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Position as applied to the arrangement or situation of the human body or limbs may denote that which is
conscious or unconscious, of the living or the dead; but we do not speak of the attitude, pose, or posture of a
corpse; unless, in some rare case, we might say the body was found in a sitting posture, where the posture is
thought of as assumed in life, or as, at first glance, suggesting life. A posture is assumed without any special
reference to expression of feeling; as, an erect posture, a reclining posture; attitude is the position appropriate
to the expression of some feeling; the attitude may be unconsciously taken through the strength of the feeling;
as, an attitude of defiance; or it may be consciously assumed in the attempt to express the feeling; as, he
assumed an attitude of humility. A pose is a position studied for artistic effect, or considered with reference to
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
58
such effect; the unconscious posture of a spectator or listener may be an admirable pose from an artist's
standpoint.
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ATTRIBUTE, v.
Synonyms:
ascribe, associate, connect, impute, refer. assign, charge,
We may attribute to a person either that which belongs to him or that which we merely suppose to be his. We
attribute to God infinite power. We may attribute a wrong intent to an innocent person. We may attribute a
result, rightly or wrongly, to a certain cause; in such case, however, attribute carries always a concession of
uncertainty or possible error. Where we are quite sure, we simply refer a matter to the cause or class to which
it belongs or ascribe to one what is surely his, etc. Many diseases formerly attributed to witchcraft are now
referred to the action of micro-organisms. We may attribute a matter in silent thought; we ascribe anything
openly in speech or writing; King Saul said of the singing women, "They have ascribed unto David ten
thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands." We associate things which may have no necessary or
causal relation; as, we may associate the striking of a clock with the serving of dinner, tho the two are not
necessarily connected. We charge a person with what we deem blameworthy. We may impute good or evil,
but more commonly evil.
Antonyms:
deny, disconnect, dissociate, separate, sever, sunder.
Prepositions:
It is uncharitable to attribute evil motives to (archaic unto) others.
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ATTRIBUTE, n.
Synonyms:
property, quality.
A quality (L. qualis, such)--the "suchness" of anything, according to the German idiom--denotes what a thing
really is in some one respect; an attribute is what we conceive a thing to be in some one respect; thus, while
attribute may, quality must, express something of the real nature of that to which it is ascribed; we speak of
the attributes of God, the qualities of matter. "Originally 'the attributes of God' was preferred, probably,
because men assumed no knowledge of the actual qualities of the Deity, but only of those more or less fitly
attributed to him." J. A. H. MURRAY. [M.] Holiness is an attribute of God; the attributes of many heathen
deities have been only the qualities of wicked men joined to superhuman power. A property (L. proprius,
one's own) is what belongs especially to one thing as its own peculiar possession, in distinction from all other
things; when we speak of the qualities or the properties of matter, quality is the more general, property the
more limited term. A quality is inherent; a property may be transient; physicists now, however, prefer to term
those qualities manifested by all bodies (such as impenetrability, extension, etc.), general properties of
matter, while those peculiar to certain substances or to certain states of those substances (as fluidity,
malleability, etc.) are termed specific properties; in this wider use of the word property, it becomes strictly
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
59
synonymous with quality. Compare CHARACTERISTIC; EMBLEM.
Antonyms:
being, essence, nature, substance.
* * * * *
AUGUR.
Synonyms:
betoken, divine, foretell, predict, prognosticate, bode, forebode, portend, presage, prophesy.
"Persons or things augur; persons only forebode or presage; things only betoken or portend." CRABB English
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