Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

with a fervour we had not seen before.

fester v. 1 ulcerate, suppurate, run, ooze, putrefy, putresce, necrose, mortify, rot, decay, decompose: His entire body was covered with festering sores. 2 rankle, smoulder, gall, chafe, inflame: Bitterness over the way he had been treated festered inside him for years.

festival n. 1 holiday, holy day, fˆte, feast, commemoration, anniversary: He wanted to be with his family for the Christmas festival. 2 celebration, fˆte, festivities, carnival,

entertainment, red-letter day, gala day, anniversary, birthday: The town organizes a festival every autumn.

festivity n. 1 rejoicing, gaiety, mirth, jubilation, conviviality, joyfulness, merriment, revelry, merrymaking, glee, jollity, jollification, felicity, Colloq Brit mafficking: There were laughter and festivity in the air. 2 festivities. celebration(s), festival, party, fun and games, entertainment,

amusement, hilarity, boisterousness, frivolity: Come along and join the festivities at our house tonight.

fetch v. 1 get, go after or for, bring (back), retrieve, deliver, obtain, carry or convey (back): Would you please fetch my slippers? 2 summon, bring or draw forth, call, elicit: The doorbell fetched me from my bath. 3 sell for, bring (in), go for, yield, earn, make, cost, realize: These days a house near London fetches a high price.

--n. 4 reach, stretch, range, span, extent: It is quite a long fetch across the bay.

fetching adj. attractive, alluring, taking, winsome, winning, cute, enchanting, charming, captivating, intriguing: Fingal's sister is a fetching young lass.

feverish adj. inflamed, flushed, burning, fiery, hot, ardent, fervent, hot-blooded, passionate, frenzied, frantic, excited, frenetic, zealous; Pathology febrile, pyretic, pyrexic: I was looking forward to our rendezvous with feverish excitement.

6.3 fianc‚(e)...

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fianc‚(e) n. betrothed, wifeor brideor husband-to-be, intended: He went out to buy a ring for his fianc‚e.

fictional adj. unreal, imaginary, invented, made-up, mythical, fanciful; legendary, fabulous: The newspaper article was a hoax - completely fictional. Lorna Doone is Janet's favourite fictional heroine.

fictitious

adj. 1 imagined, imaginary, non-existent, unreal, made-up, invented, fabricated, mythical, fancied, fanciful, fictive, untrue, apocryphal: The claim that an article had appeared was completely fictitious. 2 false, counterfeit, bogus, artificial,

spurious; assumed, improvised, made-up, invented, make-believe, imaginary, Colloq phoney or US also phony: When arrested they

gave fictitious names.

fiddle v. 1 Often, fiddle with. meddle (with), tamper (with), interfere (with), alter, falsify, fix; cheat, swindle, flimflam; Colloq finagle, Brit cook: The treasurer had been fiddling the accounts for years. 2 Often, fiddle with or about or around. toy or trifle or fidget (with), twiddle or play or tinker

(with), fool or fuss (with), Colloq mess or muck (about or around) (with), frivol (away), monkey (around) (with): He sat there nervously fiddling with his ear. Stop fiddling about and get on with your work.

--n. 3 Brit swindle, fraud, racket, thimblerig, US shell-game, Slang skin game, funny business, monkey business: The tax inspector caught him in some fiddle with his business expenses. 4 violin, viola, viol, cello, violoncello, kit: He played

fiddle for the tsar.

fiddlesticks

interj. Nonsense!, Rubbish!, Colloq Fiddle-de-dee!, Balderdash!, Stuff and Nonsense!, Poppycock!, Pish and tush!, Tommy-rot!, Hogwash!, Eyewash!, Boloney!, Bilge-water!, Moonshine!, Humbug!, Bosh!, Fiddle-faddle!, Bull!, Rot!, Brit Codswallop!, Taboo slang Bullshit!, Balls!, Crap!, Horseshit!, Brit Bollocks! or Ballocks!: When he said he'd pay what he owed, I just said, 'Fiddlesticks!'

fidget v. 1 squirm, twitch, shuffle, wriggle, wiggle, fiddle, fuss; fret, chafe: Stop fidgeting and tell me the truth!

--n. 2 fusspot, fuss-budget, cat on hot bricks, US cat on a hot tin roof, Colloq US nervous Nellie: If her conscience is clear, why is she such a fidget? 3 the fidgets. restlessness, fidgetiness, dither, uneasiness, the jitters, nervousness, itchiness, Colloq heebie-jeebies, jim-jams, ants in one's pants: Whenever he tells a lie he gets a bad case of the fidgets.

field n. 1 ground, land, arable, pasture, grassland, meadow, green, lawn, common, clearing, tract, area, acreage, Literary greensward, lea, sward; Archaic mead: The house looks out over the fields. 2 battlefield, battleground, airfield; (cricket)

pitch, football or hockey or soccer field, American football gridiron: We marched onto the field prepared for anything. 3

competition, competitors, players, entrants, contestants, participants, candidates, possibilities, applicants: Who can match you among today's field? 4 area, domain, realm, department, territory, province, sphere, scope, division, interest, line, m‚tier, discipline, bailiwick, speciality, specialization, expertise, forte, strength: She is certainly the leading expert in her field. My field is biochemistry.

--v. 5 catch, stop, return, retrieve, pick up: Did you see how Border fielded that ball? 6 answer, reply to, respond to, handle, manipulate, deal with, react to, cope with: The candidate adroitly fielded questions from the press.

fiend n. 1 See devil. 2 addict, maniac, fanatic; fan, aficionado, enthusiast, devotee, hound, follower, Colloq buff, nut, Slang freak: He's a Welsh rarebit fiend.

fiendish adj. cruel, savage, inhuman, monstrous, ghoulish, malignant, malevolent, malicious, wicked, evil, bad, black-hearted, satanic, devilish, Mephistophelian, demonic, demoniac(al), diabolic(al), cacodemonic, hellish, infernal: He sniggered with fiendish glee as he tightened the thumbscrew.

fierce adj. 1 ferocious, savage, wild, truculent, brutish, feral, bestial, tigerish, brutal, cruel, fell, murderous, bloodthirsty,

sanguinary, homicidal, barbaric, barbarous, inhuman, dangerous: The fierce beasts will tear you limb from limb. 2 intractable, angry, furious, hostile, aggressive, vehement, frenzied, stormy, violent, turbulent, wild, tempestuous, tumultuous, raging, merciless, uncontrollable: The old curmudgeon is in a fierce mood again today. A fierce storm raged for three days. 3 severe, awful, dreadful, intense, keen, dire, bitter, biting, racking:

Wear warm clothes to protect you from the fierce cold.

fiercely adv. very, extremely, exceedingly, vehemently, intensely, impetuously, violently, furiously, ferociously, viciously, savagely: She refuses to deal with anyone who is so fiercely competitive.

fiery adj. 1 burning, flaming, blazing, hot, red-hot, white-hot, overheated; afire, on fire, in flames, ablaze: Fiery lava burst from the volcano. 2 glowing, red, incandescent, brilliant, luminous, glaring, gleaming, radiant; aglow, afire: We watched

the fiery sunset fade into azure hues. 3 ardent, eager, spirited, passionate, excited, excitable, peppery, irascible, touchy, irritable, edgy, hotheaded, fierce: I had best not be late as my boss has a fiery temper.

fight v. 1 contend (with), battle, conflict (with), encounter, war (against), engage, clash, take up arms (against), feud (with), combat, bear or take up arms (against), brawl, struggle or strive (with or against), cross swords (with), close (with), come to or exchange blows (with), go to or wage war (with or against), joust (with), grapple or wrestle (with), skirmish (with), tussle or scuffle (with or against); box, spar; Old-fashioned broil: He offered to fight anyone in the place.

Why are the boys always fighting? 2 dispute, question, confront, contest, oppose, contradict, defy, confute, protest, resist,

rail or struggle, against, withstand, refute, oppugn, make or take a stand against, contravene, confound: He has sworn to fight prejudice wherever he finds it. 3 rise up, make or take a stand, struggle, take up arms: It is better to fight for the good than to rail at the ill. 4 argue, dispute, bicker,

quarrel, wrangle, squabble, spat, tiff, fall out (over), have words, disagree, row, altercate, debate: I hear the neighbours fight every night. 5 fight off. repel, repulse: Prepare to

fight off anyone trying to come over the side! 6 fight shy of. avoid, keep or remain aloof from or of, keep away from: She usually fights shy of going to cocktail parties.

--n. 7 battle, conflict, bout, duel, (single) combat,

monomachy, one-on-one, action, warfare, clash, hostilities, war, match, struggle, engagement, meeting, encounter, contest, fighting, brawl, Donnybrook, affray, fray, fracas, disturbance, riot, row, mˆl‚e or melee, tussle, scuffle, scrimmage, skirmish, brush, Colloq free-for-all, set-to, scrap, Brit scrum, bovver, Slang US rumble, Old-fashioned broil: Three policeman were injured in the hour-long fight. 8 altercation, argument,

quarrel, feud, dispute, run-in, disagreement, dissension, dissidence, dissent, difference (of opinion), squabble, bickering, spat, misunderstanding, row, discord, Colloq ruckus: Such fights between husband and wife happen all the time. 9 pugnacity, mettle, militancy, belligerence, truculence, spirit, pluck, zeal, enthusiasm, zest: She had enough fight left in her to go on to win.

finality n. conclusiveness, decisiveness, unalterability, irreversibility, irrevocableness, incontrovertibility, irrefutability, indisputability, unchangeability, immutability, definitiveness, certainty, certitude, sureness, fixedness: There is an air of finality in the way she gives orders.

finalize v. conclude, settle, complete, decide, Colloq wrap up, clinch, sew up: We finalized the agreement yesterday by signing the contract.

finally adv. 1 at (long) last, lastly, eventually, in the end, ultimately, at length, when all is said and done, in the long run, at the end of the day, at the last moment: We finally arrived in port. 2 conclusively, once and for all, decisively, irrevocably, in fine, completely, inexorably, absolutely,