English Synonyms and Antonyms

miserly by stinting themselves, the niggardly by stinting others. Parsimonious and penurious may apply to
one's outlay either for himself or for others; in the latter use, they are somewhat less harsh and reproachful
terms than niggardly. The close man holds like a vise all that he gets. Near and nigh are provincial words of
similar import. The rapacious have the robber instinct, and put it in practise in some form, as far as they dare.
The avaricious and rapacious are ready to reach out for gain; the parsimonious, miserly, and niggardly prefer
the safer and less adventurous way of avoiding expenditure. Greedy and stingy are used not only of money,
but often of other things, as food, etc. The greedy child wishes to enjoy everything himself; the stingy child, to
keep others from getting it.
Antonyms:
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
61

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bountiful, free, generous, liberal, munificent, prodigal, wasteful.
Preposition:
The monarch was avaricious of power.
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AVENGE.
Synonyms:
punish, retaliate, revenge, vindicate, visit.
Avenge and revenge, once close synonyms, are now far apart in meaning. To avenge is to visit some offense
with punishment, in order to vindicate the righteous, or to uphold and illustrate the right by the suffering or
destruction of the wicked. "And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he avenged him that was oppressed, and
smote the Egyptian," Acts vii, 24. To revenge is to inflict harm or suffering upon another through personal
anger and resentment at something done to ourselves. Avenge is unselfish; revenge is selfish. Revenge,
according to present usage, could not be said of God. To retaliate may be necessary for self-defense, without
the idea of revenge. Compare REVENGE.
Prepositions:
Avenge on or upon (rarely, avenge oneself of) a wrong-doer.
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AVOW.
Synonyms:
knowledge, aver, confess, own, profess, testify, admit, avouch, declare, proclaim, protest, witness.
Acknowledge, admit, and declare refer either to oneself or to others; all the other words refer only to one's
own knowledge or action. To avow is to declare boldly and openly, commonly as something one is ready to
justify, maintain, or defend. A man acknowledges another's claim or his own promise; he admits an opponent's
advantage or his own error; he declares either what he has seen or experienced or what he has received from
another; he avers what he is sure of from his own knowledge or consciousness; he gives his assurance as the
voucher for what he avouches; he avows openly a belief or intention that he has silently held. Avow and
avouch take a direct object; aver is followed by a conjunction: a man avows his faith, avouches a deed, avers
that he was present. Avow has usually a good sense; what a person avows he at least does not treat as
blameworthy, criminal, or shameful; if he did, he would be said to confess it; yet there is always the
suggestion that some will be ready to challenge or censure what one avows; as, the clergyman avowed his
dissent from the doctrine of his church. Own applies to all things, good or bad, great or small, which one takes
as his own. Compare CONFESS; STATE.
Antonyms:
contradict, deny, disavow, disclaim, disown, ignore, repudiate.
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Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
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AWFUL.
Synonyms:
alarming, direful, frightful, majestic, solemn, appalling, dread, grand, noble, stately, august, dreadful, horrible,
portentous, terrible, dire, fearful, imposing, shocking, terrific.