English Synonyms and Antonyms — Revenge to Rustic

avenging, retaliation, retribution, vengeance.

requital, _Revenge_ is the act of making return for an injury done to oneself by doing injury to another person.

_Retaliation_ and _revenge_ are personal and often bitter.

_Retaliation_ may be partial; _revenge_ is meant to be complete, and may be excessive.

_Vengeance_, which once meant an indignant vindication of justice, now signifies the most furious and unsparing _revenge_.

_Revenge_ emphasizes more the personal injury in return for which it is inflicted, _vengeance_ the ill desert of those upon whom it is inflicted.

A _requital_ is strictly an even return, such as to quit one of obligation for what has been received, and even if poor or unworthy is given as complete and adequate.

_Avenging_ and _retribution_ give a solemn sense of exact justice, _avenging_ being more personal in its infliction, whether by God or man, and _retribution_ the impersonal visitation of the doom of righteous law.

Compare AVENGE; HATRED; REQUITE.

Antonyms: compassion, forgiveness, mercy, pardon, pity, reconciliation.

excuse, grace, Prepositions: To take revenge _upon_ the enemy, _for_ the injury.

* * * * * REVOLUTION.

Synonyms: anarchy, insurrection, revolt, confusion, lawlessness, riot, disintegration, mutiny, sedition, disorder, rebellion, tumult.

insubordination, The essential idea of _revolution_ is a change in the form of government or constitution, or a change of rulers, otherwise than as provided by the laws of succession, election, etc. ; while such change is apt to involve armed hostilities, these make no necessary part of the _revolution_.

The _revolution_ by which Dom Pedro was dethroned, and Brazil changed from an empire to a republic, was accomplished without a battle, and almost without a shot.

_Anarchy_ refers to the condition of a state when human government is superseded or destroyed by factions or other causes.

_Lawlessness_ is a temper of mind or condition of the community which may result in _anarchy_.

_Confusion_, _disorder_, _riot_, and _tumult_ are incidental and temporary outbreaks of _lawlessness_, but may not be _anarchy_.

_Insubordination_ is individual disobedience.

_Sedition_ is the plotting, _rebellion_ the fighting, against the existing government, but always with the purpose of establishing some other government in its place.

When _rebellion_ is successful it is called _revolution_; but there may be _revolution_ without _rebellion_; as, the English _Revolution_ of 1688. A _revolt_ is an uprising against existing authority without the comprehensive views of change in the form or administration of government that are involved in _revolution_.

_Anarchy_, when more than temporary _disorder_, is a proposed _disintegration_ of society, in which it is imagined that social order might exist without government.

Slaves make _insurrection_;

soldiers or sailors break out in _mutiny_; subject provinces rise in _revolt_.

Compare SOCIALISM.

Antonyms: authority, domination, government, obedience, sovereignty, command, dominion, law, order, submission, control, empire, loyalty, rule, supremacy.

* * * * * REVOLVE.

Synonyms: roll, rotate, turn.

Any round body _rolls_ which continuously touches with successive portions of its surface successive portions of another surface; a wagon-wheel _rolls_ along the ground.

To _rotate_ is said of a body that has a circular motion about its own center or axis; to _revolve_ is said of a body that moves in a curving path, as a circle or an ellipse, about a center outside of itself, so as to return periodically to the same relative position that it held at some previous time.

A _revolving_ body may also either _rotate_ or _roll_ at the same time; the earth _revolves_ around the sun, and _rotates_ on its own axis; in popular usage, the earth is often said to _revolve_ about its own axis, or to have a daily "revolution," but _rotate_ and "rotation" are the more accurate terms.

A cylinder over which an endless belt is drawn is said to _roll_ as regards the belt, tho it _rotates_ as regards its own axis.

Any object that is in contact with or connected with a _rolling_ body is often said to _roll_; as, the car _rolls_ smoothly along the track.

Objects whose motion approximates or suggests a rotary motion along a supporting surface are also said to _roll_; as, ocean waves _roll_ in upon the shore, or the ship _rolls_ in the trough of the sea.

_Turn_ is a conversational and popular word often used vaguely for _rotate_ or _revolve_, or for any motion about a fixed point, especially for a motion less than a complete "rotation" or "revolution;" a man _turns_ his head or _turns_ on his heel; the gate _turns_ on its hinges.

Antonyms: bind, chafe, grind, slide, slip, stand, stick.

* * * * * RIDDLE, _n.

_ Synonyms: conundrum, enigma, paradox, problem, puzzle.

_Conundrum_, a word of unknown origin, signifies some question or statement in which some hidden and fanciful resemblance is involved, the answer often depending upon a pun; an _enigma_ is a dark saying; a _paradox_ is a true statement that at first appears absurd or contradictory; a _problem_ is something thrown out for solution;

_puzzle_ (from _oppose_) referred originally to the intricate arguments by which disputants opposed each other in the old philosophic schools.

The _riddle_ is an ambiguous or paradoxical statement with a hidden meaning to be guessed by the mental acuteness of the one to whom it is proposed; the _riddle_ is not so petty as the _conundrum_, and may require much acuteness for its answer; a _problem_ may require simply study and scholarship, as a _problem_ in mathematics; a _puzzle_ may be in something other than verbal statement, as a dissected map or any perplexing mechanical contrivance.

Both _enigma_ and _puzzle_ may be applied to any matter difficult of answer or solution, _enigma_ conveying an idea of greater dignity, _puzzle_ applying to something more commonplace and mechanical; there are many dark _enigmas_ in human life and in the course of providence; the location of a missing object is often a _puzzle_.

Antonyms: answer, axiom, explanation, proposition, solution.

* * * * * RIGHT, _n.

_ Synonyms: claim, franchise, liberty, prerogative, exemption, immunity, license, privilege.

A _right_ is that which one may properly demand upon considerations of justice, morality, equity, or of natural or positive law.

A _right_ may be either general or special, natural or artificial.

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" are the natural and inalienable _rights_ of all men; _rights_ of property, inheritance, etc. , are individual and special, and often artificial, as the _right_ of inheritance by primogeniture.

A _privilege_ is always special, exceptional, and artificial; it is something not enjoyed by all, or only to be enjoyed on certain special conditions, a peculiar benefit, favor, advantage, etc. A

_privilege_ may be of doing or avoiding; in the latter case it is an _exemption_ or _immunity_; as, a _privilege_ of hunting or fishing;

_exemption_ from military service; _immunity_ from arrest.

A _franchise_ is a specific _right_ or _privilege_ granted by the government or established as such by governmental authority; as, the elective _franchise_; a railroad _franchise_.

A _prerogative_ is an official _right_ or _privilege_, especially one inherent in the royal or sovereign power; in a wider sense it is an exclusive and peculiar _privilege_ which one possesses by reason of being what he is; as, reason is the _prerogative_ of man; kings and nobles have often claimed _prerogatives_ and _privileges_ opposed to the inherent _rights_ of the people.

Compare DUTY; JUSTICE.

* * * * * RISE.

Synonyms: arise, ascend, emanate, flow, issue, proceed, spring.

To _rise_ is to move up or upward whether slowly or quickly, whether through the least or greatest distance; the waves _rise_; the mists _rise_; the river _rises_ after heavy rains; as said of persons, to _rise_ is to come to an erect position after kneeling, sitting, reclining, or lying down; as, to _rise_ from a sick-bed; my friend _rose_ as I entered; the guests _rose_ to depart; so a deliberative assembly or a committee is said to _rise_ when it breaks up a session; a sun or star _rises_ when to our apprehension it comes above the horizon and begins to go up the sky.

To _ascend_ is to go far upward, and is often used in a stately sense; as, Christ _ascended_ to heaven.

The shorter form _rise_ is now generally preferred to the longer form _arise_, except in poetic or elevated style.

The sun _rises_ or _arises_; the river _springs_ at a bound from the foot of the glacier and _flows_ through the lands to the ocean.

Smoke _issues_ from a chimney and _ascends_ toward the sky.

Light and heat _emanate_ from the sun.

Antonyms: decline, descend, drop, fall, go down, set, settle, sink.

Prepositions: Rise _from_ slumber; rise _to_ duty; rise _at_ the summons; we rose _with_ the lark.

* * * * * ROBBER.

Synonyms: bandit, depredator, freebooter, pirate, brigand, despoiler, highwayman, plunderer, buccaneer, footpad, marauder, raider, burglar, forager, pillager, thief.

A _robber_ seeks to obtain the property of others by force or intimidation; a _thief_ by stealth and secrecy.

In early English _thief_ was freely used in both senses, as in Shakespeare and the Authorized Version of the English Bible, which has "two _thieves_" (_Matt.

_ xxvii, 38), where the Revised Version more correctly substitutes "two _robbers_."

* * * * * ROYAL.

Synonyms: august, kingly, majestic, princely, kinglike, magnificent, munificent, regal.

_Royal_ denotes that which actually belongs or pertains to a monarch;

the _royal_ residence is that which the king occupies, _royal_ raiment that which the king wears.

_Regal_ denotes that which in outward state is appropriate for a king; a subject may assume _regal_ magnificence in residence, dress, and equipage.

_Kingly_ denotes that which is worthy of a king in personal qualities, especially of character and conduct; as, a _kingly_ bearing; a _kingly_ resolve.

_Princely_ is especially used of treasure, expenditure, gifts, etc. , as _princely_ munificence, a _princely_ fortune, where _regal_ could not so well be used and _royal_ would change the sense.

The distinctions between these words are not absolute, but the tendency of the best usage is as here suggested.

Antonyms: beggarly, contemptible, mean, poor, servile, slavish, vile.

* * * * * RUSTIC.

Synonyms: agricultural, coarse, pastoral, uncouth, artless, countrified, plain, unpolished, awkward, country, rude, unsophisticated, boorish, hoidenish, rural, untaught, bucolic, inelegant, sylvan, verdant.

clownish, outlandish, _Rural_ and _rustic_ are alike derived from the Latin _rus_, country, and may be alike defined as pertaining to, characteristic of, or dwelling in the country; but in usage _rural_ refers especially to scenes or objects in the country, considered as the work of nature;

_rustic_ refers to their effect upon man or to their condition as affected by human agency; as, a _rural_ scene; a _rustic_ party; a _rustic_ lass.

We speak, however, of the _rural_ population, _rural_ simplicity, etc. _Rural_ has always a favorable sense; _rustic_ frequently an unfavorable one, as denoting a lack of culture and refinement; thus, _rustic_ politeness expresses that which is well-meant, but awkward; similar ideas are suggested by a _rustic_ feast, _rustic_ garb, etc. _Rustic_ is, however, often used of a studied simplicity, an artistic rudeness, which is pleasing and perhaps beautiful; as, a _rustic_ cottage; a _rustic_ chair.

_Pastoral_ refers to the care of flocks, and to the shepherd's life with the pleasing associations suggested by the old poetic ideal of that life; as, _pastoral_ poetry.

_Bucolic_ is kindred to _pastoral_, but is a less elevated term, and sometimes slightly contemptuous.

Antonyms: accomplished, cultured, polished, refined, urbane, city-like, elegant, polite, urban, well-bred.

* * * * * SACRAMENT.

Synonyms: