Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

frequently used and not, necessarily, the only one acceptable in standard usage. Particles used with some words may vary considerably, owing not only to dialect variation but also to whether the verb is used actively or passively as well as to which nuance of meaning, sometimes far too subtle to be dealt with adequately in a book of this kind, is to be expressed. The following entry illustrates the full treatment that can be accorded to words that occur in a wide variety of grammatical environments:

persevere v. Often, persevere in or with or at: persist, resolve, decide, endure, continue, carry on or through, keep at or on or up, be steadfast or staunch or constant, keep going, stand fast or firm, see through, be or remain determined or resolved or resolute or stalwart or purposeful or uncompromising, be tenacious or persistent or constant or pertinacious or assiduous or sedulous, be tireless or untiring or indefatigable, show determination or pluck or grit, be plucky, be patient or diligent or stubborn or inflexible or adamant or obstinate or obdurate, show or exhibit or demonstrate patience or diligence or stubbornness or inflexibility or obstinacy or

obduracy, remain dogged, pursue doggedly, be intransigent or intractable, cling to, stick to, support, stop at

nothing, sustain, Colloq stick with, stick (it) out: We must persevere to win. I shall persevere in my loyalty.

g. In some adjective senses, a split might occur between attributive and predicative uses, though in most such cases, where the syntax is open, only one, usually common, illustration is given. For example, alone is used only predicatively or post-positively, not attributively; that is, one cannot say *An alone woman...In this particular case, the normal attributive form would be lone, but lone is not listed as a synonym for alone because they are not mutually substitutable. It is acknowledged that the detailed description of the special syntactic ways in which certain words (like alone, agog, galore) behave lies outside the province of

this book.

Although similar cautions must be observed and adjustments made throughout, it is hoped that the illustrative sentences will

provide a substantial basis for the user to identify idiomatic

contexts and to discriminate senses that are not always carefully distinguished in dictionaries.

CONTENTS Table of Contents =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Title Page TITLE

Edition Notice EDITION

Introduction INTRO

Table of Contents CONTENTS

A1.0 abandon... 1.1 academic... 1.2 adapt... 1.3 aesthete... 1.4 affair... 1.5 age... 1.6 ahead 1.7 aid... 1.8

akin 1.9 alarm... 1.10 amalgam... 1.11

anachronism... 1.12 apart... 1.13 arbitrary... 1.14 ashamed... 1.15 atmosphere... 1.16 audacious... 1.17 available... 1.18 awake... 1.19

B2.0

babble... 2.1 beach... 2.2 bias... 2.3 blab... 2.4 board... 2.5 brace... 2.6

bubble 2.7 by... 2.8

C 3.0 cab... 3.1 cease... 3.2 chafe... 3.3 circle... 3.4 claim... 3.5 coach... 3.6 crack... 3.7

cuddle... 3.8 cycle 3.9

D4.0 dab... 4.1 dead... 4.2

diabolic... 4.3 dock... 4.4 drab... 4.5 duck... 4.6 dwarf... 4.7 dying... 4.8

E5.0

eager... 5.1 ebb... 5.2 eccentric... 5.3 eddy... 5.4 eerie 5.5 effect... 5.6 egoistic... 5.7 eject... 5.8 elaborate... 5.9

emaciated... 5.10 enable... 5.11 epicure... 5.12 equable... 5.13 era... 5.14 escape... 5.15 etch... 5.16 eulogize... 5.17 evacuate... 5.18

exact... 5.19 eye... 5.20

F6.0 fabric... 6.1 fear... 6.2

fianc‚(e)... 6.3 flabby... 6.4 foam... 6.5 fracas... 6.6 fuel 6.7

G7.0

gab... 7.1 gear... 7.2 ghastly... 7.3 giant... 7.4 glad... 7.5 gnarled... 7.6 go... 7.7 grab... 7.8 guarantee 7.9 gyrate 7.10

H8.0 habit... 8.1 head... 8.2 hidden 8.3 hoard... 8.4 hub... 8.5 hybrid... 8.6

I9.0

icing... 9.1 idea... 9.2 ignorance... 9.3 ill... 9.4 image... 9.5 inability... 9.6 irk... 9.7 island... 9.8 itch... 9.9

J10.0 jab... 10.1

jealous... 10.2 jiggle... 10.3 job... 10.4 judge... 10.5

K11.0

keen... 11.1 kick... 11.2 knack... 11.3 kowtow 11.4 kudos 11.5

L12.0 label... 12.1 lead... 12.2

liability... 12.3 load... 12.4 luck... 12.5 lying... 12.6

M13.0 macabre... 13.1 meadow... 13.2 microbe... 13.3 moan... 13.4 muck... 13.5 mysterious... 13.6

N14.0

nab... 14.1 near... 14.2 nice... 14.3 nobility... 14.4 nub... 14.5

O 15.0 oar... 15.1

obedience... 15.2 occasion... 15.3 odd... 15.4

off... 15.5

ogle... 15.6 oil... 15.7 OK 15.8 old... 15.9 omen... 15.10 once... 15.11 ooze 15.12

opacity... 15.13 oracle... 15.14 oscillate... 15.15 otherwise 15.16 out... 15.17 oval... 15.18 owe... 15.19

P16.0 pace... 16.1 peace... 16.2

phantom... 16.3 pick... 16.4 place... 16.5 pocket... 16.6 practicable... 16.7 pseudonym... 16.8 pub... 16.9

Q17.0

quack... 17.1

R18.0 rabble... 18.1 reach... 18.2

rhapsodic... 18.3 ribaldry... 18.4 road... 18.5 rub... 18.6

S19.0

sabotage... 19.1 scale... 19.2 sea... 19.3 shabby... 19.4 sick... 19.5

sketchily... 19.6 slab... 19.7 small... 19.8 snack... 19.9 soak... 19.10 space... 19.11 squad... 19.12 stab... 19.13 suave... 19.14 swagger... 19.15 sybarite... 19.16

T20.0 tab... 20.1 teach... 20.2 thank... 20.3 tickle... 20.4 toast... 20.5 trace... 20.6 tug... 20.7

tweak... 20.8 tycoon... 20.9

U21.0

ugly 21.1 ulcer... 21.2 umbrage... 21.3

unabashed... 21.4 upbeat... 21.5 urge... 21.6 usage... 21.7 Utopia... 21.8

V22.0 vacancy... 22.1 vehicle... 22.2 viable... 22.3 vocalist... 22.4 vulgar... 22.5

W23.0

wad... 23.1 weak... 23.2

wheedle... 23.3 wicked... 23.4 woe... 23.5 wrap... 23.6

Y24.0 yank... 24.1 yearly... 24.2 yield... 24.3 young... 24.4 yucky... 24.5

Z25.0

zany... 25.1 zealot... 25.2 zone... 25.3

1.0 A =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1.1 abandon...

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abandon v. 1 give up or over, yield, surrender, leave, cede, let go, deliver (up), turn over, relinquish: I can see no reason why we should abandon the house to thieves and vandals. 2 depart from, leave, desert, quit, go away from: The order was given to abandon ship. 3 desert, forsake, jilt, walk out on: He even abandoned his fianc‚e. 4 give up, renounce; discontinue, forgo, drop, desist, abstain from: She abandoned cigarettes and whisky after the doctor's warning.

--n. 5 recklessness, intemperance, wantonness, lack of restraint, unrestraint: He behaved with wild abandon after he received the inheritance.

abandoned adj. 1 left alone, forlorn, forsaken, deserted, neglected; rejected, shunned, cast off or aside, jilted, dropped, outcast: An abandoned infant was found on the church steps. Totally alone, she felt abandoned by her friends. 2 bad, immoral,

amoral, wicked, sinful, evil, corrupt, unprincipled, unrestrained, uninhibited, reprobate; loose, wanton, debauched, wild, dissolute, dissipated, profligate; depraved, lewd,

lascivious, flagitious: His abandoned behaviour soon landed him in jail.

abbreviate

v. 1 shorten, compress, contract, truncate, trim, reduce,

curtail: We abbreviated some of the longer words to save space. 2 shorten, cut, condense, abridge, abstract, digest, epitomize, summarize, US synopsize: The school presented an abbreviated version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

abbreviated

adj. skimpy, brief, revealing: The dancers' abbreviated costumes shocked some members of the audience.

abbreviation

n. initialism; acronym; shortening, contraction: UK is one kind of abbreviation, or initialism; NATO, which is pronounced as a word, is another, usually called an acronym.

abdicate v. give up, renounce, disclaim, waive, disown, surrender, yield, relinquish, abandon, resign, quit: He abdicated all responsibility for care of the children. She abdicated the throne to marry a commoner.

abduct	v. kidnap, carry off, make away or off with, seize, Slang US
snatch, grab: The child that was abducted is safe.
abet	v. 1 encourage, urge, instigate, incite, provoke, egg on, prod,

goad; aid, help, assist: The jury found that his wife had abetted him in the murder. 2 countenance, approve (of), support, endorse, second, sanction, condone; further, advance, promote, uphold: By failing to inform on the terrorists, the neighbours abetted the bombing.

abeyance n. in abeyance. pending, abeyant, reserved, in reserve, shelved, pushed or shoved or shunted aside, postponed, put off, suspended, US tabled; temporarily inactive, dormant; latent; Colloq in a holding pattern, on the back burner; Slang on hold, in the deep-freeze, on the shelf, on ice, hanging fire: Legal proceedings were held in abeyance so that talks could take place

to reach an out-of-court settlement.

abhor v. hate, loathe, detest, abominate, execrate; regard or view with horror or dread or fright or repugnance or loathing or disgust, shudder at, recoil or shrink from; be or stand aghast at: He said that he abhorred any violation of human rights.

abhorrent adj. hateful, detestable, abhorred, abominable, contemptible, odious, loathsome, horrid, heinous, execrable, repugnant; repulsive, repellent, revolting, offensive, disgusting,

horrifying, obnoxious: The idea of war was totally abhorrent to her.

abide v. 1 stand, endure, suffer, submit to, bear, put up with, accept, tolerate, brook: How can you abide the company of such a fool? 2 live, stay, reside, dwell, sojourn: Local people believe that the rain god abides in these mountains. 3 remain, stay, continue, tarry; linger, rest: He'll abide in my care

till he can walk again. 4 abide by. consent to, agree to, comply with, observe, acknowledge, obey, follow, submit to, conform to, keep to, remain true to, stand firm by, adhere to, hold to: You must abide by the rules of the club if you become a member.

abiding adj. lasting, permanent, constant, steadfast, everlasting, unending, eternal, enduring, indestructible; unchanging, fast, hard and fast, fixed, firm, immutable, changeless: Her abiding love is a solace to him.

ability n. 1 adeptness, aptitude, facility, faculty, capacity, power, knack, proficiency, Colloq know-how: I have perceived your ability to manipulate situations to your own advantage. 2 talent, skill, cleverness, capacity, wit, gift, genius,

capability: He has such extraordinary ability it is difficult to see why he doesn't accomplish more. 3 abilities. faculty, faculties, talent(s), gift(s), skill(s): Her abilities have made her one of the finest cellists of our time.

ablaze adj. 1 aflame, afire, burning, on fire, alight, blazing: By the time the firemen arrived, the roof was ablaze. 2 lit up, alight, brilliantly or brightly-lit, sparkling, gleaming, aglow, bright, brilliant, luminous, illuminated, radiant: The ballroom was ablaze with the light from thousands of candles.