English Synonyms and Antonyms

imagination, the perfection of which is in Milton; and the dramatic, of which Shakspeare is the absolute
master.
COLERIDGE Table Talk June 23, '34.
Fancy keeps the material image prominent and clear, and works not only with it, but for it; imagination
always uses the material object as the minister of something greater than itself, and often almost loses the
object in the spiritual idea with which she has associated it, and for which alone she values it. Fancy flits
about the surface, and is airy and playful, sometimes petty and sometimes false; imagination goes to the heart
of things, and is deep, earnest, serious, and seeks always and everywhere for essential truth. Fancy sets off,
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
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variegates, and decorates; imagination transforms and exalts. Fancy delights and entertains; imagination
moves and thrills. Imagination is not only poetic or literary, but scientific, philosophical, and practical. By
imagination the architect sees the unity of a building not yet begun, and the inventor sees the unity and varied
interactions of a machine never yet constructed, even a unity that no human eye ever can see, since when the
machine is in actual motion, one part may hide the connecting parts, and yet all keep the unity of the
inventor's thought. By imagination a Newton sweeps sun, planets, and stars into unity with the earth and the
apple that is drawn irresistibly to its surface, and sees them all within the circle of one grand law. Science,
philosophy, and mechanical invention have little use for fancy, but the creative, penetrative power of
imagination is to them the breath of life, and the condition of all advance and success. See also FANCY;
IDEA.
[B] The whole discussion from which the quotation is taken is worthy of, and will well repay, careful study.
* * * * *
IMMEDIATELY.
Synonyms:
at once, instanter, presently, straightway, directly, instantly, right away, this instant, forthwith, now, right off,
without delay.
The strong and general human tendency to procrastination is shown in the progressive weakening of the
various words in this group. Immediately primarily signifies without the intervention of anything as a medium,
hence without the intervention of any, even the briefest, interval or lapse of time. By and by, which was once a
synonym, has become an antonym of immediately, meaning at some (perhaps remote) future time. Directly,
which once meant with no intervening time, now means after some little while; presently no longer means in
this very present, but before very long. Even immediately is sliding from its instantaneousness, so that we are
fain to substitute at once, instantly, etc., when we would make promptness emphatic. Right away and right off
are vigorous conversational expressions in the United States.
Antonyms:
after a while, by and by, hereafter, in the future, some time.
* * * * *
IMMERSE.
Synonyms:
bury, dip, douse, duck, immerge, plunge, sink, submerge.
Dip is Saxon, while immerse is Latin for the same initial act; dip is accordingly the more popular and
commonplace, immerse the more elegant and dignified expression in many cases. To speak of baptism by
immersion as dipping now seems rude; tho entirely proper and usual in early English. Baptists now
universally use the word immerse. To dip and to immerse alike signify to bury or submerge some object in a
liquid; but dip implies that the object dipped is at once removed from the liquid, while immerse is wholly
silent as to the removal. Immerse also suggests more absolute completeness of the action; one may dip his
sleeve or dip a sponge in a liquid, if he but touches the edge; if he immerses it, he completely sinks it under,
and covers it with the liquid. Submerge implies that the object can not readily be removed, if at all; as, a