English Synonyms and Antonyms

 hypocrite (Gr. hypokrites, one who answers on the stage, an actor, especially a mimic actor) is one who acts
a false part, or assumes a character other than the real. Deceiver is the most comprehensive term, including all
the other words of the group. The deceiver seeks to give false impressions of any matter where he has an end
to gain; the dissembler or hypocrite seeks to give false impressions in regard to himself. The dissembler is
content if he can keep some base conduct or evil purpose from being discovered; the hypocrite seeks not
merely to cover his vices, but to gain credit for virtue. The cheat and impostor endeavor to make something
out of those they may deceive. The cheat is the inferior and more mercenary, as the thimble-rig gambler; the
impostor may aspire to a fortune or a throne. Compare HYPOCRISY.
Antonyms:
The antonyms of hypocrite are to be found only in phrases embodying the adjectives candid, honest,
ingenuous, sincere, true, etc.
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HYPOTHESIS.
Synonyms:
conjecture, scheme, supposition, system, guess, speculation, surmise, theory.
A hypothesis is a statement of what is deemed possibly true, assumed and reasoned upon as if certainly true,
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
169

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with a view of reaching truth not yet surely known; especially, in the sciences, a hypothesis is a
comprehensive tentative explanation of certain phenomena, which is meant to include all other facts of the
same class, and which is assumed as true till there has been opportunity to bring all related facts into
comparison; if the hypothesis explains all the facts, it is regarded as verified; till then it is regarded as a
working hypothesis, that is, one that may answer for present practical purposes. A hypothesis may be termed a
comprehensive guess. A guess is a swift conclusion from data directly at hand, and held as probable or
tentative, while one confessedly lacks material for absolute certainty. A conjecture is more methodical than a
guess, while a supposition is still slower and more settled; a conjecture, like a guess, is preliminary and
tentative; a supposition is more nearly final; a surmise is more floating and visionary, and often sinister; as, a
surmise that a stranger may be a pickpocket. Theory is used of the mental coordination of facts and principles,
that may or may not prove correct; a machine may be perfect in theory, but useless in fact. Scheme may be
used as nearly equivalent to theory, but is more frequently applied to proposed action, and in the sense of a
somewhat visionary plan. A speculation may be wholly of the brain, resting upon no facts worthy of
consideration; system is the highest of these terms, having most of assurance and fixity; a system unites many
facts, phenomena, or doctrines into an orderly and consistent whole; we speak of a system of theology, of the
Copernican system of the universe. Compare SYSTEM.
Antonyms:
certainty, demonstration, discovery, evidence, fact, proof.
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IDEA.
Synonyms:
apprehension, design, impression, plan, archetype, fancy, judgment, purpose, belief, fantasy, model,
sentiment, conceit, ideal, notion, supposition, concept, image, opinion, theory, conception, imagination,
pattern, thought.
Idea is in Greek a form or an image. The word signified in early philosophical use the archetype or primal
image which the Platonic philosophy supposed to be the model or pattern that existing objects imperfectly
embody. This high sense has nearly disappeared from the word idea, and has been largely appropriated by