English Synonyms and Antonyms

cultivation through successive generations; a man's faculties may be brought to a high degree of cultivation in
some specialty, while he himself remains uncultured even to the extent of coarseness and rudeness. Compare
HUMANE; POLITE.
Antonyms:
barbarism, brutality, coarseness, rudeness, savagery, boorishness, clownishness, grossness, rusticity, vulgarity.
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REFUTE.
Synonyms:
confound, confute, disprove, overthrow, repel.
To refute and to confute are to answer so as to admit of no reply. To refute a statement is to demonstrate its
falsity by argument or countervailing proof; confute is substantially the same in meaning, tho differing in
usage. Refute applies either to arguments and opinions or to accusations; confute is not applied to accusations
and charges, but to arguments or opinions. Refute is not now applied to persons, but confute is in good use in
this application; a person is confuted when his arguments are refuted.
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RELIABLE.
Synonyms:
trustworthy, trusty.
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
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The word reliable has been sharply challenged, but seems to have established its place in the language. The
objection to its use on the ground that the suffix -able can not properly be added to an intransitive verb is
answered by the citation of such words as "available," "conversable," "laughable," and the like, while, in the
matter of usage, reliable has the authority of Coleridge, Martineau, Mill, Irving, Newman, Gladstone, and
others of the foremost of recent English writers. The objection to the application of reliable to persons is not
sustained by the use of the verb "rely," which is applied to persons in the authorized version of the Scriptures,
in the writings of Shakespeare and Bacon, and in the usage of good speakers and writers. Trusty and
trustworthy refer to inherent qualities of a high order, trustworthy being especially applied to persons, and
denoting moral integrity and truthfulness; we speak of a trusty sword, a trusty servant; we say the man is
thoroughly trustworthy. Reliable is inferior in meaning, denoting merely the possession of such qualities as
are needed for safe reliance; as, a reliable pledge; reliable information. A man is said to be reliable with
reference not only to moral qualities, but to judgment, knowledge, skill, habit, or perhaps pecuniary ability; a
thoroughly trustworthy person might not be reliable as a witness on account of unconscious sympathy, or as a
security by reason of insufficient means. A reliable messenger is one who may be depended on to do his
errand correctly and promptly; a trusty or trustworthy messenger is one who may be admitted to knowledge of
the views and purposes of those who employ him, and who will be faithful beyond the mere letter of his
commission. We can speak of a railroad-train as reliable when it can be depended on to arrive on time; but to
speak of a reliable friend would be cold, and to speak of a warrior girding on his reliable sword would be
ludicrous.
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RELIGION.
Synonyms:
devotion, godliness, morality, piety, theology, faith, holiness, pietism, righteousness, worship.
Piety is primarily filial duty, as of children to parents, and hence, in its highest sense, a loving obedience and
service to God as the Heavenly Father; pietism often denotes a mystical, sometimes an affected piety; religion
is the reverent acknowledgment both in heart and in act of a divine being. Religion, in the fullest and highest
sense, includes all the other words of this group. Worship may be external and formal, or it may be the
adoring reverence of the human spirit for the divine, seeking outward expression. Devotion, which in its
fullest sense is self-consecration, is often used to denote an act of worship, especially prayer or adoration; as,
he is engaged in his devotions. Morality is the system and practise of duty as required by the moral law,
consisting chiefly in outward acts, and thus may be observed without spiritual rectitude of heart; morality is of
necessity included in all true religion, which involves both outward act and spiritual service. Godliness
(primarily godlikeness) is a character and spirit like that of God. Holiness is the highest, sinless perfection of
any spirit, whether divine or human, tho often used for purity or for consecration. Theology is the science of
religion, or the study and scientific statement of all that the human mind can know of God. Faith, strictly the
belief and trust which the soul exercises toward God, is often used as a comprehensive word for a whole
system of religion considered as the object of faith; as, the Christian faith; the Mohammedan faith.
Antonyms:
atheism, godlessness, irreligion, sacrilege, ungodliness, blasphemy, impiety, profanity, unbelief, wickedness.
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RELUCTANT.
Synonyms:
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
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averse, disinclined, loath, slow, backward, indisposed, opposed, unwilling.
Reluctant (L. re, back, and lucto, strive, struggle) signifies struggling against what one is urged or impelled to
do, or is actually doing; averse (L. a, from, and verto, turn) signifies turned away as with dislike or
repugnance; loath (AS. lath, evil, hateful) signifies having a repugnance, disgust, or loathing for, tho the
adjective loath is not so strong as the verb loathe. A dunce is always averse to study; a good student is
disinclined to it when a fine morning tempts him out; he is indisposed to it in some hour of weariness. A man
may be slow or backward in entering upon that to which he is by no means averse. A man is loath to believe
evil of his friend, reluctant to speak of it, absolutely unwilling to use it to his injury. A legislator may be
opposed to a certain measure, while not averse to what it aims to accomplish. Compare ANTIPATHY.
Antonyms:
desirous, disposed, eager, favorable, inclined, willing.
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REMARK.
Synonyms:
annotation, comment, note, observation, utterance.
A remark is a saying or brief statement, oral or written, commonly made without much premeditation; a
comment is an explanatory or critical remark, as upon some passage in a literary work or some act or speech
in common life. A note is something to call attention, hence a brief written statement; in correspondence, a
note is briefer than a letter. A note upon some passage in a book is briefer and less elaborate than a comment.
Annotations are especially brief notes, commonly marginal, and closely following the text. Comments,
observations, or remarks may be oral or written, comments being oftenest written, and remarks oftenest oral.
An observation is properly the result of fixed attention and reflection; a remark may be the suggestion of the
instant. Remarks are more informal than a speech.
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REND.
Synonyms:
break, cleave, mangle, rive, sever, sunder, burst, lacerate, rip, rupture, slit, tear.
Rend and tear are applied to the separating of textile substances into parts by force violently applied (rend
also to frangible substances), tear being the milder, rend the stronger word. Rive is a wood-workers' word for