English Synonyms and Antonyms

Make is essentially causative; to the idea of cause all its various senses may be traced (compare synonyms for
CAUSE). To make is to cause to exist, or to cause to exist in a certain form or in certain relations; the word
thus includes the idea of create, as in Gen. i, 31, "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it
was very good." Make includes also the idea of compose, constitute; as, the parts make up the whole.
Similarly, to cause a voluntary agent to do a certain act is to make him do it, or compel him to do it, compel
fixing the attention more on the process, make on the accomplished fact. Compare COMPEL; DO;
INFLUENCE; (make better) AMEND; (make haste) QUICKEN; (make known) ANNOUNCE; AVOW;
CONFESS; (make prisoner) ARREST; (make up) ADD; (make void) CANCEL.
Antonyms:
See synonyms for ABOLISH; BREAK; DEMOLISH.
Prepositions:
Make of, out of, or from certain materials, into a certain form, for a certain purpose or person; made with
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
192

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hands, by hand; made by a prisoner, with a jack-knife.
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MARRIAGE.
Synonyms:
conjugal union, espousals, nuptials, spousals, wedding, espousal, matrimony, spousal, union, wedlock.
Matrimony denotes the state of those who are united in the relation of husband and wife; marriage denotes
primarily the act of so uniting, but is extensively used for the state as well. Wedlock, a word of specific legal
use, is the Saxon term for the state or relation denoted by matrimony. Wedding denotes the ceremony, with
any attendant festivities, by which two persons are united as husband and wife, nuptials being the more formal
and stately term to express the same idea.
Antonyms:
bachelorhood, celibacy, divorce, maidenhood, virginity, widowhood.
Prepositions:
Marriage of or between two persons; of one person to or with another; among the Greeks.
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MASCULINE.
Synonyms:
male, manful, manlike, manly, mannish, virile.
We apply male to the sex, masculine to the qualities, especially to the stronger, hardier, and more imperious
qualities that distinguish the male sex; as applied to women, masculine has often the depreciatory sense of
unwomanly, rude, or harsh; as, a masculine face or voice, or the like; tho one may say in a commendatory
way, she acted with masculine courage or decision. Manlike may mean only having the outward appearance or
semblance of a man, or may be closely equivalent to manly. Manly refers to all the qualities and traits worthy
of a man; manful, especially to the valor and prowess that become a man; we speak of a manful struggle,
manly decision; we say manly gentleness or tenderness; we could not say manful tenderness. Mannish is a
depreciatory word referring to the mimicry or parade of some superficial qualities of manhood; as, a mannish
boy or woman. Masculine may apply to the distinctive qualities of the male sex at any age; virile applies to
the distinctive qualities of mature manhood only, as opposed not only to feminine or womanly but to childish,
and is thus an emphatic word for sturdy, intrepid, etc.
Antonyms:
See synonyms for FEMININE.
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MASSACRE.
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
193

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Synonyms:
butchery, carnage, havoc, slaughter.
A