English Synonyms and Antonyms

ancient in style. The reference is to the style rather than to the age. We can speak of the antique architecture
of a church just built. The difference between antiquated and antique is not in the age, for a Puritan style may
be scorned as antiquated, while a Roman or Renaissance style may be prized as antique. The antiquated is not
so much out of date as out of vogue. Old-fashioned may be used approvingly or contemptuously. In the latter
case it becomes a synonym for antiquated; in the good sense it approaches the meaning of antique, but
indicates less duration. We call a wide New England fireplace old-fashioned; a coin of the Cæsars, antique.
Quaint combines the idea of age with a pleasing oddity; as, a quaint gambrel-roofed house. Antiquated is
sometimes used of persons in a sense akin to superannuated. The antiquated person is out of style and out of
sympathy with the present generation by reason of age; the superannuated person is incapacitated for present
activities by reason of age. Compare OLD.
Antonyms:
fashionable, fresh, modern, modish, new, recent, stylish.
* * * * *
ANXIETY.
Synonyms:
anguish, disquiet, foreboding, perplexity, apprehension, disturbance, fretfulness, solicitude, care, dread,
fretting, trouble, concern, fear, misgiving, worry.
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
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Anxiety is, according to its derivation, a choking disquiet, akin to anguish; anxiety is mental; anguish may be
mental or physical; anguish is in regard to the known, anxiety in regard to the unknown; anguish is because of
what has happened, anxiety because of what may happen. Anxiety refers to some future event, always
suggesting hopeful possibility, and thus differing from apprehension, fear, dread, foreboding, terror, all of
which may be quite despairing. In matters within our reach, anxiety always stirs the question whether
something can not be done, and is thus a valuable spur to doing; in this respect it is allied to care. Foreboding,
dread, etc., commonly incapacitate for all helpful thought or endeavor. Worry is a more petty, restless, and
manifest anxiety; anxiety may be quiet and silent; worry is communicated to all around. Solicitude is a milder
anxiety. Fretting or fretfulness is a weak complaining without thought of accomplishing or changing anything,
but merely as a relief to one's own disquiet. Perplexity often involves anxiety, but may be quite free from it. A
student may be perplexed regarding a translation, yet, if he has time enough, not at all anxious regarding it.
Antonyms:
apathy, calmness, confidence, light-heartedness, satisfaction, assurance, carelessness, ease, nonchalance,
tranquillity.
Prepositions:
Anxiety for a friend's return; anxiety about, in regard to, or concerning the future.
* * * * *
APATHY.
Synonyms:
calmness, indifference, quietness, stoicism, composure, insensibility, quietude, tranquillity, immobility,
lethargy, sluggishness, unconcern, impassibility, phlegm, stillness, unfeelingness.
Apathy, according to its Greek derivation, is a simple absence of feeling or emotion. There are persons to
whom a certain degree of apathy is natural, an innate sluggishness of the emotional nature. In the apathy of
despair, a person gives up, without resistance or sensibility, to what he has fiercely struggled to avoid. While
apathy is want of feeling, calmness is feeling without agitation. Calmness is the result of strength, courage, or
trust; apathy is the result of dulness or weakness. Composure is freedom from agitation or disturbance,
resulting ordinarily from force of will, or from perfect confidence in one's own resources. Impassibility is a
philosophical term applied to the Deity, as infinitely exalted above all stir of passion or emotion.