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Ease denotes freedom from cause of disturbance, whether external or internal. Quiet denotes freedom from
agitation, or especially from annoying sounds. Rest is a cessation of activity especially of wearying or painful
activity. Recreation is some pleasing activity of certain organs or faculties that affords rest to other parts of
our nature that have become weary. Repose is a laying down, primarily of the body, and figuratively a similar
freedom from toil or strain of mind. Repose is more complete than rest; a pause is a momentary cessation of
activity; a black-smith finds a temporary rest while the iron is heating, but he does not yield to repose; in a
pause of battle a soldier rests on his arms; after the battle the victor reposes on his laurels. Sleep is the
perfection of repose, the most complete rest; slumber is a light and ordinarily pleasant form of sleep. In the
figurative sense, rest of mind, soul, conscience, is not mere cessation of activity, but a pleasing, tranquil relief
from all painful and wearying activity; repose is even more deep, tranquil, and complete.
Antonyms:
agitation, disturbance, movement, stir, tumult, commotion, excitement, restlessness, strain, unrest, disquiet,
motion, rush, toil, work.
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RESTIVE.
Synonyms:
balky, impatient, rebellious, restless, fidgety, intractable, recalcitrant, skittish, fractious, mulish, refractory,
stubborn, fretful, mutinous, resentful, unruly, frisky, obstinate, restiff, vicious.
Balky, mulish, obstinate, and stubborn are synonyms of restive only in an infrequent if not obsolete use; the
supposed sense of "tending to rest," "standing stubbornly still," is scarcely supported by any examples, and
those cited to support that meaning often fail to do so. The disposition to offer active resistance to control by
any means whatever is what is commonly indicated by restive in the best English speech and literature.
Dryden speaks of "the pampered colt" as "restiff to the rein;" but the rein is not used to propel a horse forward,
but to hold him in, and it is against this that he is "restiff." A horse may be made restless by flies or by martial
music, but with no refractoriness; the restive animal impatiently resists or struggles to break from control, as
by bolting, flinging his rider, or otherwise. With this the metaphorical use of the word agrees, which is always
in the sense of such terms as impatient, intractable, rebellious, and the like; a people restive under despotism
are not disposed to "rest" under it, but to resist it and fling it off.
Antonyms:
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
252
docile, manageable, passive, quiet, tractable, gentle, obedient, peaceable, submissive, yielding.
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RESTRAIN.
Synonyms:
abridge, constrain, hold in, keep under, bridle, curb, keep, repress, check, hinder, keep back, restrict,
circumscribe, hold, keep down, suppress, confine, hold back, keep in, withhold.
To restrain is to hold back from acting, proceeding, or advancing, either by physical or moral force. Constrain
is positive; restrain is negative; one is constrained to an action; he is restrained from an action. Constrain
refers almost exclusively to moral force, restrain frequently to physical force, as when we speak of putting
one under restraint. To restrain an action is to hold it partially or wholly in check, so that it is under pressure
even while it acts; to restrict an action is to fix a limit or boundary which it may not pass, but within which it
is free. To repress, literally to press back, is to hold in check, and perhaps only temporarily, that which is still
very active; it is a feebler word than restrain; to suppress is finally and effectually to put down; suppress is a
much stronger word than restrain; as, to suppress a rebellion. Compare ARREST; BIND; KEEP.
Antonyms:
aid, arouse, encourage, free, incite, release, animate, emancipate, excite, impel, let loose, set free.
* * * * *
RETIREMENT.
Synonyms:
loneliness, privacy, seclusion, solitude.
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