English Synonyms and Antonyms

parts of some enclosing object firmly together, as the clasp of a book.
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LOOK.
Synonyms:
behold, discern, inspect, see, view, contemplate, gaze, regard, stare, watch. descry, glance, scan, survey,
To see is simply to become conscious of an object of vision; to look is to make a conscious and direct
endeavor to see. To behold is to fix the sight and the mind with distinctness and consideration upon something
that has come to be clearly before the eyes. We may look without seeing, as in pitch-darkness, and we may see
without looking, as in case of a flash of lightning. To gaze is to look intently, long, and steadily upon an
object. To glance is to look casually or momentarily. To stare is to look with a fixed intensity such as is the
effect of surprise, alarm, or rudeness. To scan is to look at minutely, to note every visible feature. To inspect
is to go below the surface, uncover, study item by item. View and survey are comprehensive, survey
expressing the greater exactness of measurement or estimate. Watch brings in the element of time and often of
wariness; we watch for a movement or change, a signal, the approach of an enemy, etc. Compare APPEAR.
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LOVE.
Synonyms:
affection, charity, friendship, regard, attachment, devotion, liking, tenderness. attraction, fondness,
Affection is kindly feeling, deep, tender, and constant, going out to some person or object, being less fervent
and ardent than love, whether applied to persons or things. Love is an intense and absorbing emotion, drawing
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
191

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one toward a person or object and causing one to appreciate, delight in, and crave the presence or possession
of the person or object loved, and to desire to please and benefit the person, or to advance the cause, truth, or
other object of affection; it is the yearning or outgoing of soul toward something that is regarded as excellent,
beautiful, or desirable; love may be briefly defined as strong and absorbing affection for and attraction toward
a person or object. Love may denote the sublimest and holiest spiritual affection as when we are taught that
"God is love." Charity has so far swung aside from this original meaning that probably it never can be recalled
(compare BENEVOLENCE). The Revised Version uses love in place of charity in 1 Cor. xiii, and elsewhere.
Love is more intense, absorbing, and tender than friendship, more intense, impulsive, and perhaps passionate
than affection; we speak of fervent love, but of deep or tender affection, or of close, firm, strong friendship.
Love is used specifically for personal affection between the sexes in the highest sense, the love that normally
leads to marriage, and subsists throughout all happy wedded life. Love can never properly denote mere animal
passion, which is expressed by such words as appetite, desire, lust. One may properly be said to have love for
animals, for inanimate objects, or for abstract qualities that enlist the affections, as we speak of love for a
horse or a dog, for mountains, woods, ocean, or of love of nature, and love of virtue. Love of articles of food is
better expressed by liking, as love, in its full sense, expresses something spiritual and reciprocal, such as can
have no place in connection with objects that minister merely to the senses. Compare ATTACHMENT;
FRIENDSHIP.
Antonyms:
See synonyms for ANTIPATHY; ENMITY; HATRED.
Prepositions:
Love of country; for humanity; love to God and man.
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MAKE.
Synonyms:
become, constrain, fabricate, manufacture, bring about, construct, fashion, occasion, bring into being, create,
force, perform, bring to pass, do, frame, reach, cause, effect, get, render, compel, establish, make out, require,
compose, execute, make up, shape. constitute,