English Synonyms and Antonyms

Industrious signifies zealously or habitually applying oneself to any work or business. Busy applies to an
activity which may be temporary, industrious to a habit of life. We say a man is busy just now; that is,
occupied at the moment with something that takes his full attention. It would be ridiculous or satirical to say,
he is industrious just now. But busy can be used in the sense of industrious, as when we say he is a busy man.
Diligent indicates also a disposition, which is ordinarily habitual, and suggests more of heartiness and volition
than industrious. We say one is a diligent, rather than an industrious, reader of the Bible. In the use of the
nouns, we speak of plodding industry, but not of plodding diligence. Compare ACTIVE; INDUSTRY.
Antonyms:
See synonyms for IDLE.
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INDUSTRY.
Synonyms:
application, diligence, labor, persistence, assiduity, effort, pains, sedulousness. attention, exertion, patience,
constancy, intentness, perseverance,
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
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Industry is the quality, action, or habit of earnest, steady, and continued attention or devotion to any useful or
productive work or task, manual or mental. Assiduity (L. ad, to, and sedeo, sit), as the etymology suggests, sits
down to a task until it is done. Diligence (L. diligo, love, choose) invests more effort and exertion, with love
of the work or deep interest in its accomplishment; application (L. ad, to, and plico, fold) bends to its work
and concentrates all one's powers upon it with utmost intensity; hence, application can hardly be as
unremitting as assiduity. Constancy is a steady devotion of heart and principle. Patience works on in spite of
annoyances; perseverance overcomes hindrances and difficulties; persistence strives relentlessly against
opposition; persistence has very frequently an unfavorable meaning, implying that one persists in spite of
considerations that should induce him to desist. Industry is diligence applied to some avocation, business, or
profession. Labor and pains refer to the exertions of the worker and the tax upon him, while assiduity,
perseverance, etc., refer to his continuance in the work.
Antonyms:
changeableness, idleness, inconstancy, neglect, remissness, fickleness, inattention, indolence, negligence,
sloth.
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INFINITE.
Synonyms:
absolute, illimitable, limitless, unconditioned, boundless, immeasurable, measureless, unfathomable,
countless, innumerable, numberless, unlimited, eternal, interminable, unbounded, unmeasured.
Infinite (L. in, not, and finis, limit) signifies without bounds or limits in any way, and may be applied to space,
time, quantity, or number. Countless, innumerable, and numberless, which should be the same as infinite, are
in common usage vaguely employed to denote what it is difficult or practically impossible to count or
number, tho perhaps falling far short of infinite; as, countless leaves, the countless sands on the seashore,
numberless battles, innumerable delays. So, too, boundless, illimitable, limitless, measureless, and unlimited
are loosely used in reference to what has no apparent or readily determinable limits in space or time; as, we
speak of the boundless ocean. Infinite space is without bounds, not only in fact, but in thought; infinite time is
truly eternal. Compare synonyms for ETERNAL.
Antonyms:
bounded, finite, measurable, restricted, small, brief, limited, moderate, shallow, transient, circumscribed, little,
narrow, short, transitory. evanescent,
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INFLUENCE.
Synonyms:
actuate, draw, impel, induce, move, stir, compel, drive, incite, instigate, persuade, sway, dispose, excite,
incline, lead, prompt, urge.
To influence (L. in, in or into, and fluo, flow) is to affect, modify, or act upon by physical, mental, or moral
power, especially in some gentle, subtle, and gradual way; as, vegetation is influenced by light; every one is