The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms
.pdfpall covered the coffin. 2 gloomy or melancholy or sombre or grave or depressing air or mood or atmosphere; damper, cold water, Colloq wet blanket: The recently uncovered scandals have cast a pall over his successes in office.
pallý v. 1 Often, pall on or upon. bore, tire, weary, jade, irk, irritate, sicken: His position lost all its charm when the work began to pall on him. 2 sate, satiate, cloy, glut, surfeit, gorge: I had reached the point where even the finest foods began to pall me.
paltry adj. trifling, trivial, petty, small, insignificant, worthless, pitiful, pathetic, pitiable, puny, sorry, wretched, miserable, inconsequential, inconsiderable, unimportant, meagre, mean, beggarly, base, low, contemptible, Colloq piddling, Brit
twopenny, twopenny-halfpenny, mingy, US penny-ante, Slang Mickey Mouse: Despite his wealth, his charitable contributions are
paltry. We all recognize Denison for the paltry pedant he is.
pamper v. baby, coddle, cosset, (over)indulge, spoil, mollycoddle, cater to, pet, Rare cocker, Irish cosher: The Simpsons pamper their children far too much.
pamphlet n. booklet, brochure, tract, essay, folder, leaflet, circular; handbill, bill, notice, bulletin, advertisement, hand-out, ad,
Brit advert, US flyer, throw-away: He was arrested for printing a pamphlet that denounced the government's repression of free speech. Yesterday we received our sixteenth pamphlet promoting replacement windows.
pan |
n. 1 saucepan, frying-pan, skillet, pot, casserole, US spider: |
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Melt a teaspoonful of butter in the pan, add the mixture, and |
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stir briskly over a medium heat. 2 face, visage, mien, fa‡ade, |
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Slang kisser, mug, puss: The worst part of Alf's not working is |
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that I have to look at his ugly pan all day. 3 depression, |
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indentation, concavity, cavity, hollow, pit, hole, crater: In a |
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rain-shower, the pans fill with water and the desert blooms. |
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--v. 4 wash, separate, sift: For years prospectors have panned |
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for gold in these hills. 5 criticize, censure, find fault, put |
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down, reject, flay, excoriate, Brit hammer, Colloq knock, roast, |
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slate, Slang Brit rubbish, US trash: The critics panned the |
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play and it closed after a week. 6 pan out. succeed, thrive, |
prosper, flourish, fare well, make it; work out, turn out, result, come out, end (up), conclude, culminate, eventuate: Your grandiose plans for irrigating the Sahara didn't pan out, either! How did the election pan out?
panache n. flourish, dash, ‚lan, ‚clat, chic, sophistication, savoir faire, savoir vivre, flamboyance, verve, style, cultivation, (good) taste, flair, smartness, boldness, self-assurance, swagger, vigour, liveliness, spirit, brio, gusto, zest,
animation, enthusiasm, energy: Whatever needs to be done, you can count on Irena to carry it off with panache.
pandemonium
n. bedlam, chaos, turmoil, disorder, tumult, frenzy, uproar, Brit furore or US furor, confusion: Pandemonium reigned after the first bomb struck.
pander v. 1 Usually, pander to. satisfy, gratify, humour, indulge, fulfil, bow to, yield to, truckle to, cater to: She is tired of pandering to his every wish. 2 procure, pimp, solicit: I didn't believe he would sink so low as to pander for his business clients.
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--n. 3 panderer, pimp, procurer, solicitor, whoremonger, White |
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slaver, Slang flesh-pedlar or US also flesh-peddler or |
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flesh-pedler, Brit ponce, mack: The word pander is an eponym |
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for Pandarus, who acted as a sycophantic go-between for Troilus |
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in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde . |
pane |
n. panel, sheet, glass, window-pane, light, quarrel, |
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bull's-eye: Ring up the glazier and have that pane replaced in |
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the door. |
pang |
n. 1 pain, stab, ache, pinch, twinge, stitch, spasm: I felt a |
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sharp pang of hunger. 2 qualm, hesitation, scruple, misgiving, |
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remorse, regret, contrition, contriteness, self-reproach, |
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mortification, guilt, anguish, discomfort, malaise: Does Claire |
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feel the slightest pangs for treating him badly? |
panic |
n. 1 terror, alarm, fear, fright, dread, horror, dismay, |
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consternation, hysteria; anxiety, apprehension, |
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apprehensiveness, nervousness: As the speeding car veered |
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towards us, a feeling of panic gripped me. |
--v. 2 be terrified or alarmed or fearful or frightened or terror-stricken or terror-struck, dread, fear, lose one's nerve; frighten, scare; Colloq go to pieces, fall apart, Brit lose
one's bottle: I panicked, turned the wheel the wrong way, and crashed the car into a tree. Gregory panics at the slightest sign of danger. 3 frighten, scare, alarm, terrify, unnerve:
Something panicked the horses and one kicked out his stall door.
panic-stricken
adj. panic-struck, terrified, alarmed, horrified, aghast, terror-stricken or terror-struck, panicky, frenzied, in a frenzy, hysterical, besides oneself with fear or terror, fearful, afraid, scared (stiff), petrified, horror-struck or horror-stricken, frightened or scared out of one's wits, appalled, stunned, stupefied, perturbed, unnerved, nervous, distressed, upset, jittery, jumpy, (all) worked up, Colloq in a cold sweat, in a flap, in a tizzy, Taboo slang scared shitless, shitting green: At the news of the leak at the nuclear plant, hundreds of panic-stricken people fled from the area.
panoramic adj. sweeping, commanding, extensive, comprehensive, wide, overall, scenic, far-reaching, all-embracing, far-ranging, all-encompassing, inclusive, bird's-eye, general: This room affords a panoramic view of the sea-coast.
pant |
v. 1 gasp, huff (and puff), blow, heave, breathe hard, wheeze: |
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He was panting when he came into the room, having run up the |
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stairs. 2 Usually, pant for or after. crave, hanker after, |
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hunger or thirst for or after, yearn for, ache for, want, |
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desire, covet, wish for, long or pine or sigh for, have one's |
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heart set on, die for, be dying for, Colloq have a yen for, give |
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one's eye-teeth or right arm for: Margery was the girl that all |
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the boys panted after when we were ten. |
pants |
n.pl. 1 In Britain (men's) drawers, small-clothes, smalls, |
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drawers, underpants, boxer shorts, trunks, undershorts, |
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Y-fronts, briefs, Colloq smalls; (women's) knickers, |
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camiknickers, panties, drawers, bloomers, pantalettes, tights, |
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pantihose, undies: The baby was dressed in a frilly dress and |
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matching pants. 2 In US: trousers, slacks, breeches, (Oxford) |
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bags, knickerbockers, flannels, shorts, Bermuda shorts or |
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Bermudas, pedal pushers, bell-bottoms, peg-tops, hip-huggers, |
(blue) jeans, dungarees, denims, Trade Mark Levis, Scots trews; Scots and No. Eng. breeks, US knickers, Colloq cut-offs: Americans who go into British shops asking for a pair of pants are embarrassed to be offered only underwear.
paper n. 1 newspaper, tabloid, daily, weekly, journal, gazette, publication, periodical, newsletter, organ, Colloq rag, sheet: She is feature editor of a paper in Manchester. 2 Often, papers. a document(s), instrument, legal papers, form, certificate, deed, ownership papers; credential(s), identification: Bring the papers to my office for signing. His papers are not in order. Many people lost their papers during the war. b docket, files, dossier, record(s), archive(s): Your papers seem to have disappeared from our office. 3 stationery, letterhead, writing-paper, letter-paper, notepaper; foolscap; scrap or US also scratch paper; wrapping paper; gift-wrapping, gift-wrap; wallpaper: She wrote to me on the most beautiful
engraved paper. We buy our Christmas paper from a museum shop. 4 article, composition, essay, assignment, report, thesis, study,
tract, analysis, critique, exegesis, treatise, dissertation, disquisition, manuscript, MS or ms, autograph, holograph, typescript, script, speech: Adelaide will present her paper at the meeting of the Royal Academy this year.
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--v. 5 (hang) wallpaper, line; post, distribute: The entire |
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area was papered with posters announcing the meeting. |
par |
adj. 1 standard, normal, average, expected: A success rate of |
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two per cent is par for these candidates. |
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--n. 2 level, rank, standing, scale, standard: How can you |
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place yourself on a par with her as a tennis player? 3 above |
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par. above average, superior, outstanding, excellent, |
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exceptional; choice, select, prime: Since I stopped taking that |
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medication, I've been feeling above par. I am pleased to |
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announce that the test results were above par for the school as |
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a whole. 4 at par. average, level, even, equal, equivalent, |
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standard; par value: The shares are selling at par, or below |
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their true market value. 5 below or under par. a below |
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average, substandard, inferior, second-rate, mediocre, middling, |
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not up to par, poor, inadequate, unsatisfactory, wanting, bad, |
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wretched, miserable, awful, terrible, Colloq lousy, not up to |
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snuff or scratch: Ian's goal-keeping has been below par all |
season. b ill, sickly, unhealthy, unwell, not (very) well, not oneself, not in good or the best shape, in bad shape, Brit off form, off colour; Colloq under the weather, poorly, not up to snuff: I was feeling below par. 6 up to par. all right, adequate, average, satisfactory, good enough, passable, acceptable, Colloq OK or okay, up to scratch or snuff, fair to
middling: If your game had been up to par, Davis would not have won.
parable |
n. allegory, fable, lesson, morality tale: When we first read |
Aesop's Fables we didn't know they were parables. |
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parade |
n. 1 procession, march, train, file, promenade, cortŠge, |
column; entourage: They held a parade to celebrate the soldiers' safe return from the war. 2 exhibition, (ostentatious) display, show, spectacle, array, pomp, splash: She often makes a parade of her knowledge of architecture. 3 promenade, walk, (pedestrian) way, mall, esplanade: Let's meet in the Parade when you have finished shopping.
--v. 4 march, pass in review, promenade, walk, file: The generals saluted smartly as the troops paraded past. 5 strut, flaunt, show (off), brandish, wave, vaunt, display, air: Why does he feel it necessary to parade every new girlfriend in front of all the neighbours?
paradise n. 1 heaven, City of God, Zion, Elysium, Elysian Fields, happy hunting-grounds, Abraham's bosom, heavenly kingdom, Promised Land, Celestial City, New Jerusalem, Avalon, Valhalla, Hesperides, Isles or Islands of the Blessed, seventh heaven: People all have their own ideas of paradise, but everyone agrees it's a nice place to be. 2 heaven on earth, (Garden of) Eden,
(land of) Goshen, Utopia, Shangri-La, Land of Beulah: Early settlers of California thought it a paradise. 3 bliss, happiness, rapture, heaven, delight, blessedness, ecstasy, seventh heaven, joy, dreamland, nirvana: Being with you has been sheer paradise.
paradox n. contradiction, self-contradiction, incongruity, inconsistency, absurdity, ambiguity, enigma, puzzle, mystery,
quandary, problem, dilemma: Can you explain away Zeno's paradox of Achilles and the tortoise? The paradox was that although it
was Edward's fifth birthday, he was 20 years old.
paradoxical
adj. contradictory, self-contradictory, conflicting, oxymoronic, impossible, improbable, incongruous, illogical, inconsistent, absurd, ambiguous, confusing, equivocal, enigmatic, puzzling, baffling, incomprehensible, bewildering, perplexing, mysterious, problematic: It would be true, though
it might sound paradoxical, to say that the Norman Conquest made England Saxon.
paragon n. epitome, archetype, model, prototype, quintessence, pattern, standard, exemplar, ideal, beau id‚al, criterion: He had
previously regarded Michael as a paragon of virtue and was deeply shocked by the revelations.
parallel adj. 1 similar, corresponding, congruent, analogous, analogic(al), correspondent, like, matching, homologous, coordinate, equivalent, coequal, proportional, proportionate, pari passu, mutatis mutandis, in proportion, uniform;
contemporary or cotemporary, contemporaneous or cotemporaneous: The situation in Northern Ireland could be compared with a
parallel situation in Lebanon.
--n. 2 analogue, match, homologue, equivalent, complement, counterpart, equal, coequal: Campbell found many parallels among the legendary heroes of other cultures. 3 analogy, parallelism, equivalence, complementarity, relationship, kinship, correspondence, resemblance, likeness, similarity, symmetry, equality, coequality, parity, correlation; proportion, balance, equiponderance, equipoise, counterbalance, offset: One can draw parallels between the human arm, the fish's fin, and the bird's wing. By way of parallel, consider the flood in the Bible and that in the Gilgamesh epic.
--v. 4 correspond to or with, match, equate to or with, be likened to, correlate to or with, compare with or to, imitate, repeat, echo, iterate, reiterate, duplicate, follow, agree with; keep pace with, conform (to), balance, set off, offset, even off or up, be accompanied by, coincide with, Colloq jibe with: In many respects, your attitudes towards life parallel mine when I was your age. A decrease in the rate of inflation supposedly parallels a rise in interest rates.
paralyse v. 1 immobilize, inactivate, deactivate, transfix; halt, stop: The stroke paralysed his entire left side. As the thing approached, the children became paralysed by fear. 2 deaden, numb, freeze, anaesthetize, benumb, render insensible: This injection will paralyse your thumb so that we can operate on it. 3 disable, cripple, incapacitate, disenable: His left leg was paralysed in the accident.
paramount adj. pre-eminent, chief, supreme, dominant, main, predominant, cardinal, first, prime, primary, principal, essential, vital,
requisite, basic: The company feel that the independence of researchers is paramount. It is of paramount importance that you study trigonometry before calculus.
paramour n. lover, love, inamorato or inamorata, amorist, mistress, gigolo, concubine, cicisbeo, kept woman, Colloq flame, sugar-daddy, US POSSLQ (= 'Person of the Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters'), Slang fancy man or woman: At eighty, she liked to reminisce about her many paramours.
paraphernalia
n. usually pl equipment, apparatus, accessories, outfit, appliances, utensils, gear, rig, material(s), mat‚riel, things, tackle, equipage, accoutrements, effects, chattels, possessions, belongings, appurtenances, trappings, property, baggage, impedimenta, supplies, stuff, Colloq junk, Brit rubbish, clobber, Slang crap, Taboo slang US shit: Bring along your scuba paraphernalia. It took us a month just to pack up all the paraphernalia we had in the flat.
paraphrase
n. 1 rephrasing, rephrase, rewording, restatement, rewriting, rewrite, rehash, rendition, rendering, version, Technical paraphrasis: The editor wanted a revision, not merely a paraphrase of the original.
--v. 2 rephrase, reword, restate, rewrite, explicate, explain: Please paraphrase the specialized jargon to make it understandable to non-professionals.
parasite n. leech, hanger-on, Colloq freeloader, sponger or sponge, bloodsucker, cadger, scrounger or scrounge, barnacle, jackal, hyena or hyaena: That parasite lives off Gemma's money and has
origin, pedigree, stock, birth, strain, bloodline, heritage,
roots: As he was separated from his mother at birth, he knows nothing of his royal parentage.
parenting n. (of children) rearing, upbringing, raising, nurturing: Brian and Betty take their parenting very seriously.
parity |
n. 1 equality, equivalence, consistency, uniformity, par, |
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likeness, similarity, analogy, congruity, similitude, |
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conformity, congruence: The ministers agreed that they would |
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observe parity of power amongst themselves at the conference. 2 |
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proportion, parallelism, analogy, balance, correspondence: We |
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are trying to maintain parity between the Deutschmark and the |
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pound sterling. |
park |
n. 1 garden, green(s), common(s), preserve, reserve, |
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greensward, parkland, woodland, estate, Chiefly Brit |
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reservation: Twice a day he strolls through the nearby park. 2 |
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Brit car park, US and Canadian and New Zealand parking-lot: I |
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shall meet you in the car park at the railway station. |
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--v. 3 leave, put, deposit, store: It is illegal to park in |
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this street. |
parlance n. way or manner of talking or speaking, fa‡on de parler, phrasing, phraseology, speech, wording, language, idiom, dialect, jargon, Colloq lingo: In the parlance of the yuppies, that's a ballpark figure.
parley n. 1 conference, discussion, dialogue, palaver, deliberation, meeting, colloquy, colloquium, confabulation, powwow, talk(s), Colloq huddle, confab: The issue will be decided at the executive council's parley.
--v. 2 confer, discuss, palaver, deliberate, talk (over), negotiate, deal, Colloq huddle: Would Sitting Bull parley with General Custer?
parliament
n. 1 Parliament. Houses of Parliament, House of Lords and House of Commons, Westminster, the House, Mother of Parliaments: The new health bill got its second reading in Parliament today. 2 legislature, council, congress, diet, council, assembly, Upper