English Synonyms and Antonyms

prate is to talk idly, presumptuously, or foolishly, but not necessarily incoherently. To jabber is to utter a
rapid succession of unintelligible sounds, generally more noisy than chattering. To gossip is to talk of petty
personal matters, as for pastime or mischief. To twaddle is to talk feeble nonsense. To murmur is to utter
suppressed or even inarticulate sounds, suggesting the notes of a dove, or the sound of a running stream, and
is used figuratively of the half suppressed utterances of affection or pity, or of complaint, resentment, etc.
Compare SPEAK.
Prepositions:
Babies babble for the moon; the crowd babbles of a hero; the sick man babbles of home.
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BANISH.
Synonyms:
ban, dismiss, evict, expatriate, ostracize, discharge, drive out, exile, expel, oust. dislodge, eject,
Banish, primarily to put under ban, to compel by authority to leave a place or country, perhaps with restriction
to some other place or country. From a country, a person may be banished, exiled, or expatriated; banished
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from any country where he may happen to be, but expatriated or exiled only from his own. One may
expatriate or exile himself; he is banished by others. Banish is a word of wide import; one may banish
disturbing thoughts; care may banish sleep. To expel is to drive out with violence or rudeness, and so often
with disgrace.
Prepositions:
Cataline was banished from Rome; John the Apostle was banished to Patmos.
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BANK.
Synonyms:
beach, bound, brink, edge, margin, shore, border, brim, coast, marge, rim, strand.
Bank is a general term for the land along the edge of a water course; it may also denote a raised portion of the
bed of a river, lake, or ocean; as, the Banks of Newfoundland. A beach is a strip or expanse of incoherent
wave-worn sand, which is often pebbly or full of boulders; we speak of the beach of a lake or ocean; a beach
is sometimes found in the bend of a river. Strand is a more poetic term for a wave-washed shore, especially as
a place for landing or embarking; as, the keel grates on the strand. The whole line of a country or continent
that borders the sea is a coast. Shore is any land, whether cliff, or sand, or marsh, bordering water. We do not
speak of the coast of a river, nor of the banks of the ocean, tho there may be banks by or under the sea. Edge
is the line where land and water meet; as, the water's edge. Brink is the place from which one may fall; as, the
river's brink; the brink of a precipice; the brink of ruin.
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BANTER.
Synonyms:
badinage, derision, jeering, raillery, sarcasm, chaff, irony, mockery, ridicule, satire.
Banter is the touching upon some fault, weakness, or fancied secret of another in a way half to pique and half
to please; badinage is delicate, refined banter. Raillery has more sharpness, but is usually good-humored and
well meant. Irony, the saying one thing that the reverse may be understood, may be either mild or bitter. All
the other words have a hostile intent. Ridicule makes a person or thing the subject of contemptuous
merriment; derision seeks to make the object derided seem utterly despicable--to laugh it to scorn. Chaff is the
coarse witticism of the streets, perhaps merry, oftener malicious; jeering is loud, rude ridicule, as of a hostile
crowd or mob. Mockery is more studied, and may include mimicry and personal violence, as well as scornful
speech. A satire is a formal composition; a sarcasm may be an impromptu sentence. The satire shows up
follies to keep people from them; the sarcasm hits them because they are foolish, without inquiring whether it
will do good or harm; the satire is plainly uttered; the sarcasm is covert.
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BARBAROUS.
Synonyms:
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atrocious, brutal, merciless, uncivilized, barbarian, cruel, rude, uncouth, barbaric, inhuman, savage, untamed.
Whatever is not civilized is barbarian; barbaric indicates rude magnificence, uncultured richness; as,