English Synonyms and Antonyms

delightful music, but is chiefly used for that which is mental and spiritual. Delicious has a limited use in this
way; as, a delicious bit of poetry; the word is sometimes used ironically for some pleasing absurdity; as, this is
delicious! Compare DELIGHTFUL.
Antonyms:
acrid, loathsome, nauseous, repulsive, unpalatable, unsavory. bitter,
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DELIGHTFUL.
Synonyms:
acceptable, delicious, pleasant, refreshing, agreeable, grateful, pleasing, satisfying, congenial, gratifying,
pleasurable, welcome.
Agreeable refers to whatever gives a mild degree of pleasure; as, an agreeable perfume. Acceptable indicates
a thing to be worthy of acceptance; as, an acceptable offering. Grateful is stronger than agreeable or
gratifying, indicating whatever awakens a feeling akin to gratitude. A pleasant face and pleasing manners
arouse pleasurable sensations, and make the possessor an agreeable companion; if possessed of intelligence,
vivacity, and goodness, such a person's society will be delightful. Criminals may find each other's company
congenial, but scarcely delightful. Satisfying denotes anything that is received with calm acquiescence, as
substantial food, or established truth. That is welcome which is received with joyful heartiness; as, welcome
tidings. Compare BEAUTIFUL; CHARMING; DELICIOUS.
Antonyms:
depressing, hateful, miserable, painful, woful, disappointing, horrible, mournful, saddening, wretched.
distressing, melancholy,
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DELUSION.
Synonyms:
error, fallacy, hallucination, illusion, phantasm.
A delusion is a mistaken conviction, an illusion a mistaken perception or inference. An illusion may be wholly
of the senses; a delusion always involves some mental error. In an optical illusion the observer sees either
what does not exist, or what exists otherwise than as he sees it, as when in a mirage distant springs and trees
appear close at hand. We speak of the illusions of fancy or of hope, but of the delusions of the insane. A
hallucination is a false image or belief which has nothing, outside of the disordered mind, to suggest it; as, the
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
109

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hallucinations of delirium tremens. Compare DECEPTION; INSANITY.
Antonyms:
actuality, certainty, fact, reality, truth, verity.
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DEMOLISH.
Synonyms:
destroy, overthrow, overturn, raze, ruin.
A building, monument, or other structure is demolished when reduced to a shapeless mass; it is razed when
leveled with the ground; it is destroyed when its structural unity is gone, whether or not its component parts
remain. An edifice is destroyed by fire or earthquake; it is demolished by bombardment; it is ruined when, by
violence or neglect, it has become unfit for human habitation. Compare ABOLISH; BREAK.
Antonyms:
build, construct, create, make, repair, restore.
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DEMONSTRATION.
Synonyms:
certainty, consequence, evidence, inference, conclusion, deduction, induction, proof.
Demonstration, in the strict and proper sense, is the highest form of proof, and gives the most absolute
certainty, but can not be applied outside of pure mathematics or other strictly deductive reasoning; there can
be proof and certainty, however, in matters that do not admit of demonstration. A conclusion is the absolute
and necessary result of the admission of certain premises; an inference is a probable conclusion toward which
known facts, statements, or admissions point, but which they do not absolutely establish; sound premises,
together with their necessary conclusion, constitute a demonstration. Evidence is that which tends to show a
thing to be true; in the widest sense, as including self-evidence or consciousness, it is the basis of all
knowledge. Proof in the strict sense is complete, irresistible evidence; as, there was much evidence against the
accused, but not amounting to proof of guilt. Moral certainty is a conviction resting on such evidence as puts a
matter beyond reasonable doubt, while not so irresistible as demonstration. Compare HYPOTHESIS;
INDUCTION.
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DESIGN.
Synonyms:
aim, final cause, object, proposal, device, intent, plan, purpose, end, intention, project, scheme.