English Synonyms and Antonyms

calamity. Yet such an event, if not a calamity to the race, will always involve much individual disaster and
misfortune. Pestilence is a calamity; a defeat in battle, a shipwreck, or a failure in business is a disaster;
sickness or loss of property is a misfortune; failure to meet a friend is a mischance; the breaking of a teacup is
a mishap.
Antonyms:
benefit, boon, favor, pleasure, prosperity, blessing, comfort, help, privilege, success.
Preposition:
The catastrophe of a play; of a siege; rarely, to a person, etc.
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
84

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CATCH.
Synonyms:
apprehend, comprehend, grasp, overtake, snatch, capture, discover, grip, secure, take, clasp, ensnare, gripe,
seize, take hold of. clutch, entrap, lay hold of (on, upon),
To catch is to come up with or take possession of something departing, fugitive, or illusive. We catch a
runaway horse, a flying ball, a mouse in a trap. We clutch with a swift, tenacious movement of the fingers; we
grasp with a firm but moderate closure of the whole hand; we grip or gripe with the strongest muscular
closure of the whole hand possible to exert. We clasp in the arms. We snatch with a quick, sudden, and
usually a surprising motion. In the figurative sense, catch is used of any act that brings a person or thing into
our power or possession; as, to catch a criminal in the act; to catch an idea, in the sense of apprehend or
comprehend. Compare ARREST.
Antonyms:
fail of, give up, lose, release, throw aside, fall short of, let go, miss, restore, throw away.
Prepositions:
To catch at a straw; to catch a fugitive by the collar; to catch a ball with the left hand; he caught the disease
from the patient; the thief was caught in the act; the bird in the snare.
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CAUSE.
Synonyms:
actor, causality, designer, occasion, precedent, agent, causation, former, origin, reason, antecedent, condition,
fountain, originator, source, author, creator, motive, power, spring.
The efficient cause, that which makes anything to be or be done, is the common meaning of the word, as in
the saying "There is no effect without a cause." Every man instinctively recognizes himself acting through
will as the cause of his own actions. The Creator is the Great First Cause of all things. A condition is
something that necessarily precedes a result, but does not produce it. An antecedent simply precedes a result,
with or without any agency in producing it; as, Monday is the invariable antecedent of Tuesday, but not the
cause of it. The direct antonym of cause is effect, while that of antecedent is consequent. An occasion is some
event which brings a cause into action at a particular moment; gravitation and heat are the causes of an
avalanche; the steep incline of the mountain-side is a necessary condition, and the shout of the traveler may be
the occasion of its fall. Causality is the doctrine or principle of causes, causation the action or working of
causes. Compare DESIGN; REASON.
Antonyms:
consequence, development, end, fruit, outcome, product, creation, effect, event, issue, outgrowth, result.
Prepositions:
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
85

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The cause of the disaster; cause for interference.
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CEASE.
Synonyms:
abstain, desist, give over, quit, bring to an end, discontinue, intermit, refrain, come to an end, end, leave off,
stop, conclude, finish, pause, terminate.
Strains of music may gradually or suddenly cease. A man quits work on the instant; he may discontinue a
practise gradually; he quits suddenly and completely; he stops short in what he may or may not resume; he
pauses in what he will probably resume. What intermits or is intermitted returns again, as a fever that
intermits. Compare ABANDON; DIE; END; REST.
Antonyms:
begin, inaugurate, originate, set going, set on foot, commence, initiate, set about, set in operation, start. enter
upon, institute,
Preposition:
Cease from anger.
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CELEBRATE.
Synonyms:
commemorate, keep, observe, solemnize.
To celebrate any event or occasion is to make some demonstration of respect or rejoicing because of or in
memory of it, or to perform such public rites or ceremonies as it properly demands. We celebrate the birth,
commemorate the death of one beloved or honored. We celebrate a national anniversary with music and song,
with firing of guns and ringing of bells; we commemorate by any solemn and thoughtful service, or by a
monument or other enduring memorial. We keep the Sabbath, solemnize a marriage, observe an anniversary;
we celebrate or observe the Lord's Supper in which believers commemorate the sufferings and death of Christ.
Antonyms:
contemn, dishonor, forget, neglect, profane, despise, disregard, ignore, overlook, violate.
Prepositions:
We celebrate the day with appropriate ceremonies; the victory was celebrated by the people, with rejoicing.
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CENTER.
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
86

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Synonyms:
middle, midst.
We speak of the center of a circle, the middle of a room, the middle of the street, the midst of a forest. The
center is equally distant from every point of the circumference of a circle, or from the opposite boundaries on
each axis of a parallelogram, etc.; the middle is more general and less definite. The center is a point; the
middle may be a line or a space. We say at the center; in the middle. Midst commonly implies a group or
multitude of surrounding objects. Compare synonyms for AMID.
Antonyms:
bound, boundary, circumference, perimeter, rim.
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CHAGRIN.
Synonyms:
confusion, discomposure, humiliation, shame, disappointment, dismay, mortification, vexation.
Chagrin unites disappointment with some degree of humiliation. A rainy day may bring disappointment;
needless failure in some enterprise brings chagrin. Shame involves the consciousness of fault, guilt, or
impropriety; chagrin of failure of judgment, or harm to reputation. A consciousness that one has displayed his
own ignorance will cause him mortification, however worthy his intent; if there was a design to deceive, the
exposure will cover him with shame.
Antonyms:
delight, exultation, glory, rejoicing, triumph.
Prepositions:
He felt deep chagrin at (because of, on account of) failure.
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CHANGE, v.
Synonyms:
alter, exchange, shift, transmute, commute, metamorphose, substitute, turn, convert, modify, transfigure, vary,
diversify, qualify, transform, veer.
To change is distinctively to make a thing other than it has been, in some respect at least; to exchange to put
or take something else in its place; to alter is ordinarily to change partially, to make different in one or more