English Synonyms and Antonyms — Make to Meter

_Make_ is essentially causative; to the idea of _cause_ all its various senses may be traced (compare synonyms for CAUSE).

To _make_ is to _cause_ to exist, or to _cause_ to exist in a certain form or in certain relations; the word thus includes the idea of _create_, as in _Gen.

_ i, 31, "And God saw everything that he had _made_, and, behold, it was very good."

_Make_ includes also the idea of _compose_, _constitute_; as, the parts _make up_ the whole.

Similarly, to _cause_ a voluntary agent to do a certain act is to _make_ him do it, or _compel_ him to do it, _compel_ fixing the attention more on the process, _make_ on the accomplished fact.

Compare COMPEL; DO; INFLUENCE; (make better) AMEND; (make haste) QUICKEN; (make known) ANNOUNCE; AVOW; CONFESS; (make prisoner) ARREST;

(make up) ADD; (make void) CANCEL.

Antonyms: See synonyms for ABOLISH; BREAK; DEMOLISH.

Prepositions: Make _of_, _out of_, or _from_ certain materials, _into_ a certain form, _for_ a certain purpose or person; made _with_ hands, _by_ hand; made _by_ a prisoner, _with_ a jack-knife.

* * * * * MARRIAGE.

Synonyms: conjugal union, espousals, nuptials, spousals, wedding, espousal, matrimony, spousal, union, wedlock.

_Matrimony_ denotes the state of those who are united in the relation of husband and wife; _marriage_ denotes primarily the act of so uniting, but is extensively used for the state as well.

_Wedlock_, a word of specific legal use, is the Saxon term for the state or relation denoted by _matrimony_.

_Wedding_ denotes the ceremony, with any attendant festivities, by which two persons are united as husband and wife, _nuptials_ being the more formal and stately term to express the same idea.

Antonyms: bachelorhood, celibacy, divorce, maidenhood, virginity, widowhood.

Prepositions: Marriage _of_ or _between_ two persons; _of_ one person _to_ or _with_ another; _among_ the Greeks.

* * * * * MASCULINE.

Synonyms: male, manful, manlike, manly, mannish, virile.

We apply _male_ to the sex, _masculine_ to the qualities, especially to the stronger, hardier, and more imperious qualities that distinguish the _male_ sex; as applied to women, _masculine_ has often the depreciatory sense of unwomanly, rude, or harsh; as, a _masculine_ face or voice, or the like; tho one may say in a commendatory way, she acted with _masculine_ courage or decision.

_Manlike_ may mean only having the outward appearance or semblance of a man, or may be closely equivalent to _manly_.

_Manly_ refers to all the qualities and traits worthy of a man; _manful_, especially to the valor and prowess that become a man; we speak of a _manful_ struggle, _manly_ decision; we say _manly_ gentleness or tenderness; we could not say _manful_ tenderness.

_Mannish_ is a depreciatory word referring to the mimicry or parade of some superficial qualities of manhood; as, a _mannish_ boy or woman.

_Masculine_ may apply to the distinctive qualities of the _male_ sex at any age; _virile_ applies to the distinctive qualities of mature manhood only, as opposed not only to _feminine_ or _womanly_ but to _childish_, and is thus an emphatic word for _sturdy_, _intrepid_, etc. Antonyms: See synonyms for FEMININE.

* * * * * MASSACRE.

Synonyms: butchery, carnage, havoc, slaughter.

A _massacre_ is the indiscriminate killing in numbers of the unresisting or defenseless; _butchery_ is the killing of men rudely and ruthlessly as cattle are killed in the shambles.

_Havoc_ may not be so complete as _massacre_, nor so coldly brutal as _butchery_, but is more widely spread and furious; it is destruction let loose, and may be applied to organizations, interests, etc. , as well as to human life; "as for Saul, he made _havoc_ of the church," _Acts_ viii, 3. _Carnage_ (Latin _caro, carnis_, flesh) refers to widely scattered or heaped up corpses of the slain; _slaughter_ is similar in meaning, but refers more to the process, as _carnage_ does to the result; these two words only of the group may be used of great destruction of life in open and honorable battle, as when we say the enemy was repulsed with great _slaughter_, or the _carnage_ was terrible.

* * * * * MEDDLESOME.

Synonyms: impertinent, intrusive, meddling, obtrusive, officious.

The _meddlesome_ person interferes unasked in the affairs of others; the _intrusive_ person thrusts himself uninvited into their company or conversation; the _obtrusive_ person thrusts himself or his opinions conceitedly and undesirably upon their notice; the _officious_ person thrusts his services, unasked and undesired, upon others.

_Obtrusive_ is oftener applied to words, qualities, actions, etc. , than to persons;

_intrusive_ is used chiefly of persons, as is _officious_, tho we speak of _officious_ attentions, _intrusive_ remarks; _meddlesome_ is used indifferently of persons, or of words, qualities, actions, etc. Compare INQUISITIVE; INTERPOSE.

Antonyms: modest, reserved, retiring, shy, unassuming, unobtrusive.

* * * * * MELODY.

Synonyms: harmony, music, symphony, unison.

_Harmony_ is simultaneous; _melody_ is successive; _harmony_ is the pleasing correspondence of two or more notes sounded at once, _melody_ the pleasing succession of a number of notes continuously following one another.

A _melody_ may be wholly in one part; _harmony_ must be of two or more parts.

Accordant notes of different pitch sounded simultaneously produce _harmony_; _unison_ is the simultaneous sounding of two or more notes of the same pitch.

When the pitch is the same, there may be _unison_ between sounds of very different volume and quality, as a voice and a bell may sound in _unison_.

Tones sounded at the interval of an octave are also said to be in _unison_, altho this is not literally exact; this usage arises from the fact that bass and tenor voices in attempting to sound the same note as the soprano and alto will in fact sound a note an octave below.

_Music_ may denote the simplest _melody_ or the most complex and perfect _harmony_.

A _symphony_ (apart from its technical orchestral sense) is any pleasing consonance of musical sounds, vocal or instrumental, as of many accordant voices or instruments.

* * * * * MEMORY.

Synonyms: recollection, reminiscence, retrospect, retrospection.

remembrance, _Memory_ is the faculty by which knowledge is retained or recalled; in a more general sense, _memory_ is a retention of knowledge within the grasp of the mind, while _remembrance_ is the having what is known consciously before the mind.

_Remembrance_ may be voluntary or involuntary; a thing is brought to _remembrance_ or we call it to _remembrance_; the same is true of _memory_.

_Recollection_ involves volition, the mind making a distinct effort to recall something, or fixing the attention actively upon it when recalled.

_Reminiscence_ is a half-dreamy _memory_ of scenes or events long past; _retrospection_ is a distinct turning of the mind back upon the past, bringing long periods under survey.

_Retrospection_ is to _reminiscence_ much what _recollection_ is to _remembrance_.

Antonyms: forgetfulness, oblivion, obliviousness, oversight, unconsciousness.

* * * * * MERCY.

Synonyms: benevolence, favor, kindness, mildness, benignity, forbearance, lenience, pardon, blessing, forgiveness, leniency, pity, clemency, gentleness, lenity, tenderness.

compassion, grace, _Mercy_ is the exercise of less severity than one deserves, or in a more extended sense, the granting of _kindness_ or _favor_ beyond what one may rightly claim.

_Grace_ is _favor_, _kindness_, or _blessing_ shown to the undeserving; _forgiveness_, _mercy_, and _pardon_ are exercised toward the ill-deserving.

_Pardon_ remits the outward penalty which the offender deserves; _forgiveness_ dismisses resentment or displeasure from the heart of the one offended; _mercy_ seeks the highest possible good of the offender.

There may be _mercy_ without _pardon_, as in the mitigation of sentence, or in all possible alleviation of necessary severity; there may be cases where _pardon_ would not be _mercy_, since it would encourage to repetition of the offense, from which timely punishment might have saved.

_Mercy_ is also used in the wider sense of refraining from harshness or cruelty toward those who are in one's power without fault of their own; as, they besought the robber to have _mercy_.

_Clemency_ is a colder word than _mercy_, and without its religious associations, signifying _mildness_ and moderation in the use of power where severity would have legal or military, rather than moral sanction; it often denotes a habitual _mildness_ of disposition on the part of the powerful, and is matter rather of good nature or policy than of principle.

_Leniency_ or _lenity_ denotes an easy-going avoidance of severity; these words are more general and less magisterial than _clemency_; we should speak of the _leniency_ of a parent, the _clemency_ of a conqueror.

Compare PITY.

Antonyms: cruelty, implacability, punishment, rigor, sternness, hardness, justice, revenge, severity, vengeance.

harshness, penalty, Prepositions: The mercy _of_ God _to_ or _toward_ sinners; have mercy _on_ or _upon_ one.

* * * * * METER.

Synonyms: euphony, measure, rhythm, verse.

_Euphony_ is agreeable linguistic sound, however produced; _meter_, _measure_, and _rhythm_ denote agreeable succession of sounds in the utterance of connected words; _euphony_ may apply to a single word or even a single syllable; the other words apply to lines, sentences, paragraphs, etc. ; _rhythm_ and _meter_ may be produced by accent only, as in English, or by accent and quantity combined, as in Greek or Italian; _rhythm_ or _measure_ may apply either to prose or to poetry, or to music, dancing, etc. ; _meter_ is more precise than _rhythm_, applies only to poetry, and denotes a measured _rhythm_ with regular divisions into _verses_, stanzas, strophes, etc. A _verse_ is strictly a metrical line, but the word is often used as synonymous with stanza.

_Verse_, in the general sense, denotes metrical writing without reference to the thought involved; as, prose and _verse_.

Compare MELODY; POETRY.

* * * * * MIND.

Synonyms: