English Synonyms and Antonyms

conjecture or suppose. Compare DOUBT; HYPOTHESIS.
Antonyms:
ascertain, be sure, conclude, discover, know, prove.
* * * * *
SURRENDER.
Synonyms:
abandon, cede, give over, relinquish, alienate, give, give up, sacrifice, capitulate, give oneself up, let go, yield.
To surrender is to give up upon compulsion, as to an enemy in war, hence to give up to any person, passion,
influence, or power. To yield is to give place or give way under pressure, and hence under compulsion. Yield
implies more softness or concession than surrender; the most determined men may surrender to
overwhelming force; when one yields, his spirit is at least somewhat subdued. A monarch or a state cedes
territory perhaps for a consideration; surrenders an army, a navy, or a fortified place to a conqueror; a military
commander abandons an untenable position or unavailable stores. We sacrifice something precious through
error, friendship, or duty, yield to convincing reasons, a stronger will, winsome persuasion, or superior force.
Compare ABANDON.
* * * * *
SYNONYMOUS.
Synonyms:
alike, equivalent, like, similar, correspondent, identical, same, synonymic. corresponding, interchangeable,
Synonymous (Gr. syn, together, and onyma, name) strictly signifies being interchangeable names for the same
thing, or being one of two or more interchangeable names for the same thing; to say that two words are
synonymous is strictly to say they are alike, equivalent, identical, or the same in meaning; but the use of
synonymous in this strict sense is somewhat rare, and rather with reference to statements than to words.
To say that we are morally developed is synonymous with saying that we have reaped what some one has
suffered for us.
H. W. BEECHER Royal Truths p. 294. [T. & F. '66.]
In the strictest sense, synonymous words scarcely exist; rarely, if ever, are any two words in any language
equivalent or identical in meaning; where a difference in meaning can not easily be shown, a difference in
usage commonly exists, so that the words are not interchangeable. By synonymous words (or synonyms) we
usually understand words that coincide or nearly coincide in some part of their meaning, and may hence
within certain limits be used interchangeably, while outside of those limits they may differ very greatly in
meaning and use. It is the office of a work on synonyms to point out these correspondences and differences,
that language may have the flexibility that comes from freedom of selection within the common limits, with
the perspicuity and precision that result from exact choice of the fittest words to express each shade of
meaning outside of the common limits. To consider synonymous words identical is fatal to accuracy; to forget
that they are similar, to some extent equivalent, and sometimes interchangeable, is destructive of freedom and
variety.
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
279

---

* * * * *
SYSTEM.
Synonyms:
manner, method, mode, order, regularity, rule.
Order in this connection denotes the fact or result of proper arrangement according to the due relation or
sequence of the matters arranged; as, these papers are in order; in alphabetical order. Method denotes a
process, a general or established way of doing or proceeding in anything; rule, an authoritative requirement or
an established course of things; system, not merely a law of action or procedure, but a comprehensive plan in
which all the parts are related to each other and to the whole; as, a system of theology; a railroad system; the
digestive system; manner refers to the external qualities of actions, and to those often as settled and
characteristic; we speak of a system of taxation, a method of collecting taxes, the rules by which assessments
are made; or we say, as a rule the payments are heaviest at a certain time of year; a just tax may be made
odious by the manner of its collection. Regularity applies to the even disposition of objects or uniform
recurrence of acts in a series. There may be regularity without order, as in the recurrence of paroxysms of
disease or insanity; there may be order without regularity, as in the arrangement of furniture in a room, where
the objects are placed at varying distances. Order commonly implies the design of an intelligent agent or the
appearance or suggestion of such design; regularity applies to an actual uniform disposition or recurrence
with no suggestion of purpose, and as applied to human affairs is less intelligent and more mechanical than