The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

question. 6 in question. a under discussion or consideration: The person in question never worked for this company. b questionable, debatable, at issue, in doubt, doubtful, open to debate: Her honesty was never in question. 7 out of the question. unthinkable, impossible, absurd, ridiculous, preposterous, inconceivable, beyond consideration, insupportable: An increase in salary at this time is out of the question. 8 without question. See 4, above.

--v. 9 ask, examine, interrogate, query, interview, sound out, quiz, Colloq pump, grill, Slang give (someone) the third degree: He was questioned for six hours as to his whereabouts. 10 call in or into question, doubt, query, mistrust, distrust, cast

doubt upon, dispute, suspect: Investigators have long questioned the relationship between the banks and the drug barons.

questionable

adj. doubtful, dubious, debatable, moot, disputable, borderline, suspect, suspicious, shady; open to question, in question, in dispute, problematic(al), uncertain, arguable, unsure, unreliable, ambiguous: The evidence shows that the defendant engaged in questionable banking practices while a director of Offshore Ltd. The advantages of quick divorce are questionable.

queue n. 1 line, row, file, column, string, train, cortege or cortŠge, retinue, procession, succession, chain, concatenation, series, order, cordon, Brit tailback, Colloq Brit crocodile, Military picket: There were dozens of people in the queue in front of me. 2 pigtail, braid, plait; tail, pony-tail: Not

long ago, Chinese men wore their hair in a queue.

--v. 3 Often, queue up. line up, get in or into or form a line or queue or file, get into or in line, Military fall in: All he remembers about the war is that everyone had to queue up for everything and wait.

quibble v. 1 equivocate, split hairs, evade, be evasive, palter, chop logic, bandy words, cavil, pettifog, Colloq nit-pick: While people continued to be kept in slavery, the politicians quibbled over the difference between 'liberty' and 'freedom'.

--n. 2 quibbling, equivocation, hair-splitting, splitting hairs, evasion, paltering, sophistry, Colloq nit-picking:

Lawyers often become involved in a quibble over the mot juste and forget their clients. 3 cavil, sophism, subtlety, nicety:

It's a quibble whether you say 'either' and 'neither' to rhyme with 'peek' or 'pike'.

quick adj. 1 rapid, fast, speedy, swift, fleet; expeditious, express:

We made a quick descent to reach the camp before dark. The hand is quicker than the eye. Can you arrange the quick delivery of

this parcel to Aylesbury? 2 sudden, precipitate, hasty, brisk, short, abrupt, hurried, perfunctory, summary; immediate, prompt, timely, instantaneous: There is no quick answer to your question about the causes of World War II. Don't be so quick to criticize others. I had a quick response to my letter

complaining about service. 3 agile, lively, nimble, energetic, vigorous, alert, animated, keen, sharp, acute, spry, spirited, vivacious, rapid, swift: In three quick steps she was at my side. Antonia is known for her quick mind. 4 intelligent, bright, brilliant, facile, adept, adroit, dexterous, apt, able, expert, skilful, deft, astute, clever, shrewd, smart, ingenious, perceptive, perspicacious, discerning, far-sighted, responsive; nimble-witted, quick-witted: You can rely on Rob's quick thinking to come up with a solution to the problem. 5 excitable, touchy, testy, petulant, irascible, irritable, impatient: She

said that I have a quick temper because of my red hair.

quicken v. 1 accelerate, hasten, speed up: As we neared the house, our pace quickened. 2 expedite, hurry, accelerate, hasten, speed

(up): We did everything we could to quicken her departure. 3 stimulate, arouse, kindle, spark, invigorate, excite, animate, vitalize, vivify, galvanize, enliven, awaken, energize, revive, resuscitate, reinvigorate: Olivia's inspiring lectures quickened the imagination of everyone who heard them.

quickly adv. 1 rapidly, swiftly, speedily, fast: Although share prices dropped in the morning, they recovered quickly during afternoon trading. 2 rapidly, swiftly, speedily, fast, with dispatch or despatch, apace, post-haste, at or on the double, with all

speed, quick, Colloq US and Canadian lickety-split: Run quickly, and you'll get there before the shop closes. 3 instantly, promptly, hastily, at once, immediately, straight away, right away, shortly, without delay, (very) soon,

hurriedly, quick, Colloq pronto: You'll have to leave quickly to catch your train.

quick-tempered

adj. excitable, impulsive, temperamental, hot-tempered, waspish, choleric, splenetic, impatient, short-tempered, touchy, irascible, irritable, snappish, abrupt, short, short-spoken, quarrelsome, testy, volatile, hot-blooded, bad-tempered, ill-tempered, churlish, highly-strung, US high-keyed: Len is very quick-tempered these days and flies into a rage at the slightest provocation.

quick-witted

adj. acute, sharp, clever, smart, nimble-witted, alert, keen, astute, perceptive, perspicacious: Hallam is known for his quick-witted responses to hecklers in the audience.

quiet adj. 1 silent, soundless, noiseless, hushed, still: We have to be very quiet so as not to wake the children. 2 still, serene, silent, peaceful, unperturbed, calm, tranquil, placid, pacific, smooth, mild, restful, unagitated: The sea was very quiet as we rowed towards the beach. 3 dormant, quiescent, inactive, retired, withdrawn, unobtrusive: His last days were spent living a quiet life in the Outer Hebrides. 4 still, motionless, unmoving, fixed, stationary, at rest, inactive, composed, temperate, unexcited, calm: There was a knock at the door and everyone suddenly became quiet.

--n. 5 silence, stillness, soundlessness, noiselessness, hush, quietness, quietude, ease, rest, calmness, serenity, tranquillity, peace, peace of mind, repose: In the quiet of the cave I could hear my heart beating.

--v. 6 See quieten, below.

silence, softly: She tiptoed quietly out of the room. 2 in hushed tones, in whispers: In a corner of the room a young couple were quietly conversing. 3 peacefully, calmly, serenely,

to toe, from A to Z, fully, wholly, thoroughly, unequivocally, absolutely, perfectly, altogether, unreservedly: Her trouble is that she is quite certain of many things that are simply not the case. The last time I saw him, he was quite drunk. 2 rather, fairly, moderately, somewhat, relatively, to some or a certain extent or degree, noticeably: I thought that the paintings were quite well done. 3 rather: We had quite a good dinner last night. 4 very much, totally, entirely, wholly, altogether; really, actually, truly, definitely, positively, undoubtedly, indubitably, absolutely, unequivocally, certainly, surely, unreservedly, honestly: What you are talking about is quite

another matter. Your home-made chutney is quite the best I have ever tasted.

quiver v. 1 shake, tremble, vibrate, shiver, quaver; shudder, tremor, oscillate, fluctuate, wobble: He felt his lips quivering as he told her that he was dying. The outcome of the contest quivered in the balance.

--n. 2 tremble, quaver, shudder, spasm, shake, tremor, shiver: Pierced by the dart, the tiny bird fell to the earth, gave a

little quiver, and lay still.

quixotic adj. idealistic, impractical, impracticable, unrealistic, unrealizable, visionary, romantic, fantastic, chimerical, fanciful, dreamlike, dreamy, nephelococcygeal, starry-eyed, optimistic, rash, absurd, mad, foolhardy, reckless, wild,

preposterous, ridiculous: When he was young, he had a quixotic notion that he could improve the world.

quizzical adj. curious, queer, odd, inquiring or enquiring, questioning, puzzled: The interviewer had a quizzical expression, as if he didn't quite understand his own questions.

quota n. apportionment, portion, allotment, allocation, allowance, ration, share, part, proportion, percentage, equity, interest,

Colloq cut: Each shareholder is allowed a quota of the new shares based on the number now held.

quotation n. 1 quote, passage, citation, reference, allusion, extract, excerpt, selection: For many years Frances collected quotations from the speeches of politicians. 2 quote, (bid or asking or offer or market) price, charge, fixed price, rate, cost; value:

The quotation for Universal General International stood at 486 pence at the close of the market on Friday.

quote v. 1 cite, mention, recite, repeat, retell, reproduce, duplicate, call up, bring up, bring in, instance, exemplify, refer to, reference, extract, excerpt: Let me quote to you the relevant passage from Paradise Lost .

--n. 2 See quotation, above.

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rabble n. 1 mob, crowd, horde, throng, swarm, gang: We narrowly escaped the wrath of the rabble fighting the police in the square. 2 the rabble. Derogatory masses, proletariat, hoi polloi, commoners, peasantry, ragtag and bobtail, vermin, outcasts, riff-raff, scum, dregs (of society), lower classes, canaille, commonalty, Colloq trash, the great unwashed: He always refers to blue-collar workers as 'the rabble'.

rabble-rouser

n. agitator, demagogue, instigator, inciter, firebrand, incendiary, radical, troublemaker, agent provocateur, revolutionary, insurrectionist, Colloq hell-raiser: The crowd was whipped into a frenzy by a rabble-rouser who was not identified.

rabid adj. 1 unreasonable, unreasoning, extreme, fanatical; raging, furious, violent, crazed, frenzied, maniacal, wild, mad,

luminosity, luminousness, dazzle, sparkle, coruscation, scintillation, twinkle, effulgence, refulgence, incandescence, glow, phosphorescence, gleam, lustre, shimmer, shine: As Aladdin rubbed the ring, it began to glow with an inner radiance and then - suddenly - a genie appeared. 2 warmth, gladness, joy, pleasure, happiness, cheeriness, delight: It was good to see again the radiance of the family at Christmas dinner.

radiant adj. 1 shining, bright, beaming, burning, ablaze, blazing, brilliant, luminous, resplendent, splendid, splendorous,

lustrous, gleaming, glowing, phosphorescent, shimmering, shiny, glossy, glistening, incandescent, alight, effulgent, refulgent, sparkling, dazzling, glittering, coruscating, scintillating, twinkling; aglow: In her hair she wore a diamond tiara, a

radiant crown whose glory was diminished only by her beauty. The room was radiant with sunshine. 2 happy, overjoyed, ecstatic, rapturous, delighted, joyful, blithe, blithesome, blissful,

beatific, glad, gleeful, joyous, gay, bubbling, bubbly, jubilant, elated, rhapsodic, exultant, exhilarated, in seventh heaven, in heaven, Colloq on cloud nine, Brit over the moon:

Carrie was absolutely radiant when she learned she was pregnant.

radiate v. 1 shine, beam, burn, blaze, gleam, glow, shimmer, glisten, sparkle, dazzle, glitter, coruscate, scintillate, twinkle: The jewel seemed to radiate with an inner light. 2 emanate, disseminate, disperse, spread, diffuse, shed, send out, emit, give off or out, Rare irradiate: He radiated goodwill the way a fire radiates heat and light.

radiation n. emission, emanation, diffusion, dispersal, shedding: Because the night was cloudless, unhindered radiation of the earth's heat rapidly cooled the air.

radical adj. 1 basic, fundamental, elementary, inherent, constitutional, elemental, essential, cardinal, principal, primary, deep, deep-seated, profound, underlying, organic, natural, rudimentary: There is a radical error in your approach to the problem. There are radical differences in the ways we regard the English language. 2 thorough, thoroughgoing, complete, entire, total, exhaustive, sweeping, (all-)inclusive, comprehensive, all-embracing, out-and-out, drastic, severe,

extreme, extremist, revolutionary: We have made radical changes in the way we live. Every political party that is not in power

ragamuffin

n. (street) urchin, (street) Arab, waif, mudlark, gamin, little