Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

tippler, toper, sot, Slang sponge, souse, boozer, US dip, lush, juicer: You'll never get a straight answer out of that old soak.

soaking n. 1 drenching, wetting, dousing or dowsing, immersing, saturating: We got a thorough soaking when we were caught in the storm.

sobriety n. 1 teetotalism, abstemiousness, abstention, abstinence, non-indulgence, temperance: Since taking the pledge, Oscar has been a model of sobriety. 2 seriousness, soberness, solemnity, staidness, gravity, temperateness, sedateness, formality,

dignity: They made him promise to do nothing to upset the sobriety of the memorial service.

compressible, squashy, squashable, flexible, plastic, pliable, pliant, supple, flexile, flexuous, unstarched: This mattress is much too soft for my back. 2 easy, comfortable, undemanding, Colloq cushy: His uncle got him a soft job at the Labour Ministry. 3 gentle, mild, balmy, pleasant, moderate, warm, halcyon, springlike, summery, restful, tranquil, relaxing, lazy: Alexandra was looking forward to a week in the soft Caribbean climate. 4 subdued, toned or turned down, muted, low, quiet, melodious, mellifluous or mellifluent, mellow, gentle, faint, softened, soothing, smooth: Riley thought she might succumb to the influences of the wine and the soft music and lights. 5 easygoing, tolerant, kind, compassionate, gentle, merciful, lenient, indulgent, permissive, liberal, lax, easy, docile,

tame, submissive, deferential, benign, tender-hearted, sympathetic, kind-hearted, kind: Some believe that the jailers were too soft with the criminals. His parents were far too soft. 6 Usually, soft in the head. foolish, silly, simple,

Colloq chiefly Brit daft, US off: Kevin must have gone a bit soft in the head if he thinks that Clara still loves him. 7 depressed, declining, in decline, in recession, slow, unprofitable, borderline, questionable, weak: Owing to the stormy, cold summer, the resort business has been soft this year. 8 downy, silky, silken, satiny, furry, fluffy, feathery, fleecy, fuzzy, velvety, smooth (as a baby's bottom): The wool from the lambs is much softer. 9 pastel, pale, delicate, fine, subdued, light, matte or matt, quiet, diffuse(d), soothing: He wanted the bedroom painted in soft shades of greenish blue. 10 harmless, non-addictive: Some consider cannabis a soft drug. 11 fuzzy, woolly, blurred, blurry, foggy, diffuse(d): The soft focus photos of the wedding looked very romantic. 12 weak, feeble, frail, effete, delicate, non-physical, non-muscular, puny, flabby, out of training or condition or shape, pampered;

namby-pamby, effeminate, unmanly, unmanful, Colloq sissified, sissy: He had been out of the marines for so long they thought he had gone soft. 13 easy, luxurious, pampered, rich, opulent, plush, posh, Colloq ritzy, swank(y): Since selling his

business, Aubrey Quinton has been living the soft life on the Costa del Sol.

soften v. 1 Often, soften up. melt, affect, mollify, mellow, palliate, soothe, relax, appease: Nothing would soften the heart of that cruel tyrant. 2 mitigate, assuage, diminish, moderate, reduce, cushion, lessen, weaken, allay, ease, lighten, abate, temper,

relieve: Can't you think of some way to soften the blow of such bad news? 3 muffle, deaden, damp, soft-pedal, lower, still, quiet, tone down, lessen, diminish, lighten, turn down, quell, Chiefly Brit quieten: Try to soften the high notes and bring up the bass. 4 give in, succumb, surrender, yield, agree, consent, concur, assent, give way, relax, ease (up), let up: The committee finally softened and allowed the park to be used for games.

soft-hearted

adj. tender-hearted, compassionate, tender, warm-hearted, sentimental, charitable, generous, giving, sympathetic, indulgent, kind, kind-hearted, responsive: Alison is quite soft-hearted when it comes to animal causes and contributed willingly.

soil° v. 1 dirty, stain, begrime, muddy, smear, spot: His shirts were returned by the laundry still soiled. 2 pollute, contaminate, sully, defile, foul, befoul, tarnish, besmirch, disgrace, muddy, smear, blacken; blot: The scandal soiled his previously spotless reputation.

--n. 3 dirt, filth, muck, mire, mud, sludge, dregs, refuse; excrement, waste (matter): The soil is carried away by these pipes into the main sewer.

had a very pleasant sojourn in Toronto on our way home.

--v. 2 stay, stop (over), visit, rest, holiday, vacation,

tarry: Next year we plan to sojourn in Bermuda for a while.

solace n. 1 comfort, consolation, condolence, relief, balm, support, help, succour; reassurance, cheer: The children brought her solace in her bereavement.

--v. 2 comfort, console, condole, support, help, succour, soothe, allay, alleviate, ameliorate, mitigate, assuage, relieve; cheer (up), reassure, hearten: There was little to solace James's misery.

soldier n. 1 serviceman, servicewoman, recruit, fighter, infantryman, foot-soldier, trooper, warrior, military man, man-at-arms, Brit Tommy (Atkins), US enlisted man or woman, Colloq Brit squaddie, US GI or G.I. (Joe), Old-fashioned (WWI) doughboy: Enemy soldiers had been reconnoitring our position during the night. 2 fighter, stalwart, supporter, militant: He has been a soldier

in the fight against poverty all his life.

solecism n. error, slip, impropriety, fault, breach, violation, lapse, mistake, misusage, incongruity, inconsistency, barbarism, blunder, gaffe, bungle, fumble, gaucherie, faux pas, botch or botch-up, Colloq boo-boo, US flub, Slang boner, Brit boob, bloomer, Chiefly US and Canadian blooper: Solecisms in his writing include failure of subject and verb to agree.

solemn adj. 1 serious, sober, reserved, grave, earnest, sedate, staid, taciturn; morose, morbid, mirthless, unsmiling, gloomy, sombre, grim; glum, long-faced, saturnine: We observed a moment of solemn silence in memory of our fallen comrades. They knew from their father's solemn expression that something was wrong. 2 ceremonial, ritualistic, liturgical, religious, ecclesiastical,

holy, divine, sacred, hallowed, sacramental, reverential, devotional: We attended a solemn service to celebrate the return of the hostages. 3 ceremonious, ritual, formal, dignified, stately, grand, august, imposing, impressive,

awe-inspiring, awesome, important, momentous: The Trobriand islanders regarded the rights of passage as most solemn.

solemnity n. solemnness, gravity, seriousness, soberness, reserve, sedateness, taciturnity, staidness, earnestness, impressiveness, grandeur, importance, momentousness, consequence: All who attended the service were affected by the solemnity of the

lighting of the eternal flame.

solicit v. 1 entreat, beseech, ask (for), implore, petition, importune, appeal for or to, call on or upon, beg, supplicate, pray, crave: He has solicited my help on more than one occasion. 2 accost, approach, entice, lure, pander to, Slang hustle: You can't go out in that neighbourhood without being solicited.

solicitor n. lawyer, attorney, US counselor-at-law: I have turned the matter over to my solicitor.

solicitous

adj. 1 concerned, caring, considerate, uneasy, troubled,

anxious, apprehensive, worried: She seemed genuinely solicitous over the state of my health. 2 eager, earnest, zealous, keen, anxious, desirous, ardent, avid: She seems sincerely solicitous

to please the firm's customers.

solicitude

n. concern, consideration, regard, disquiet, disquietude, uneasiness, anxiety, apprehension, worry, nervousness, fear, fearfulness, alarm: As she had not yet made him her sole heir, his solicitude over her health was understandable.

solid adj. 1 three-dimensional, cubic: The perspective drawing is a representation of a solid object. 2 filled (in or up), packed, jammed, crowded, teeming, congested, crammed, swarming, compressed, concentrated, Colloq chock-a-block, jam-packed, chock-full: By the time I arrived, the gallery was solid with people. 3 compact, firm, hard, stable; unshakeable or unshakable, unshaky, substantial, concrete, sturdy, sound, stout, strong: The vessel floated through the air before coming to rest on solid ground. His theories rest on a solid

foundation. 4 consistent, homogeneous, uniform, unalloyed, unmixed, pure, continuous, unbroken, real, authentic, true, genuine, 24-carat, unadulterated, Slang honest-to-God: This mountain seems to be solid iron all the way through. John gave me a solid gold necklace for my birthday. 5 law-abiding, upstanding, upright, decent, stout, substantial, powerful, reliable, regular, steady, steadfast, stalwart, straight,

estimable, sure, trusty, trustworthy, true-blue, worthy, dependable, sober: Mr Hart is one of the solid citizens of this town. He has always been a solid defender of the underdog. 6

for striking a guard.

solitude n. 1 solitariness, aloneness, isolation, seclusion, privacy: Peter enjoys the solitude of living on an island. 2 loneliness, remoteness; emptiness, wilderness: How long could one person survive in the solitude of interstellar space?

solution n. 1 solving, working or figuring out, discovery, finding out, unravelling, explication, deciphering, decipherment, elucidation, revelation, clarification, explanation; answer,

key: The solution of the problem should be left up to the experts. Several solutions have been found through computer analysis. 2 settlement, settling, resolution, result, denouement or d‚nouement, outcome, conclusion: It seems unlikely that we shall be able to bring this matter to a solution in a one-day meeting. 3 mixture, blend, compound, infusion; liquid, fluid; Technical emulsion, suspension, colloid or colloidal solution or colloidal suspension: After mixing the powder with water, use the solution to bathe the wound. 4 dissolving, dissolution, mixing, mixture: The solution of these ingredients in alcohol was first accomplished in ancient times.

solve v. work or figure out, unravel, disentangle, untangle, clarify, clear up, make plain or clear, interpret, explicate, decipher, crack, explain, elucidate, reveal, answer, resolve: Oedipus' problems began in earnest when he solved the Riddle of the Sphinx.

solvent adj. creditworthy, (financially) sound, solid, reliable; debt-free; profitable: The auditors rate the business as solvent.

sombre adj. 1 gloomy, morose, lugubrious, funereal, morbid, louring or lowering, melancholy, sad, dismal, unhappy, cheerless, joyless, serious, sober, doleful, dolorous, mournful, depressed,

depressing, grave, grim, grim-faced, grim-visaged, Literary melancholic, darksome: Despite his sombre appearance, Sid was

one of the funniest men I've ever met. 2 dark, gloomy, foreboding, bleak, depressing, shadowy, murky, leaden, grey, black, dismal, dreary, overcast, dusky, dim, dingy, darkling, dull, subfusc or subfuscous: The sombre sky set the mood for the proceedings that were to follow. 3 staid, sedate, sober, solemn, dark, dull, subfusc: A young person like you ought to dress in less sombre colours.

somebody pron. 1 one, someone, some person: There must be somebody who will take you to the dance.

--n. 2 personage, celebrity, dignitary, VIP, luminary, notable, star, superstar, Colloq hotshot, bigwig, big wheel, big gun, big noise, big White Chief, big Daddy, big Chief, big-timer; hot stuff; Old-fashioned big cheese; US Mr Big: He must be a somebody to merit such treatment.

somehow adv. someway, in one way or another, in some way, somehow or other, by hook or by crook, by fair means or foul, Colloq come

hell or high water: Somehow, we have to get into the vault for those papers.

sometime adj. 1 former, erstwhile, past, recent, one-time, quondam: Crawford was a sometime student of the occult.

--adv. 2 at some time or other, someday, one day, any time, on a future occasion, when or if the opportunity arises, soon, by and by, one of these days: Come up and see me sometime. 3 sooner or later, in (due) time, in the fullness of time, in the long run, one fine day, Un bel di, eventually, when all is said

and done, before long, before you know it: You can be sure that the tax man will find out about it sometime.

sometimes adv. occasionally, on occasion, (every) now and then, now and again, off and on, at times, from time to time, every so often, (every) once in a while: Sometimes Ambrose used to visit his grandchildren twice a week.

somewhat adv. rather, quite, relatively, more or less, moderately, pretty, fairly, to some or a certain extent or degree or measure, slightly, a bit, a little, Colloq sort of, kind of: Ingrid was somewhat put out by my refusal.