Seminar 3 Synonyms and antonyms

1. In the following groups of synonyms, find the synonymic dominant. Give reasons for your choice.

1. exact, precise, accurate.

2. savage, uncivilised, barbarous.

3. hide, conceal, disguise.

4. agree, approve, consent.

5. recall, recollect.

6. cry, weep, scream, shriek.

7. lazy, indolent, idle, vain.

8. clever, able, intelligent, keen, sharp.

9. ignorant, illiterate, uneducated, misinformed.

10. agile, nimble, alert, quick, brisk, active.

1. State whether the marked word is a synonymic dominant or a general term.

   1. victory, triumph, conquest.

   2. complain, grumble, mutter.

   3. sound, clatter, creak, bang, cluck.

   4. fragrance, scent, perfume, odour, smell.

   5. olive, pink, brown, colour, pea-green, rose.

   6. scarlet, crimson, cherry, red, purple.

   7. mathematics, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry.

   8. footwear, shoes, rubbers, slippers, felt-boots.

   9. hound, borzoi, dog, colly.

   10. courage, bravery, valour, fortitude.

3. Find in the following list of words synonymic series and classify them into three groups: a) synonyms which display an obvious semantic difference (ideographic synonyms); b) synonyms which display an obvious stylistic difference (stylistic synonyms); c) synonyms more or less equally displaying both differences.

ailing, arrogant, battle, begin, behold, bicker, brawl, bright, callous, clever, commence, conflict, conquest, con­sume, cruel, defeat, devour, diseased, dispiteous, dumb, easy, eat, engorge, facile, fatuous, fight, food, grub, hard-boiled, haughty, high-hat, hoity-toity, horse, ill, inept, ingest, intelligent, light, mandicate, obdurate, pace, proud, quarrel, sagacious, see, shrewd, snobbish, snooty, squabble, steed, stride, stroll, stupid, supercilious, tiff, walk

3. Analyse the following synonyms.

The Cataract of Lodore

(fragments)

by Robert Southey

Here it comes sparkling, And there it lies darkling. Here smoking and frothing, Its tumult and wrath in, It hastens along, conflicting strong; Now striking and raging, As if a war waging, Its caverns and rooks among. Rising and leaping, Sinking and creeping, Swelling and flinging Showering and springing, Eddying and whisking, Spouting and frisking, Turning and twisting, Around and around; With endless rebound; Smiting and fighting, A sight to delight in, Confounding, astounding, Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound. Receding and speeding, And shocking and rocking. And darting and parting, And threading and spreading. And whizzing and hissing, And dripping and skipping, And brightening and whitening. And quivering and shivering. And glittering and flittering, And foaming and roaming, And working and jerking,

And heaving and cleaving, And thundering and floundering, And falling and crawling and sprawling, And driving and riving and striving. And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling, And sounding and bounding and rounding, And bubbling and troubling and doubling, Dividing and gliding and sliding, And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling, And clattering and battering and shattering, And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing. And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping, And curling and whirling and purling and twirling, Retreating and meeting, and beating, and sheeting, Delaying and straying and playing and spraying, Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing, Recoiling, turmoiling, and toiling, and boiling, And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping, And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing; And so never ending and always descending, Sound and motions for ever and ever are blending; All at once, and all o'er, with a mighty uproar, — And in this way the water comes down at Lodore.