English Synonyms and Antonyms

nightly as diurnal is of nocturnal. Daily is not, however, held strictly to this use; a physician makes daily
visits if he calls at some time within each period of twenty-four hours. Diurnal is more exact in all its uses; a
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
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diurnal flower opens or blooms only in daylight; a diurnal bird or animal flies or ranges only by day: in
contradistinction to nocturnal flowers, birds, etc. A diurnal motion exactly fills an astronomical day or the
time of one rotation of a planet on its axis, while a daily motion is much less definite.
Antonyms:
nightly, nocturnal.
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DANGER.
Synonyms:
hazard, insecurity, jeopardy, peril, risk.
Danger is exposure to possible evil, which may be either near and probable or remote and doubtful; peril is
exposure to imminent and sharply threatening evil, especially to such as results from violence. An invalid may
be in danger of consumption; a disarmed soldier is in peril of death. Jeopardy is nearly the same as peril, but
involves, like risk, more of the element of chance or uncertainty; a man tried upon a capital charge is said to
be put in jeopardy of life. Insecurity is a feeble word, but exceedingly broad, applying to the placing of a dish,
or the possibilities of a life, a fortune, or a government. Compare HAZARD.
Antonyms:
defense, immunity, protection, safeguard, safety, security, shelter.
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DARK.
Synonyms:
black, dusky, mysterious, sable, somber, dim, gloomy, obscure, shadowy, swart, dismal, murky, opaque,
shady, swarthy.
Strictly, that which is black is absolutely destitute of color; that which is dark is absolutely destitute of light.
In common speech, however, a coat is black, tho not optically colorless; the night is dark, tho the stars shine.
That is obscure, shadowy, or shady from which the light is more or less cut off. Dusky is applied to objects
which appear as if viewed in fading light; the word is often used, as are swart and swarthy, of the human skin
when quite dark, or even verging toward black. Dim refers to imperfection of outline, from distance, darkness,
mist, etc., or from some defect of vision. Opaque objects, as smoked glass, are impervious to light. Murky is
said of that which is at once dark, obscure, and gloomy; as, a murky den; a murky sky. Figuratively, dark is
emblematic of sadness, agreeing with somber, dismal, gloomy, also of moral evil; as, a dark deed. Of
intellectual matters, dark is now rarely used in the old sense of a dark saying, etc. See MYSTERIOUS;
OBSCURE.
Antonyms:
bright, crystalline, glowing, lucid, shining, brilliant, dazzling, illumined, luminous, transparent, clear,
gleaming, light, radiant, white.
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
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Compare synonyms for LIGHT.
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DECAY.
Synonyms:
corrupt, decompose, molder, putrefy, rot, spoil.
Rot is a strong word, ordinarily esteemed coarse, but on occasion capable of approved emphatic use; as, "the
name of the wicked shall rot," Prov. x, 7; decay and decompose are now common euphemisms. A substance is
decomposed when resolved into its original elements by any process; it is decayed when resolved into its
original elements by natural processes; it decays gradually, but may be instantly decomposed, as water into
oxygen and hydrogen; to say that a thing is decayed may denote only a partial result, but to say it is