.

* * * * * IMMERSE.

Synonyms: bury, dip, douse, duck, immerge, plunge, sink, submerge.

_Dip_ is Saxon, while _immerse_ is Latin for the same initial act; _dip_ is accordingly the more popular and commonplace, _immerse_ the more elegant and dignified expression in many cases.

To speak of baptism by immersion as _dipping_ now seems rude; tho entirely proper and usual in early English.

Baptists now universally use the word _immerse_.

To _dip_ and to _immerse_ alike signify to _bury_ or _submerge_ some object in a liquid; but _dip_ implies that the object _dipped_ is at once removed from the liquid, while _immerse_ is wholly silent as to the removal.

_Immerse_ also suggests more absolute completeness of the action; one may _dip_ his sleeve or _dip_ a sponge in a liquid, if he but touches the edge; if he _immerses_ it, he completely _sinks_ it under, and covers it with the liquid.

_Submerge_ implies that the object can not readily be removed, if at all; as, a _submerged_ wreck.

To _plunge_ is to _immerse_ suddenly and violently, for which _douse_ and _duck_ are colloquial terms.

_Dip_ is used, also, unlike the other words, to denote the putting of a hollow vessel into a liquid in order to remove a portion of it; in this sense we say _dip up_, _dip out_.

Compare synonyms for BURY.

Preposition: The object is immersed _in_ water.

* * * * * IMMINENT.

Synonyms: impending, threatening.

_Imminent_, from the Latin, with the sense of projecting over, signifies liable to happen at once, as some calamity, dangerous and close at hand.

_Impending_, also from the Latin, with the sense of hanging over, is closely akin to _imminent_, but somewhat less emphatic.

_Imminent_ is more immediate, _impending_ more remote, _threatening_ more contingent.

An _impending_ evil is almost sure to happen at some uncertain time, perhaps very near; an _imminent_ peril is one liable to befall very speedily; a _threatening_ peril may be near or remote, but always with hope that it may be averted.

Antonyms: chimerical, doubtful, problematical, unexpected, unlikely.

contingent, improbable, * * * * * IMPEDIMENT.

Synonyms: bar, clog, encumbrance, obstacle, barrier, difficulty, hindrance, obstruction.

_Difficulty_ makes an undertaking otherwise than easy.

That which rests upon one as a burden is an _encumbrance_.

An _impediment_ is primarily something that checks the foot or in any way makes advance slow or difficult; an _obstacle_ is something that stands across the way, an _obstruction_ something that is built or placed across the way.

An _obstruction_ is always an _obstacle_, but an _obstacle_ may not always be properly termed an _obstruction_; boxes and bales placed on the sidewalk are _obstructions_ to travel; an ice-floe is an _obstacle_ to navigation, and may become an _obstruction_ if it closes an inlet or channel.

A _hindrance_ (kindred with _hind_, _behind_) is anything that makes one come behind or short of his purpose.

An _impediment_ may be either what one finds in his way or what he carries with him;

_impedimenta_ was the Latin name for the baggage of a soldier or of an army.

The tendency is to view an _impediment_ as something constant or, at least for a time, continuous; as, an _impediment_ in one's speech.

A

_difficulty_ or a _hindrance_ may be either within one or without; a speaker may find _difficulty_ in expressing himself, or _difficulty_ in holding the attention of restless children.

An _encumbrance_ is always what one carries with him; an _obstacle_ or an _obstruction_ is always without.

To a marching soldier the steepness of a mountain path is a _difficulty_, loose stones are _impediments_, a fence is an _obstruction_, a cliff or a boulder across the way is an _obstacle_; a knapsack is an _encumbrance_.

Antonyms: advantage, aid, assistance, benefit, help, relief, succor.

* * * * * IMPUDENCE.

Synonyms: assurance, impertinence, intrusiveness, presumption, boldness, incivility, officiousness, rudeness, effrontery, insolence, pertness, sauciness.

forwardness, _Impertinence_ primarily denotes what does not pertain or belong to the occasion or the person, and hence comes to signify interference by word or act not consistent with the age, position, or relation of the person interfered with or of the one who interferes; especially, forward, presumptuous, or meddlesome speech.

_Impudence_ is shameless _impertinence_.

What would be arrogance in a superior becomes _impertinence_ or _impudence_ in an inferior.

_Impertinence_ has less of intent and determination than _impudence_.

We speak of thoughtless _impertinence_, shameless _impudence_.

_Insolence_ is literally that which is against custom, _i.

e. _, the violation of customary respect and courtesy.

_Officiousness_ is thrusting upon others unasked and undesired service, and is often as well-meant as it is annoying.

_Rudeness_ is the behavior that might be expected from a thoroughly uncultured person, and may be either deliberate and insulting or unintentional and even unconscious.

Compare ARROGANCE; ASSURANCE; EFFRONTERY; PERTNESS.

Antonyms: bashfulness, diffidence, lowliness, modesty, coyness, humility, meekness, submissiveness.

Prepositions: The impudence _of_, or impudence _from_, a subordinate _to_ a superior.

* * * * * INCONGRUOUS.

Synonyms: absurd, ill-matched, inharmonious, conflicting, inapposite, irreconcilable, contradictory, inappropriate, mismatched, contrary, incommensurable, mismated, discordant, incompatible, repugnant, discrepant, inconsistent, unsuitable.

Two or more things that do not fit well together, or are not adapted to each other, are said to be _incongruous_; a thing is said to be _incongruous_ that is not adapted to the time, place, or occasion; the term is also applied to a thing made up of ill-assorted parts or _inharmonious_ elements.

_Discordant_ is applied to all things that jar in association like musical notes that are not in accord; _inharmonious_ has the same original sense, but is a milder term.

_Incompatible_ primarily signifies unable to sympathize or feel alike; _inconsistent_ means unable to stand together.

Things are _incompatible_ which can not exist together in harmonious relations, and whose action when associated tends to ultimate extinction of one by the other.

_Inconsistent_ applies to things that can not be made to agree in thought with each other, or with some standard of truth or right; slavery and freedom are _inconsistent_ with each other in theory, and _incompatible_ in fact.

_Incongruous_ applies to relations, _unsuitable_ to purpose or use; two colors are _incongruous_ which can not be agreeably associated; either may be _unsuitable_ for a person, a room, or an occasion.

_Incommensurable_ is a mathematical term, applying to two or more quantities that have no common measure or aliquot part.

Antonyms: accordant, agreeing, compatible, consistent, harmonious, suitable.

Preposition: The illustrations were incongruous _with_ the theme.

* * * * * INDUCTION.

Synonyms: deduction, inference.

_Deduction_ is reasoning from the general to the particular; _induction_ is reasoning from the particular to the general.

_Deduction_ proceeds from a general principle through an admitted instance to a conclusion.

_Induction_, on the other hand, proceeds from a number of collated instances, through some attribute common to them all, to a general principle.

The proof of an _induction_ is by using its conclusion as the premise of a new _deduction_.

Thus what is ordinarily known as scientific _induction_ is a constant interchange of _induction_ and _deduction_.

In _deduction_, if the general rule is true, and the special case falls under the rule, the conclusion is certain;

_induction_ can ordinarily give no more than a probable conclusion, because we can never be sure that we have collated all instances.

An _induction_ is of the nature of an _inference_, but while an _inference_ may be partial and hasty, an _induction_ is careful, and aims to be complete.

Compare DEMONSTRATION; HYPOTHESIS.

* * * * * INDUSTRIOUS.

Synonyms: active, busy, employed, occupied, assiduous, diligent, engaged, sedulous.

_Industrious_ signifies zealously or habitually applying oneself to any work or business.

_Busy_ applies to an activity which may be temporary, _industrious_ to a habit of life.

We say a man is _busy_ just now; that is, _occupied_ at the moment with something that takes his full attention.

It would be ridiculous or satirical to say, he is _industrious_ just now.

But _busy_ can be used in the sense of _industrious_, as when we say he is a _busy_ man.

_Diligent_ indicates also a disposition, which is ordinarily habitual, and suggests more of heartiness and volition than _industrious_.

We say one is a _diligent_, rather than an _industrious_, reader of the Bible.

In the use of the nouns, we speak of plodding _industry_, but not of plodding _diligence_.

Compare ACTIVE; INDUSTRY.

Antonyms: See synonyms for IDLE.

* * * * * INDUSTRY.

Synonyms: application, diligence, labor, persistence, assiduity, effort, pains, sedulousness.

attention, exertion, patience, constancy, intentness, perseverance, _Industry_ is the quality, action, or habit of earnest, steady, and continued attention or devotion to any useful or productive work or task, manual or mental.

_Assiduity_ (L. _ad_, to, and _sedeo_, sit), as the etymology suggests, sits down to a task until it is done.

_Diligence_ (L. _diligo_, love, choose) invests more effort and exertion, with love of the work or deep interest in its accomplishment;

_application_ (L. _ad_, to, and _plico_, fold) bends to its work and concentrates all one's powers upon it with utmost intensity; hence, _application_ can hardly be as unremitting as _assiduity_.

_Constancy_ is a steady devotion of heart and principle.

_Patience_ works on in spite of annoyances; _perseverance_ overcomes hindrances and difficulties; _persistence_ strives relentlessly against opposition;

_persistence_ has very frequently an unfavorable meaning, implying that one persists in spite of considerations that should induce him to desist.

_Industry_ is _diligence_ applied to some avocation, business, or profession.

_Labor_ and _pains_ refer to the _exertions_ of the worker and the tax upon him, while _assiduity_, _perseverance_, etc. , refer to his continuance in the work.

Antonyms: changeableness, idleness, inconstancy, neglect, remissness, fickleness, inattention, indolence, negligence, sloth.

* * * * * INFINITE.

Synonyms: absolute, illimitable, limitless, unconditioned, boundless, immeasurable, measureless, unfathomable, countless, innumerable, numberless, unlimited, eternal, interminable, unbounded, unmeasured.

_Infinite_ (L. _in_, not, and _finis_, limit) signifies without bounds or limits in any way, and may be applied to space, time, quantity, or number.

_Countless_, _innumerable_, and _numberless_, which should be the same as _infinite_, are in common usage vaguely employed to denote what it is difficult or practically impossible to count or number, tho perhaps falling far short of _infinite_; as, _countless_ leaves, the _countless_ sands on the seashore, _numberless_ battles, _innumerable_ delays.

So, too, _boundless_, _illimitable_, _limitless_, _measureless_, and _unlimited_ are loosely used in reference to what has no apparent or readily determinable limits in space or time; as, we speak of the _boundless_ ocean.

_Infinite_ space is without bounds, not only in fact, but in thought; _infinite_ time is truly _eternal_.

Compare synonyms for ETERNAL.

Antonyms: bounded, finite, measurable, restricted, small, brief, limited, moderate, shallow, transient, circumscribed, little, narrow, short, transitory.

evanescent, * * * * * INFLUENCE.

Synonyms: actuate, draw, impel, induce, move, stir, compel, drive, incite, instigate, persuade, sway, dispose, excite, incline, lead, prompt, urge.

To _influence_ (L. _in_, in or into, and _fluo_, flow) is to affect, modify, or act upon by physical, mental, or moral power, especially in some gentle, subtle, and gradual way; as, vegetation is _influenced_ by light; every one is _influenced_ to some extent by public opinion;

_influence_ is chiefly used of power acting from without, tho it may be used of motives regarded as forces acting upon the will.

_Actuate_ refers solely to mental or moral power _impelling_ one from within.

One may _influence_, but can not directly _actuate_ another; but one may be _actuated_ to cruelty by hatred which another's misrepresentation has aroused.

_Prompt_ and _stir_ are words of mere suggestion toward some course of action; _dispose_, _draw_, _incline_, _influence_, and _lead_ refer to the use of mild means to awaken in another a purpose or disposition to act.

To _excite_ is to arouse one from lethargy or indifference to action.

_Incite_ and _instigate_, to spur or goad one to action, differ in the fact that _incite_ may be to good, while _instigate_ is always to evil (compare ABET).

To _urge_ and _impel_ signify to produce strong excitation toward some act.

We are _urged_ from without, _impelled_ from within.

_Drive_ and _compel_ imply irresistible influence accomplishing its object.

One may be _driven_ either by his own passions or by external force or urgency; one is _compelled_ only by some external power; as, the owner was _compelled_ by his misfortunes to sell his estate.

Compare COMPEL; DRIVE.

Antonyms: deter, dissuade, impede, prevent, restrain, retard.

discourage, hinder, inhibit, Prepositions: Actuated _to_ crime _by_ revenge.

* * * * * INHERENT.

Synonyms: