English Synonyms and Antonyms

Sagacious refers to a power of tracing the hidden or recondite by slight indications, as by instinct or intuition;
it is not now applied to mere keenness of sense-perception. We do not call a hound sagacious in following a
clear trail; but if he loses the scent, as at the edge of a stream, and circles around till he strikes it again, his
conduct is said to be sagacious. In human affairs sagacious refers to a power of ready, far-reaching, and
accurate inference from observed facts perhaps in themselves very slight, that seems like a special sense; or to
a similar readiness to foresee the results of any action, especially upon human motives or conduct--a kind of
prophetic common sense. Sagacious is a broader and nobler word than shrewd, and not capable of the
invidious sense which the latter word often bears; on the other hand, sagacious is less lofty and
comprehensive than wise in its full sense, and more limited to matters of direct practical moment. Compare
ASTUTE; WISDOM.
Antonyms:
absurd, futile, obtuse, silly, sottish, undiscerning, dull, ignorant, senseless, simple, stupid, unintelligent.
foolish, irrational,
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SALE.
Synonyms:
bargain, barter, change, deal, exchange, trade.
A bargain is strictly an agreement or contract to buy and sell, tho the word is often used to denote the entire
transaction and also as a designation for the thing sold or purchased. Change and exchange are words of wider
signification, applying only incidentally to the transfer of property or value; a change secures something
different in any way or by any means; an exchange secures something as an equivalent or return, tho not
necessarily as payment for what is given. Barter is the exchange of one commodity for another, the word
being used generally with reference to portable commodities. Trade in the broad sense may apply to vast
businesses (as the book-trade), but as denoting a single transaction is used chiefly in regard to things of
moderate value, when it becomes nearly synonymous with barter. Sale is commonly, and with increasing
strictness, limited to the transfer of property for money, or for something estimated at a money value or
considered as equivalent to so much money in hand or to be paid. A deal in the political sense is a bargain,
substitution, or transfer for the benefit of certain persons or parties against all others; as, the nomination was
the result of a deal; in business it may have a similar meaning, but it frequently signifies simply a sale or
exchange, a dealing; as, a heavy deal in stocks.
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SAMPLE.
Synonyms:
case, exemplification, instance, example, illustration, specimen.
A sample is a portion taken at random out of a quantity supposed to be homogeneous, so that the qualities
found in the sample may reasonably be expected to be found in the whole; as, a sample of sugar; a sample of
cloth. A specimen is one unit of a series, or a fragment of a mass, all of which is supposed to possess the same
essential qualities; as, a specimen of coinage, or of architecture, or a specimen of quartz. No other unit or
portion may be exactly like the specimen, while all the rest is supposed to be exactly like the sample. An
instance is a sample or specimen of action. Compare EXAMPLE.
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
259

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Antonyms:
abnormality, aggregate, exception, monstrosity, total, whole.
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SATISFY.
Synonyms:
cloy, fill, sate, suffice, content, glut, satiate, surfeit.
To satisfy is to furnish just enough to meet physical, mental, or spiritual desire. To sate or satiate is to gratify
desire so fully as for a time to extinguish it. To cloy or surfeit is to gratify to the point of revulsion or disgust.