English Synonyms and Antonyms

Confirm (L. con, together, and firmus, firm) is to add firmness or give stability to. Both confirm and
corroborate presuppose something already existing to which the confirmation or corroboration is added.
Testimony is corroborated by concurrent testimony or by circumstances; confirmed by established facts. That
which is thoroughly proved is said to be established; so is that which is official and has adequate power
behind it; as, the established government; the established church. The continents are fixed. A treaty is ratified;
an appointment confirmed. An act is sanctioned by any person or authority that passes upon it approvingly. A
statement is substantiated; a report confirmed; a controversy settled; the decision of a lower court sustained
by a higher. Just government should be upheld. The beneficent results of Christianity confirm our faith in it as
a divine revelation.
Antonyms:
abrogate, cancel, overthrow, shatter, upset, annul, destroy, shake, unsettle, weaken.
Prepositions:
Confirm a statement by testimony; confirm a person in a belief.
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CONGRATULATE.
Synonym:
felicitate.
To felicitate is to pronounce one happy or wish one joy; to congratulate is to express hearty sympathy in his
joys or hopes. Felicitate is cold and formal. We say one felicitates himself; tho to congratulate oneself, which
is less natural, is becoming prevalent.
Antonyms:
condole with, console.
Prepositions:
Congratulate one on or upon his success.
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CONQUER.
Synonyms:
beat, humble, overthrow, subject, checkmate, master, prevail over, subjugate, crush, overcome, put down,
surmount, defeat, overmaster, reduce, vanquish, discomfit, overmatch, rout, win, down, overpower, subdue,
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
99

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worst.
To defeat an enemy is to gain an advantage for the time; to vanquish is to win a signal victory; to conquer is
to overcome so effectually that the victory is regarded as final. Conquer, in many cases, carries the idea of
possession; as, to conquer respect, affection, peace, etc. A country is conquered when its armies are defeated
and its territory is occupied by the enemy; it may be subjected to indemnity or to various disabilities; it is
subjugated when it is held helplessly and continuously under military control; it is subdued when all
resistance has died out. An army is defeated when forcibly driven back; it is routed when it is converted into a
mob of fugitives. Compare BEAT.
Antonyms:
capitulate, fail, fly, lose, retire, submit, surrender, cede, fall, forfeit, resign, retreat, succumb, yield.
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CONSCIOUS.
Synonyms:
advised, assured, certain, cognizant, sensible, apprised, aware, certified, informed, sure.
One is aware of that which exists without him; he is conscious of the inner workings of his own mind.
Sensible may be used in the exact sense of conscious, or it may partake of both the senses mentioned above.
One may be sensible of his own or another's error; he is conscious only of his own. A person may feel assured
or sure of something false or non-existent; what he is aware of, still more what he is conscious of, must be
fact. Sensible has often a reference to the emotions where conscious might apply only to the intellect; to say a
culprit is sensible of his degradation is more forcible than to say he is conscious of it.
Antonyms:
cold, dead, deaf, ignorant, insensible, unaware, unconscious.
Preposition:
On the stormy sea, man is conscious of the limitation of human power.
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CONSEQUENCE.
Synonyms:
consequent, end, issue, outgrowth, sequel, effect, event, outcome, result, upshot.