English Synonyms and Antonyms

apportioned is given by some fixed rule, which is meant to be uniform and fair; as, representatives are
apportioned among the States according to population. To dispense is to give out freely; as, the sun dispenses
light and heat. A thing is appropriated to or for a specific purpose (to which it thus becomes proper, in the
original sense of being its own); money appropriated by Congress for one purpose can not be expended for
any other. One may apportion what he only holds in trust; he shares what is his own. Compare ALLOT.
Antonyms:
cling to, consolidate, gather together, receive, collect, divide arbitrarily, keep together, retain.
Prepositions:
Apportion to each a fair amount; apportion the property among the heirs, between two claimants; apportion
according to numbers, etc.
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APPROXIMATION.
Synonyms:
approach, likeness, neighborhood, resemblance, contiguity, nearness, propinquity, similarity.
In mathematics, approximation is not guesswork, not looseness, and not error. The process of approximation
is as exact and correct at every point as that by which an absolute result is secured; the result only fails of
exactness because of some inherent difficulty in the problem. The attempt to "square the circle" gives only an
approximate result, because of the impossibility of expressing the circumference in terms of the radius. But
the limits of error on either side are known, and the approximation has practical value. Outside of
mathematics, the correct use of approximation (and the kindred words approximate and approximately) is to
express as near an approach to accuracy and certainty as the conditions of human thought or action in any
given case make possible. Resemblance and similarity may be but superficial and apparent; approximation is
real. Approach is a relative term, indicating that one has come nearer than before, tho the distance may yet be
considerable; an approximation brings one really near. Nearness, neighborhood, and propinquity are
commonly used of place; approximation, of mathematical calculations and abstract reasoning; we speak of
approach to the shore, nearness to the town, approximation to the truth.
Antonyms:
difference, distance, error, remoteness, unlikeness, variation.
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
50

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Prepositions:
The approximation of the vegetable to the animal type.
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ARMS.
Synonyms:
accouterments, armor, harness, mail, weapons.
Arms are implements of attack; armor is a defensive covering. The knight put on his armor; he grasped his
arms. With the disuse of defensive armor the word has practically gone out of military use, but it is still
employed in the navy, where the distinction is clearly preserved; any vessel provided with cannon is an armed
vessel; an armored ship is an ironclad. Anything that can be wielded in fight may become a weapon, as a
pitchfork or a paving-stone; arms are especially made and designed for conflict.
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ARMY.
Synonyms:
armament, forces, military, soldiers, array, host, multitude, soldiery, force, legions, phalanx, troops.
An army is an organized body of men armed for war, ordinarily considerable in numbers, always independent
in organization so far as not to be a constituent part of any other command. Organization, unity, and
independence, rather than numbers are the essentials of an army. We speak of the invading army of Cortes or
Pizarro, tho either body was contemptible in numbers from a modern military standpoint. We may have a little