English Synonyms and Antonyms

distinguish we mark apart, or recognize by some special mark or manifest difference. We discriminate by real
differences; we distinguish by outward signs; an officer is readily distinguished from a common soldier by his
uniform. Objects may be dimly discerned at twilight, when yet we can not clearly distinguish one from
another. We descry (originally espy) what is difficult to discover. Compare DISCOVER; LOOK.
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DISCOVER.
Synonyms:
ascertain, detect, disclose, ferret out, find out, descry, discern, expose, find, invent.
Of human actions or character, detect is used, almost without exception, in a bad sense; discover may be used
in either the good or the bad sense, oftener in the good; he was detected in a fraud; real merit is sure to be
discovered. In scientific language, detect is used of delicate indications that appear in course of careful
watching; as, a slight fluttering of the pulse could be detected. We discover what has existed but has not been
known to us; we invent combinations or arrangements not before in use; Columbus discovered America;
Morse invented the electric telegraph. Find is the most general word for every means of coming to know what
was not before certainly known. A man finds in the road some stranger's purse, or finds his own which he is
searching for. The expert discovers or detects an error in an account; the auditor finds the account to be
correct. Compare DISCERN.
Antonyms:
See synonyms for HIDE.
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DISEASE.
Synonyms:
affection, disorder, indisposition, sickness, ailment, distemper, infirmity, unhealthiness, complaint, illness,
malady, unsoundness.
Disease is the general term for any deviation from health; in a more limited sense it denotes some definite
morbid condition; disorder and affection are rather partial and limited; as, a nervous affection; a disorder of
the digestive system. Sickness was generally used in English speech and literature, till the close of the
eighteenth century at least, for every form of physical disorder, as abundantly appears in the English Bible:
"Jesus went about ... healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people," Matt. iv, 23;
"Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died," 2 Kings xiii, 14. There is now, in England, a tendency
to restrict the words sick and sickness to nausea, or "sickness at the stomach," and to hold ill and illness as the
only proper words to use in a general sense. This distinction has received but a very limited acceptance in the
United States, where sick and sickness have the earlier and wider usage. We speak of trifling ailments, a slight
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
115

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indisposition, a serious or a deadly disease; a slight or severe illness; a painful sickness. Complaint is a
popular term, which may be applied to any degree of ill health, slight or severe. Infirmity denotes a chronic or
lingering weakness or disability, as blindness or lameness.
Antonyms:
health, robustness, soundness, strength, sturdiness, vigor.
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DISPARAGE.
Synonyms:
belittle, depreciate, discredit, underestimate, carp at, derogate from, dishonor, underrate, decry, detract from,
lower, undervalue.
To decry is to cry down, in some noisy, public, or conspicuous manner. A witness or a statement is
discredited; the currency is depreciated; a good name is dishonored by unworthy conduct; we underestimate
in our own minds; we may underrate or undervalue in statement to others. These words are used, with few
exceptions, of things such as qualities, merits, attainments, etc. To disparage is to belittle by damaging
comparison or suggestion; it is used only of things. A man's achievements are disparaged, his motives