English Synonyms and Antonyms — Language to Light

barbarism, expression, patois, vernacular, dialect, idiom, speech, vocabulary.

diction, mother tongue, tongue, _Language_ (F. _langage_ < L. _lingua_, the tongue) signified originally _expression_ of thought by spoken words, but now in its widest sense it signifies _expression_ of thought by any means; as, the _language_ of the eyes, the _language_ of flowers.

As regards the use of words, _language_ in its broadest sense denotes all the uttered sounds and their combinations into words and sentences that human beings employ for the communication of thought, and, in a more limited sense, the words or combinations forming a means of communication among the members of a single nation, people, or race.

_Speech_ involves always the power of articulate utterance; we can speak of the _language_ of animals, but not of their _speech_.

A _tongue_ is the _speech_ or _language_ of some one people, country, or race.

A _dialect_ is a special mode of speaking a _language_ peculiar to some locality or class, not recognized as in accordance with the best usage; a _barbarism_ is a perversion of a _language_ by ignorant foreigners, or some usage akin to that.

_Idiom_ refers to the construction of phrases and sentences, and the way of forming or using words; it is the peculiar mold in which each _language_ casts its thought.

The great difficulty of translation is to give the thought expressed in one _language_ in the _idiom_ of another.

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_dialect_ may be used by the highest as well as the lowest within its range; a _patois_ is distinctly illiterate, belonging to the lower classes; those who speak a _patois_ understand the cultured form of their own language, but speak only the degraded form, as in the case of the Italian lazzaroni or the former negro slaves in the United States.

_Vernacular_, from the Latin, has the same general sense as the Saxon _mother tongue_, of one's native _language_, or that of a people; as, the Scriptures were translated into the _vernacular_.

Compare DICTION.

* * * * * LARGE.

Synonyms: abundant, coarse, gigantic, long, ample, colossal, grand, massive, big, commodious, great, spacious, broad, considerable, huge, vast, bulky, enormous, immense, wide.

capacious, extensive, _Large_ denotes extension in more than one direction, and beyond the average of the class to which the object belongs; we speak of a _large_ surface or a _large_ solid, but of a _long_ line; a _large_ field, a _large_ room, a _large_ apple, etc. A _large_ man is a man of more than ordinary size; a _great_ man is a man of remarkable mental power.

_Big_ is a more emphatic word than _large_, but of less dignity.

We do not say that George Washington was a _big_ man.

Antonyms: brief, limited, minute, scanty, small, diminutive, little, narrow, short, tiny, inconsiderable, mean, paltry, slender, trifling, infinitesimal, microscopic, petty, slight, trivial.

insignificant, * * * * * LAW.

Synonyms: canon, economy, legislation, principle, code, edict, mandate, regulation, command, enactment, order, rule, commandment, formula, ordinance, statute.

decree, jurisprudence, polity, _Law_, in its ideal, is the statement of a _principle_ of right in mandatory form, by competent authority, with adequate penalty for disobedience; in common use, the term is applied to any legislative act, however imperfect or unjust.

_Command_ and _commandment_ are personal and particular; as, the _commands_ of a parent; the ten _commandments_.

An _edict_ is the act of an absolute sovereign or other authority; we speak of the _edict_ of an emperor, the _decree_ of a court.

A _mandate_ is specific, for an occasion or a purpose; a superior court issues its _mandate_ to an inferior court to send up its records.

_Statute_ is the recognized legal term for a specific _law_; _enactment_ is the more vague and general expression.

We speak of algebraic or chemical _formulas_, municipal _ordinances_, military _orders_, army _regulations_, ecclesiastical _canons_, the _rules_ of a business house.

_Law_ is often used, also, for a recognized _principle_, whose violation is attended with injury or loss that acts like a penalty; as, the _laws_ of business; the _laws_ of nature.

In more strictly scientific use, a natural _law_ is simply a recognized system of sequences or relations;

as, Kepler's _laws_ of planetary distances.

A _code_ is a system of _laws_; _jurisprudence_ is the science of _law_, or a system of _laws_ scientifically considered, classed, and interpreted; _legislation_, primarily the act of legislating, denotes also the body of _statutes_ enacted by a legislative body.

An _economy_ (Gr.

_oikonomia_, primarily the management of a house) is any comprehensive system of administration; as, domestic _economy_; but the word is extended to the administration or government of a state or people, signifying a body of _laws_ and _regulations_, with the entire system, political or religious, especially the latter, of which they form a part; as, the _code_ of Draco, Roman _jurisprudence_, British _legislation_, the Mosaic _economy_.

_Law_ is also used as a collective noun for a system of _laws_ or recognized _rules_ or _regulations_, including not only all special _laws_, but the _principles_ on which they are based.

The Mosaic _economy_ is known also as the Mosaic _law_, and we speak of the English common _law_, or the _law_ of nations.

_Polity_ (Gr.

_politeia_, from _polis_, a city) signifies the form, constitution, or method of government of a nation, state, church, or other institution; in usage it differs from _economy_ as applying rather to the system, while _economy_ applies especially to method, or to the system as administered; an _economy_ might be termed a _polity_ considered with especial reference to its practical administration, hence commonly with special reference to details or particulars, while _polity_ has more reference to broad _principles_.

* * * * * LIBERTY.

Synonyms: emancipation, freedom, independence, license.

In general terms, it may be said that _freedom_ is absolute, _liberty_ relative; _freedom_ is the absence of restraint, _liberty_ is primarily the removal or avoidance of restraint; in its broadest sense, it is the state of being exempt from the domination of others or from restricting circumstances.

_Freedom_ and _liberty_ are constantly interchanged; the slave is set at _liberty_, or gains his _freedom_; but _freedom_ is the nobler word.

_Independence_ is said of states or nations, _freedom_ and _liberty_ of individuals; the _independence_ of the United States did not secure _liberty_ or _freedom_ to its slaves.

_Liberty_ keeps quite strictly to the thought of being clear of restraint or compulsion;

_freedom_ takes a wider range, applying to other oppressive influences;

thus, we speak of _freedom_ from annoyance or intrusion.

_License_ is, in its limited sense, a permission or privilege granted by adequate authority, a bounded _liberty_; in the wider sense, _license_ is an ignoring and defiance of all that should restrain, and a reckless doing of all that individual caprice or passion may choose to do--a base and dangerous counterfeit of _freedom_.

Compare ALLOW; PERMISSION.

Antonyms: captivity, imprisonment, oppression, slavery, compulsion, necessity, serfdom, superstition, constraint, obligation, servitude, thraldom.

* * * * * LIGHT.

Synonyms: blaze, gleam, glow, shimmer, flame, gleaming, illumination, shine, flare, glimmer, incandescence, shining, flash, glistening, luster, sparkle, flicker, glistering, scintillation, twinkle, glare, glitter, sheen, twinkling.

_Light_, strictly denoting a form of radiant energy, is used as a general term for any luminous effect discernible by the eye, from the faintest phosphorescence to the _blaze_ of the noonday sun.

A _flame_ is both hot and luminous; if it contains few solid particles it will yield little _light_, tho it may afford intense heat, as in the case of a hydrogen-_flame_.

A _blaze_ is an extensive, brilliant _flame_.

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_flare_ is a wavering _flame_ or _blaze_; a _flash_ is a _light_ that appears and disappears in an instant; as, a _flash_ of lightning; the _flash_ of gunpowder.

The _glare_ and _glow_ are steady, the _glare_ painfully bright, the _glow_ subdued; as, the _glare_ of torches; the _glow_ of dying embers.

_Shine_ and _shining_ refer to a steady or continuous emission of _light_; _sheen_ is a faint _shining_, usually by reflection.

_Glimmer_, _glitter_, and _shimmer_ denote wavering _light_.

We speak of the _glimmer_ of distant lamps through the mist; of the _shimmer_ of waves in sun_light_ or moon_light_.

A _gleam_ is not wavering, but transient or intermittent; a sudden _gleam_ of _light_ came through the half-open door; a _glitter_ is a hard _light_; as, the _glitter_ of burnished arms.

A _sparkle_ is a sudden _light_, as of sparks thrown out; _scintillation_ is the more exact and scientific term for the actual emission of sparks, also the figurative term for what suggests such emission; as, _scintillations_ of wit or of genius.

_Twinkle_ and _twinkling_ are used of the intermittent _light_ of the fixed stars.

_Glistening_ is a _shining_ as from a wet surface.

_Illumination_ is a wide-spread, brilliant _light_, as when all the windows of a house or of a street are lighted.

The _light_ of _incandescence_ is intense and white like that from metal at a white heat.

Antonyms: blackness, darkness, dusk, gloominess, shade, dark, dimness, gloom, obscurity, shadow.

* * * * * LIKELY.

Synonyms: