English Synonyms

10. ADDER, VIPER.

Adder is the popular English name for a small venomous snake about two feet in length.

Viper is a literary and scientific term.

A row of small cases with adders and other lesser reptiles inside.

H. FREDERIC.

To nurse an adder in one's bosom.

Deafness of the adder has long been of general belief. A. WALLACE. At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. XXIII. 32.

Adders' poison is under their lips.

PS. CXL.3.

PROV.

C. DARWIN.

In England, the hedgehog attacks and devours the viper.
Vipers are mostly more or less thick-bodied and short-tailed.

MIVART.

"Parricide! Viper!" those were the words that I could catch as he stamped up and down the room.

CONAN DOYLE.

11. ADDRESS, ACCOST, HARANGUE.

Address the usual word to direct spoken words to a person or an audience, often on some matter of direct concern or special interest to the person concerned. We can also address an audience or a person in written words: he addressed his constituents by letter. Accost to make up to a person and speak to him - denotes an unpremeditated act. We accost a person whom we happen to meet in the street or elsewhere.

Harangue

to address a large audience in a speech, especially

a violent or pompous one.

Whom have I the honour of addressing? STANLEY J. WEYMAN. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he addresses the heart rather than the intellect. LESLIE STEPHEN.

When fellow-passengers addressed her, she was very modest and cautious in her reply. - J. M. BARRIE.

All the men in church were next addressed in turn. R. L. STEVENSON. I think myself peculiarly happy in being permitted to address the citizens of Edinburgh on the subject of architecture. - J. RUSKIN.

On quitting Gadmen next morning I was accosted by a guide, who asked me whether I knew Professor Tyndall. J. TYNDALL.

I determined as an act of signal condescension to accost the first person we met, male or female, for Temple's sake. G. MEREDITH.

Berthelini threaded his way through the market-stalls and baskets, and accosted the dignitary with a bow which was a triumph of the histrionic art. R. L. STEVENSON.

I listened for a quarter of an hour to an orator haranguing a crowd in the public park. J. A. FROUDE.

Fontenoy, undaunted, began to harangue on certain minutiae of factory

Mrs. Watton, indeed, was haranguing her end of the table on a subject that clearly excited her. ibid.

12. ADJURE, CONJURE.

Both terms are used in the sense of to entreat solemnly, to appeal to earnestly, the former being more formal than the latter.

And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord? 1 KINGS XXII. 16.

F. HARRISON.

The spectators grew alarmed in the face of so entire a confidence, and adjured Prince Florizel to reconsider his intention. - R. L. STEVENSON. He adjured them passionately to accept the terms. A note from Clara Goodwin adjured me, by her memory of the sweet, brave, gracious fellow she loved in other days, to be worthy of what I had been. G. MEREDITH.

I conjured him, by all he loved and respected, to go forth with me.

R. L. STEVENSON.

If thou know better than I what is good and right, I conjure you in the name of God, force me te do it.

T. CARLYLE.

13. ADMITTANCE, ADMISSION.

Admittance the act of admitting; permission to enter. Always used with reference to place.

Admission the act of admitting to some place, company, society, or office; permission to enter; the fact of being admitted; the price charged for admission; the acknowledgment of something as true or valid. It was instantly opened to give him admittance. A Burgundian, Balthasar Gerard, found admittance to the prince, and shot him as he was descending the staircase of his house at Delft.

CREIGHTON.

My father was refused admittance at the hall-doors.

H. S. MERRIMAN.

MANDELL

In this way he diverted attention from the prince, and sometimes gained admission for the pair into strange societies. R. L. STEVENSON.

In Charles II.'s time it was a custom to return the price of admission to all persons who left the theatre before the close of the first act.-w. H. PATER. From the Commons who were gathered with the nobles at Durham no admission of Edward's claims could be extorted. J. R. GREEN. A candid admission of this fact is not without its reward.

H. SPENCER

Adorn

14. ADORN, DECORAȚE, ORNAMENT, DECK.

to add permanent beauty, grace, lustre, or honour to is the least external term and refers to persons and things.

Decorate to embellish a thing by the addition of something external and accessory (flags, flowers, wreaths, festoons, etc.). That which adorns forms a permanent part of a person or thing; decorations preserve their separate character. The verb is however used in a special sense in architecture with reference to permanent embellishments: capitals decorated with carved foliage; windows decorated with elaborate tracery 1).

Ornament differs from adorn in applying exclusively to things. Ornaments are of greater intrinsic value than decorations.

Deck (bedeck) is poetical or dignified and used esp. with reference to apparel.

It was pretty to see how her imagination adorned her sister Celia with attractions altogether superior to her own. G. ELIOT. Splendid statutes adorned the public streets. Beautiful paintings adorned their walls. - ibid.

ARNOLD-FORSTER.

Of the sculptures which adorned this wonderful building many fine examples are now in the British Museum.

P. L. WATERHOUSE.

The streets of London are decorated to welcome no less than three sovereigns. ARNOLD-FORSTER.

The hall and staircase were decorated with palms and pot-plants, flags and emblems of Illyria. QUILLER-COUCH.

She was always playing the organ, or drilling the choir, or decorating the altars with flowers. H. FREDERIC.

The capitals and corbels are decorated with conventional, but still beautiful, foliage. - J. E. PHYTIAN.

1) The past participle is used as a technical term to denote one of the three periods into which Gothic architecture in Great Britain is usually divided: Early English (thirteenth century), Decorated (fourteenth century), and Perpendicular (fifteenth century).

Internally the walls were decorated with paintings illustrating the every-day life which the occupant had led. P. L. WATERHOUSE.

This tomb was a splendid structure in the Ionic style, richly decorated with sculpture. ibid.

The hall-roof was of open timber richly ornamented.

-

J. E. PHYTIAN. Since there was no belief, as in Egypt, that the spirit remained with or revisited the body while it lay in the tomb, the tombs of Christendom have not been as elaborate and as elaborately ornamented as those of Egypt. — ibid. He found himself in a plainly furnished room, whose bare walls were only ornamented bij a crucifix.

GRAHAM HOPE.

So pray you, add my diamonds to her pearls;
Deck her with these. A. TENNYSON.

JOB XL. 10.

Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency. The exterior was often decked with trophies of the chase and war. J. MUNRO.

the garlanded

Does one not look like a victim decked for the sacrifice heifer you see on Greek vases, in that array of jewelry? Every house was hung with red and bedecked with flags and mottoes.

ANT. HOPE.

G. MEREDITH.

Advantage

15. ADVANTAGE, PROFIT, BENEFIT.

anything that aids, assists, or is of service; anything that helps us to get the better of another; a superior or better position. To have the advantage of a person (to know a person without being known by him); to be dressed to advantage.

Profit refers esp., though not exclusively, to pecuniary advantages, with the suggestion of trade or exchange.

Benefit -- anything that really promotes our welfare. A man may have plenty of advantages without deriving any benefit or profit from them.

I have but the doubtful advantage, in speaking to you, of a few more years of life. - J. A. FROUDE.

Was it an advantage to a people to get perishable materials in exchange for solid gold? - LESLIE STEPHEN.

Of all the cities in the British Islands, Edinburgh is the one which presents most advantages for the display of a noble building. J. RUSKIN. They would gladly have reaped the advantages of the position which they had now secured.

MANDELL CREIGHTON.

In philanthropy, as in other things, great advantage results from division of labour.

H. SPENCER.

The tradesman who charges too high a rate of profit, loses his customers. · H. SPENCER.

In this way he diverted attention from the prince, and sometimes gained admission for the pair into strange societies. R. L. STEVENSON.

In Charles II.'s time it was a custom to return the price of admission to all persons who left the theatre before the close of the first act.

W. H. PATER.

From the Commons who were gathered with the nobles at Durham no admission of Edward's claims could be extorted. J. R. GREEN. A candid admission of this fact is not without its reward.