English Synonyms and Antonyms

depose and testify; it differs from swear in not invoking the name of God. To assure is to state with such
authority and confidence as the speaker feels ought to make the hearer sure. Certify is more formal, and
applies rather to written documents or legal processes. Assure, certify, inform, apply to the person; affirm, etc.,
to the thing. Assert is combative; assure is conciliatory. I assert my right to cross the river; I assure my friend
it is perfectly safe. To aver is to state positively what is within one's own knowledge or matter of deep
conviction. One may assert himself, or assert his right to what he is willing to contend for; or he may assert in
discussion what he is ready to maintain by argument or evidence. To assert without proof is always to lay
oneself open to the suspicion of having no proof to offer, and seems to arrogate too much to one's personal
authority, and hence in such cases both the verb assert and its noun assertion have an unfavorable sense; we
say a mere assertion, a bare assertion, his unsupported assertion; he asserted his innocence has less force than
he affirmed or maintained his innocence. Affirm, state, and tell have not the controversial sense of assert, but
are simply declarative. To vindicate is to defend successfully what is assailed. Almost every criminal will
assert his innocence; the honest man will seldom lack means to vindicate his integrity.
Antonyms:
contradict, controvert, disprove, gainsay, refute, retract, contravene, deny, dispute, oppose, repudiate, waive.
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STEEP.
Synonyms:
abrupt, high, precipitous, sharp, sheer.
High is used of simple elevation; steep is said only of an incline where the vertical measurement is sufficiently
great in proportion to the horizontal to make it difficult of ascent. Steep is relative; an ascent of 100 feet to the
mile on a railway is a steep grade; a rise of 500 feet to the mile makes a steep wagon-road; a roof is steep
when it makes with the horizontal line an angle of more than 45°. A high mountain may be climbed by a
winding road nowhere steep, while a little hill may be accessible only by a steep path. A sharp ascent or
descent is one that makes a sudden, decided angle with the plane from which it starts; a sheer ascent or
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
273

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descent is perpendicular, or nearly so; precipitous applies to that which is of the nature of a precipice, and is
used especially of a descent; abrupt is as if broken sharply off, and applies to either acclivity or declivity.
Compare HIGH.
Antonyms:
easy, flat, gentle, gradual, horizontal, level, low, slight.
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STORM.
Synonyms:
agitation, disturbance, tempest.
A storm is properly a disturbance of the atmosphere, with or without rain, snow, hail, or thunder and
lightning. Thus we have rain-storm, snow-storm, etc., and by extension, magnetic storm. A tempest is a storm
of extreme violence, always attended with some precipitation, as of rain, from the atmosphere. In the moral
and figurative use, storm and tempest are not closely discriminated, except that tempest commonly implies
greater intensity. We speak of agitation of feeling, disturbance of mind, a storm of passion, a tempest of rage.
Antonyms:
calm, fair weather, hush, peace, serenity, stillness, tranquillity.
* * * * *
STORY.
Synonyms:
account, legend, narrative, recital, relation, anecdote, myth, novel, record, tale. incident, narration,
A story is the telling of some series of connected incidents or events, whether real or fictitious, in prose or
verse, orally or in writing; or the series of incidents or events thus related may be termed a story. In children's
talk, a story is a common euphemism for a falsehood. Tale is nearly synonymous with story, but is somewhat
archaic; it is used for an imaginative, legendary, or fictitious recital, especially if of ancient date; as, a fairy