An explanation of the most common Synonymes is here subjoined, that the young student may be enabled to apply them with propriety.

Abandon, forsake, relinquish, desert, give up, leave, quit. Abandon is unwillingly to give up any thing, as, We were compelled to abandon our object; forsake is leaving a person in resentment or dislike, as, He is forsaken by all; relinquish is to quit any claim to, as, I relinquish my claim to that estate; desert is to leave meanly or treacherously, as, He deserted his friend in need. We can say of a man, He gives up a place of trust, leaves his parents in affliction, and quits his country.

To abdicate, renounce, resign. To abdicate a throne, renounce an error, resign an office.

To abate, diminish, decrease, lessen, relax, impair. To abate in eagerness, diminish in number, decrease in quantity, lessen in value, relax in industry, impair in vigour or intellect.

To abhor, hate, detest, abominate, loathe. Abhor is strongly and naturally to dislike; to hate is a dislike produced by revenge; to detest is an aversion from disapprobation; to abominate is to detest in the highest possible degree; to loathe is to be disgusted at the sight of offensive objects. We abhor a crime; hate affectation; detest treachery and meanness; abominate ingratitude; loathe bad food.

Abolish, annul, abrogate, revoke, repeal. To abolish customs; annul a contract; abrogate a law; revoke a promise or decree; repeal a

statute.

Ability, capacity. Ability is an active quality of the mind to do any thing well; capacity is a passive quality to receive or comprehend any thing; thus, an able commander; a man of a capacious mind.

Acquiesce, resigned, agree in, consent. To acquiesce under authority; he was resigned from a sense of duty; agree in disposition or opinion; consent by persuasion.

Accost, salute, address. Accost a stranger; salute a friend; address, to direct our discourse to a person in company.

Acknowledge, confess, avow. To acknowledge supposes a small degree of delinquency; to confess supposes a higher degree of criminality; to avow is to glory in what we declare. Thus, a gentleman acknowledges his mistake, a prisoner confesses the crime of which he is accused, and a patriot avows his opposition to every corrupt measure.

Acquaintance, familiarity, intimacy. cquaintance springs from occasional intercourse; familiarity from frequent intercourse; intimacy arises not merely from frequent intercourse, but from unreserved communication.

We are active,

Active, diligent, industrious, assiduous, laborious. if we exert our powers, whether to any end or not; diligent, when we are active to some specific end; industrious, when no time is left unemployed in some serious pursuit; assiduous, when we do not leave a thing until it is finished; laborious, when the bodily or mental powers are regularly employed in some hard labour.

Addict, devote, apply. We are addicted to a thing from a particular propensity; devoted to a thing from a settled attachment to it; we apply to a thing from a sense of its utility. Thus, men are addicted to vices; devote their talents to the acquirement of any art or science; apply their minds to the investigation of a subject.

Affront, insult, outrage. An intentional breach of politeness is an affront; if coupled with any external indication of hostility, it is an insult; if it break forth into personal violence, it is an outrage.

Agreement, contract, covenant, compact, bargain. The simple consent of parties constitutes an agreement; a seal and signature are requisite for a contract; a solemn engagement on the one hand, and faith in that engagement on the other hand, enter into the nature of a covenant; a tacit sense of mutual obligation in all the parties, gives virtue to a compact; an assent to stipulated terms of sale, may form a bargain.

Air, mien, look, manners. An air depends not only on the countenance, but on the carriage and action; mien respects the whole outward appearance; look depends altogether on the face and its changes; manners depend on the general habits of behaviour.

Alone, only. Alone means unaccompanied by any one, as, He was alone all the day; only means no other of the same kind, as, He is an only son.

Amazed, astonished, surprised, confounded. We are amazed at what is incomprehensible; astonished at what is vast or great; surprised at what is new or unexpected; confounded by what is shocking or terrible.

Ambiguous, equivocal. An equivocal expression has two senses, one open, and intended to be understood, the other concealed, and understood only by the person who uses the expression. An ambiguous expression has, apparently, two senses, and leaves us in doubt which of the two to prefer. An honest man will refrain from employing an equivocal expression; a confused man may often utter ambiguous terms without any design.

Authentic, genuine. An authentic book is one, in which matters of fact are related, as they really happened; a genuine book is one, that is written by the person whose name it bears. Thus, we speak of the authenticity of Gibbon's History, that is, of its authority as a record of facts; and of the genuineness of Ossian's poems, that is, whether or not they were composed by the person to whom they are ascribed.

Amend, correct, reform, rectify, emend, improve. We amend our moral conduct; correct errors; reform our life; rectify mistakes; emend the readings of an author; improve our mind or condition.

Ashamed, bashful. Ashamed of our faults; bashful when spoken to. Assurance, impudence. Assurance is confidence in one's self; impudence is shamelessness or want of modesty. Assurance is distinguished from impudence more in the manner than the spirit.

Austere, rigid, severe, rigorous, stern. as well as to others; rigid, to ourselves

Austere applies to ourselves only; severe, rigorous, stern,

apply to others only. The austere man mortifies himself; the rigid man binds himself to a rule. A man is severe in his remarks on others; rigorous in his discipline; stern in his commands.

To arrive, happen. We arrive at a place, but misfortunes happen

to man.

Beautiful, handsome, pretty. Handsome relates to the proportion of the whole figure; pretty to the face; beautiful is a union of the two.

Behaviour, conduct, carriage, deportment, demeanour. Behaviour respects all actions exposed to the notice of others; conduct respects the general line of a person's moral proceedings; carriage signifies simply the manner of carrying the body; deportment is applied only to those exterior actions that have an immediate reference to others; demeanour is applied to the general behaviour as it relates to the circumstances and situation of the individual.

Brilliancy, splendour, lustre, brightness. Brightness is the generic, the rest are specific terms, rising in sense; thus, lustre rises on brightness, splendour on lustre, and brilliancy on splendour.

Ceremonious, ceremonial; the former is applied to a form of civility, the latter to a religious rite.

Cheerfulness, mirth. Cheerfulness is a settled state or habit; mirth is a single act.

Clearness, perspicuity. Clearness respects our ideas; perspicuity, the mode of expressing those ideas.

Complaisant, gallant, polite, well-bred. Complaisant applies to our address; a gallant lover; a polite man; a well-bred gentleman.

Comprehend, understand, conceive. When we conceive we may have but one idea; when we understand or comprehend we have all the ideas which the subject can present. Conceive is employed on matters of taste; understanding on familiar objects; comprehending on principles, lessons, &c. Thus, the builder conceives plans, the scholar understands languages, the metaphysician comprehends subtle questions.

Conceal, dissemble, disguise. Conceal our designs; dissemble our thoughts; disguise our intentions.

Conquer, subdue, surmount. Conquer our enemies; subdue our passions; surmount an obstacle.

Conscience, consciousness. The former denotes the faculty by which we judge of our own conduct; the latter denotes a particular exertion of that faculty.

Contemptuously, contemptibly. The former term signifies to speak disrespectfully of a person; the latter imports that the manner of speaking is contemptible.

Courage, fortitude, resolution. Courage respects action; fortitude respects passion or enduring a thing; resolution simply marks the

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will not to recede. A man has courage to meet danger; resolution not to yield to the first difficulties that offer; fortitude to endure pain.

Custom, habit. Custom is a frequent repetition of the same act; habit the effect of such repetition; the custom of rising early in the morning is conducive to health, and may, in a short time, become such a habit as to render it no less agreeable than it is useful.

Difference, distinction. Difference lies in the thing, distinction is the act of the person; the former is to the latter as the cause to the effect. They are equally bad logicians who make a distinction without a difference, or who make no distinction where there is a differ

ence.

Difficulty, obstacle, impediment. A difficulty embarrasses us, an obstacle intervenes between us and our object, an impediment puts a stop to our proceedings. We encounter a difficulty; surmount an obstacle; remove an impediment.

Discover, invent. We discover what existed, but which was unknown before; we invent what before did not exist.

Doctrines, precepts, principles. Doctrine is that which constitutes our faith; a precept is that which directs the practice; a principle is the beginning or prime moving cause of a thing. We believe in doctrines; obey precepts; imbibe or hold principles.

Dumb, silent, mute. He is dumb, who cannot speak; silent, who does not speak; mute, whose silence is compulsory.

Endurance, duration. The former properly signifies patience, as applied to suffering; the latter means lasting, as applied to time.

Enlarge, increase. Enlarge is applied to dimension and extent; increase is applied to number. We enlarge a house; increase an army, property, expense.

Enough, sufficient. He has enough whose desires are satisfied; he has sufficient whose wants are supplied. A greedy man has never enough, though he has more than a sufficiency.

Exposition, exposure. The former, in general, signifies an explanation or interpretation, and also, something which has an unobstructed view; the latter denotes a laying open to public view or to public

censure.

Falsehood, lie, untruth. An untruth is an untrue saying, which may be unintentional or not; a falsehood and a lie both express contrariety to fact; but the former may or may not be uttered with an intention to deceive, while the latter always implies a direct intention to deceive.

Haughtiness, disdain, arrogance. Haughtiness is founded on the high opinion which we entertain of ourselves; disdain, on the low opinion we have of others; arrogance is the result of both, but perhaps more of the former than the latter.

Human, humane. Human means mortal; humane, kind.

Impracticable, impassable. We say a plan is impracticable, a road is impassable.

Intelligible, intellectual. Intelligible signifies what may be understood; intellectual, something belonging to the mind.

Less, fewer. Less is applied to quantity; fewer to number.

Maimed, cripple, lame. Maimed means wanting a limb; cripple, wanting the use of it; lameness is the result of either of these causes.

The mind, the intellect. The mind comprehends the thinking faculty in general, with all its operations; the intellect includes only that part of it which consists in understanding and judgment.

Mutual, common. Mutual is applied only to two persons; common to two or more. Their peculiar difference will be seen from the following example:-If A is a friend to B, and also to C, there subsists a mutual friendship between A and B, and between A and C; and A is the common friend of B and C.

Negligence, neglect. The former implies a habit, the latter an act.

Peace, quiet, calm, tranquillity. Peace is applied to nations as well as to individuals; quiet is applied to small communities; calm is used with respect to a disturbed situation going before, or succeeding; tranquillity respects a situation free from trouble, considered in itself. A good man enjoys tranquillity in himself; peace with others; quiet in his family; and calm after a storm.

Persevere, persist. Persevere is generally used in a good sense, and refers to the actions and the conduct; persist refers to the opinions and will, and implies neither praise nor blame, but often makes a person rash and opinionative. We persevere in work and study; we persist in an argument.

Pride, vanity. Pride makes us esteem ourselves; vanity makes us desire the esteem of others. Pride is applicable to every object, good or bad, high or low, small or great; vanity is generally confined to small objects. A man is proud who values himself on the possession of his literary or scientific talent, on his wealth, rank, power, &c.; he is vain of his person, dress, walk, or any thing that is frivolous.

Proposal, proposition. Proposal is a thing offered; proposition is something set down in a distinct form of words. Proposals may be made for the sale or purchase of particular articles; propositions are advanced either for or against certain matters or opinions. A proposal is to be accepted; a proposition is to be admitted.

Remark, observe. We remark, in the way of attention, in order to remember; we observe, in the way of examination, in order to judge. A traveller remarks the most interesting objects he sees; a general observes all the motions of the enemy.

Remember, remind. We are reminded by others; we remember of ourselves.