English Synonyms and Antonyms

exalted; we speak of high, lofty, or elevated thoughts, aims, etc., in the good sense, but sometimes of high
feelings, looks, words, etc., in the invidious sense of haughty or arrogant. A high ambition may be merely
selfish; a lofty ambition is worthy and noble. Towering, in the literal sense compares with lofty and majestic;
but in the figurative sense, its use is almost always invidious; as, a towering passion; a towering ambition
disregards and crushes all opposing considerations, however rational, lovely, or holy. Compare STEEP.
Antonyms:
base, degraded, dwarfed, inferior, low, mean, short, stunted. deep, depressed,
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HINDER.
Synonyms:
baffle, clog, foil, obstruct, retard, balk, counteract, frustrate, oppose, stay, bar, delay, hamper, prevent, stop,
block, embarrass, impede, resist, thwart. check, encumber, interrupt,
To hinder is to keep from action, progress, motion, or growth, or to make such action, progress, motion, or
growth later in beginning or completion than it would otherwise have been. An action is prevented by
anything that comes in before it to make it impossible; it is hindered by anything that keeps it from either
beginning or ending so soon as it otherwise would, or as expected or intended. It is more common, however,
to say that the start is delayed, the progress hindered. An action that is hindered does not take place at the
appointed or appropriate time; that which is prevented does not take place at all; to hinder a thing long enough
may amount to preventing it. A railroad-train may be hindered by a snow-storm from arriving on time; it may
by special order be prevented from starting. To retard is simply to make slow by any means whatever. To
obstruct is to hinder, or possibly to prevent advance or passage by putting something in the way; to oppose or
resist is to hinder, or possibly to prevent by directly contrary or hostile action, resist being the stronger term
and having more suggestion of physical force; obstructed roads hinder the march of an enemy, tho there may
be no force strong enough to oppose it; one opposes a measure, a motion, an amendment, or the like; it is a
criminal offense to resist an officer in the discharge of his duty; the physical system may resist the attack of
disease or the action of a remedy. Compare CONQUER; IMPEDIMENT; OBSTRUCT.
Antonyms:
See synonyms for QUICKEN.
Prepositions:
Hinder one in his progress; from acting promptly; by opposition.
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HISTORY.
Synonyms:
account, biography, muniment, record, annals, chronicle, narration, register, archives, memoir, narrative,
story. autobiography, memorial, recital,
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
165

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History is a systematic record of past events. Annals and chronicles relate events with little regard to their
relative importance, and with complete subserviency to their succession in time. Annals are yearly records;
chronicles follow the order of time. Both necessarily lack emphasis, selection, and perspective. Archives are
public records, which may be annals, or chronicles, or deeds of property, etc. Memoirs generally record the
lives of individuals or facts pertaining to individual lives. A biography is distinctively a written account of
one person's life and actions; an autobiography is a biography written by the person whose life it records.
Annals, archives, chronicles, biographies, and memoirs and other records furnish the materials of history.
History recounts events with careful attention to their importance, their mutual relations, their causes and
consequences, selecting and grouping events on the ground of interest or importance. History is usually
applied to such an account of events affecting communities and nations, tho sometimes we speak of the
history of a single eminent life. Compare RECORD.
Antonyms:
See synonyms for FICTION.
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HOLY.
Synonyms:
blessed, devoted, hallowed, saintly, consecrated, divine, sacred, set apart.
Sacred is applied to that which is to be regarded as inviolable on any account, and so is not restricted to divine
things; therefore in its lower applications it is less than holy. That which is sacred may be made so by
institution, decree, or association; that which is holy is so by its own nature, possessing intrinsic moral purity,
and, in the highest sense, absolute moral perfection. God is holy; his commands are sacred. Holy may be
applied also to that which is hallowed; as, "the place whereon thou standest is holy ground," Ex. iii, 5. In such
use holy is more than sacred, as if the very qualities of a spiritual or divine presence were imparted to the
place or object. Divine has been used with great looseness, as applying to anything eminent or admirable, in
the line either of goodness or of mere power, as to eloquence, music, etc., but there is a commendable
tendency to restrict the word to its higher sense, as designating that which belongs to or is worthy of the
Divine Being. Compare PERFECT; PURE.
Antonyms:
abominable, cursed, polluted, unconsecrated, unholy, wicked, common, impure, secular, unhallowed,
unsanctified, worldly.
* * * * *
HOME.
Synonyms:
abode, dwelling, habitation, hearthstone, ingleside, domicil, fireside, hearth, house, residence.