English Synonyms and Antonyms

vitiated taste or style; fraud vitiates a title or a contract.
Antonyms:
clean, cleanse, disinfect, hallow, purify, sanctify, wash.
Prepositions:
The temple was defiled with blood; defiled by sacrilegious deeds.
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DEFINITION.
Synonyms:
comment, description, exposition, rendering, commentary, explanation, interpretation, translation.
A definition is exact, an explanation general; a definition is formal, a description pictorial. A definition must
include all that belongs to the object defined, and exclude all that does not; a description may include only
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some general features; an explanation may simply throw light upon some point of special difficulty. An
exposition undertakes to state more fully what is compactly given or only implied in the text; as, an exposition
of Scripture. Interpretation is ordinarily from one language into another, or from the language of one period
into that of another; it may also be a statement giving the doubtful or hidden meaning of that which is
recondite or perplexing; as, the interpretation of a dream, a riddle, or of some difficult passage. Definition,
explanation, exposition, and interpretation are ordinarily blended in a commentary, which may also include
description. A comment is upon a single passage; a commentary may be the same, but is usually understood to
be a volume of comments.
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DELEGATE.
Synonyms:
deputy, legate, proxy, representative, substitute.
These words agree in designating one who acts in the place of some other or others. The legate is an
ecclesiastical officer representing the Pope. In strict usage the deputy or delegate is more limited in functions
and more closely bound by instructions than a representative. A single officer may have a deputy; many
persons combine to choose a delegate or representative. In the United States informal assemblies send
delegates to nominating conventions with no legislative authority; representatives are legally elected to
Congress and the various legislatures, with lawmaking power.
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DELIBERATE.
Synonyms:
confer, consult, meditate, reflect, consider, debate, ponder, weigh.
An individual considers, meditates, ponders, reflects, by himself; he weighs a matter in his own mind, and is
sometimes said even to debate with himself. Consult and confer always imply two or more persons, as does
debate, unless expressly limited as above. Confer suggests the interchange of counsel, advice, or information;
consult indicates almost exclusively the receiving of it. A man confers with his associates about a new
investment; he consults his physician about his health; he may confer with him on matters of general interest.
He consults a dictionary, but does not confer with it. Deliberate, which can be applied to a single individual,
is also the word for a great number, while consult is ordinarily limited to a few; a committee consults; an
assembly deliberates. Deliberating always carries the idea of slowness; consulting is compatible with haste;
we can speak of a hasty consultation, not of a hasty deliberation. Debate implies opposing views; deliberate,
simply a gathering and balancing of all facts and reasons. We consider or deliberate with a view to action,
while meditation may be quite purposeless.
Prepositions:
We deliberate on or upon, also about or concerning a matter: the first two are preferable.
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DELICIOUS.
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Synonyms:
dainty, delightful, exquisite, luscious, savory.
That is delicious which affords a gratification at once vivid and delicate to the senses, especially to those of
taste and smell; as, delicious fruit; a delicious odor; luscious has a kindred but more fulsome meaning,
inclining toward a cloying excess of sweetness or richness. Savory is applied chiefly to cooked food made
palatable by spices and condiments. Delightful may be applied to the higher gratifications of sense, as