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Operation is action considered with reference to the thing acted upon, and may apply to the action of an
intelligent agent or of a material substance or force; as, the operation of a medicine. Performance and
execution denote intelligent action, considered with reference to the actor or to that which he accomplishes;
performance accomplishing the will of the actor, execution often the will of another; we speak of the
performance of a duty, the execution of a sentence. Compare ACT.
Antonyms:
failure, ineffectiveness, inutility, powerlessness, uselessness. inaction, inefficiency,
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
209
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ORDER.
Synonyms:
command, injunction, mandate, requirement. direction, instruction, prohibition,
Instruction implies superiority of knowledge, direction of authority on the part of the giver; a teacher gives
instructions to his pupils, an employer gives directions to his workmen. Order is still more authoritative than
direction; soldiers, sailors, and railroad employees have simply to obey the orders of their superiors, without
explanation or question; an order in the commercial sense has the authority of the money which the one
ordering the goods pays or is to pay. Command is a loftier word, as well as highly authoritative, less frequent
in common life; we speak of the commands of God, or sometimes, by polite hyperbole, ask of a friend, "Have
you any commands for me?" A requirement is imperative, but not always formal, nor made by a personal
agent; it may be in the nature of things; as, the requirements of the position. Prohibition is wholly negative; it
is a command not to do; injunction is now oftenest so used, especially as the requirement by legal authority
that certain action be suspended or refrained from, pending final legal decision. Compare ARRAY; CLASS;
LAW; PROHIBIT; SYSTEM.
Antonyms:
allowance, consent, leave, liberty, license, permission, permit.
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OSTENTATION.
Synonyms:
boast, flourish, parade, pompousness, vaunt, boasting, pageant, pomp, show, vaunting. display, pageantry,
pomposity,
Ostentation is an ambitious showing forth of whatever is thought adapted to win admiration or praise;
ostentation may be without words; as, the ostentation of wealth in fine residences, rich clothing, costly
equipage, or the like; when in words, ostentation is rather in manner than in direct statement; as, the
ostentation of learning. Boasting is in direct statement, and is louder and more vulgar than ostentation. There
may be great display or show with little substance; ostentation suggests something substantial to be shown.
Pageant, pageantry, parade, and pomp refer principally to affairs of arms or state; as, a royal pageant; a
military parade. Pomp is some material demonstration of wealth and power, as in grand and stately
ceremonial, rich furnishings, processions, etc., considered as worthy of the person or occasion in whose behalf
it is manifested; pomp is the noble side of that which as ostentation is considered as arrogant and vain.
Pageant and pageantry are inferior to pomp, denoting spectacular display designed to impress the public
mind, and since the multitude is largely ignorant and thoughtless, the words pageant and pageantry have a
suggestion of the transient and unsubstantial. Parade (L. paro, prepare) is an exhibition as of troops in camp
going through the evolutions that are to be used in battle, and suggests a lack of earnestness and direct or
immediate occasion or demand; hence, in the more general sense, a parade is an uncalled for exhibition, and
so used is a more disparaging word than ostentation; ostentation may spring merely from undue
self-gratulation, parade implies a desire to impress others with a sense of one's abilities or resources, and is
always offensive and somewhat contemptible; as, a parade of wealth or learning. Pomposity and pompousness
are the affectation of pomp.
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
210
Antonyms:
diffidence, quietness, retirement, timidity, modesty, reserve, shrinking, unobtrusiveness.
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OUGHT.
Synonym:
should.
One ought to do that which he is under moral obligation or in duty bound to do. Ought is the stronger word,
holding most closely to the sense of moral obligation, or sometimes of imperative logical necessity; should
may have the sense of moral obligation or may apply merely to propriety or expediency, as in the proverb,
"The liar should have a good memory," i. e., he will need it. Ought is sometimes used of abstractions or
inanimate things as indicating what the mind deems to be imperative or logically necessary in view of all the
conditions; as, these goods ought to go into that space; these arguments ought to convince him; should in such
connections would be correct, but less emphatic. Compare DUTY.
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OVERSIGHT.
Synonyms:
care, control, management, surveillance, charge, direction, superintendence, watch, command, inspection,
supervision, watchfulness.
A person may look over a matter in order to survey it carefully in its entirety, or he may look over it with no
attention to the thing itself because his gaze and thought are concentrated on something beyond; oversight has
thus two contrasted senses, in the latter sense denoting inadvertent error or omission, and in the former
denoting watchful supervision, commonly implying constant personal presence; superintendence requires
only so much of presence or communication as to know that the superintendent's wishes are carried out; the
superintendent of a railroad will personally oversee very few of its operations; the railroad company has
supreme direction of all its affairs without superintendence or oversight. Control is used chiefly with
reference to restraint or the power of restraint; a good horseman has a restless horse under perfect control;
there is no high character without self- control. Surveillance is an invidious term signifying watching with
something of suspicion. Compare CARE; NEGLECT.
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PAIN.
Synonyms:
ache, distress, suffering, torture, agony, pang, throe, twinge, anguish, paroxysm, torment, wo(e).
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