The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

ragged adj. 1 rough, shaggy, shabby, seedy, tattered, unkempt, scraggy, torn, rent, ripped, frayed, worn (out), threadbare, patched, patchy, ravelled, Chiefly Brit tatty, Brit down at heel, US down at the heel(s), Colloq US frazzled, beat-up: On

weekends, Charles put on his most ragged clothes to work in the garden. 2 rough, uneven, irregular, nicked, jagged; serrated, sawtooth(ed), zigzag, notched, toothed, denticulate(d), ridged: Every morning on his way to work, his first sight of the factory was the ragged edge of its roof. 3 worn out, tired, exhausted,

on one's last legs, the worse for wear, dead tired, overtired, fatigued, weary, fagged out, spent, Colloq all in, dog-tired, Slang dead (on one's feet), (dead) beat, Brit knackered, US and Canadian pooped (out): The emergency crew was run ragged by thirty hours on duty without rest. 4 bad, rough, patchy,

(through), Brit pressurize, US pressure, bully, hector, tyrannize, dragoon, browbeat, bullyrag, Colloq bulldoze, squeeze, lean on: Clayton was railroaded into appointing Pinbury to head the committee to investigate corruption.

railway n. train, rail, rolling-stock, Archaic iron horse, US railroad: Railway service could be improved on some suburban lines.

Colloq lady-killer, Colloq old-fashioned wolf, Brit bounder: Lady Anne was led stray by some young rake, a friend of the Prince Regent's.

rake-off n. kickback, commission; discount, mark-down, rebate, Colloq cut, piece: Does Mac get a rake-off for every buyer he sends to the shop?

rakish adj. dashing, jaunty, dapper, spruce, debonair, raffish, smart, breezy, flashy, chic, fashionable, elegant; dandy, foppish: Adjusting his trilby to a rakish angle, Peter strode along the boulevard.

rally n. 1 gathering, (mass) meeting, meet, convocation, convention, assemblage, assembly, muster: There is to be a political rally tonight in the town square. Are you taking your Daimler to the vintage car rally? 2 recovery, improvement, revival, turn for

the better, recuperation, renewal: His doctors said that the rally might be only temporary.

--v. 3 Often, rally round. bring or call or get together, round up, assemble, convene, group, congregate, organize, come

together, troop; marshal, mobilize, summon, gather, muster: All Sally's friends rallied round her when her father died. He

rallied every last ounce of strength in the dash for the finishing line. 4 revive, rouse, recover, improve, get better,

squeeze, thrust, tamp, pound, hammer: We rammed as much filler as we could into the crevices. 2 butt, bump, strike, hit,

collide with, dash, crash, slam: Their car rammed into mine in the garage.

ramble v. 1 amble, wander (off), stroll, saunter, walk, perambulate, go (off or away), travel, drift, range, rove, go or move about, hike, trek, Colloq mosey: Don't ramble too far as dinner will be ready soon. We used to ramble over those hills, but the area is now an industrial site. 2 meander, wander, digress, maunder: Fiona tends to ramble off the main topic of conversation. 3 Sometimes, ramble on. babble, chatter, gibber, rave, go on (and

on), rattle on, Colloq Brit witter on, rabbit on or away: If you didn't stop him, Hugh would ramble on for ever about his grandchildren.

--n. 4 stroll, amble, saunter, walk, promenade, constitutional, walkabout, tour, tramp, hike, trek: We went on a short ramble through the park.

rambling adj. 1 discursive, roundabout, circuitous, tortuous, incoherent, diffuse, unsettled, disconnected, disjointed, disorganized, unorganized, illogical, maundering, aimless, confused, muddled, jumbled, scrambled, unintelligible, inarticulate, periphrastic, circumlocutory, circumlocutional, circumlocutionary, ambagious, wordy, verbose, prolix, endless, interminable: We couldn't make heads or tails of the professor's rambling lecture. 2 unplanned, straggling, irregular, sprawling, spread out, spreading, straggly: The Wilsons live in that big old rambling Victorian house down the road. 3 roving, wandering, travelling, peripatetic, itinerant,

wayfaring, migratory, nomadic: For five years he led a rambling life as a folk-singing banjo player.

ramification

n. 1 consequence, result, effect, upshot, implication, subtlety; complication, difficulty: Have you considered the ramifications of your decision to retire? 2 branch, extension, outgrowth, subdivision, offshoot: Courier services may be

considered a ramification of services that were once performed by the post office.

frenzy, fury, rage, furore or US furor, turmoil: His latest rampage was prompted by their serving him a cup of cold coffee. 2 Brit on the rampage, US on a rampage. berserk, mad, crazy, amok or amuck, wild, out of control: Pete regularly drank too much whisky and then went on the rampage.

--v. 3 storm, rage, rant, rave, go berserk, run amok or amuck:

He rampaged like a man possessed when he got his second parking

ticket of the day.

rampant adj. 1 unchecked, uninhibited, unrestrained, wild, uncontrolled, out of control, out of hand, frenzied, unbridled, uncontrollable, violent: He was a victim of rampant jealousy. Jennie could hardly be described as a rampant feminist. 2 profuse, unbounded, abounding, flourishing, rife, widespread, everywhere, epidemic, pandemic, prevalent, unrestrained, unchecked, running wild, uninhibited, indiscriminate, wild, uncontrolled; in control, holding sway, in full sway, dominant, predominant; exuberant, rank, luxuriant: Before Masterson became sheriff, vice and crime were rampant in the town.

rampart n. defence, bastion, guard, fortification, security, stronghold, bulwark, barricade, wall; earthwork, breastwork, parados, gabion: The old town is surrounded by seven rows of ramparts leading up to the cathedral at the summit. They regard religion as an impenetrable rampart against immorality.

ramshackle

adj. dilapidated, tumbledown, crumbling, broken-down, rickety, unsteady, jerry-built, decrepit, flimsy, shaky, unstable,

tottering, unsubstantial or insubstantial, ruined, in disrepair, beyond repair, run-down, neglected, derelict: He lives in a ramshackle hut on the outskirts of town.

rancid adj. stinking or reeking (to high heaven), foul-smelling, ill-smelling, evil-smelling, noisome, mephitic, miasmic or miasmal or miasmatic(al), smelly, rank, malodorous, fusty; nasty, disagreeable, odious, fetid or foetid, rotten, decayed, spoilt or spoiled, turned, bad, awful, sour, tainted, high, gamy, ripe, putrid, corrupt, stale: To rid your fridge of that rancid smell, wash it out with a solution of baking soda.

rancorous adj. hateful, spiteful, resentful, hostile, malign, malignant, bitter, malevolent, malicious, venomous, vindictive, vengeful, splenetic, acrimonious: Olivia felt rancorous towards her brother-in-law when he refused to lend her money.

rancour n. hatred, hate, antipathy, spite, resentment, resentfulness, antagonism, hostility, malignity, bitterness, malevolence, malice, venomousness, venom, vindictiveness, vengefulness, spleen, acrimony, animus, animosity, enmity, bad feeling, bad

blood: Owing to the rancour between them, the brothers had not exchanged a word in forty years.

random adj. 1 haphazard, chance, fortuitous, serendipitous, aleatory, arbitrary, casual, stray, occasional, indefinite,

indiscriminate, non-specific, unspecific, unspecified,

unordered, unorganized, undirected, unpremeditated, unplanned,

distribute: The books are ranged according to their subject-matter. 8 cover, traverse, roam, rove, travel over or across, go or pass over, drift, migrate, wander, move, extend: The wildebeest ranges far and wide over vast tracts of grazing land in Africa.

rank° n. 1 status, standing, position, place, level, stratum, class, caste, circumstances, echelon, grade: It is virtually impossible to determine rank simply by looking at a person. 2 weight, authority, power, superiority, seniority, ascendancy, priority, influence, eminence: Caldwell uses the privilege of rank to cover up some of his more questionable transactions. 3 nobility, title, high birth, aristocracy, dignity, prestige,

(blue) blood; peerage: Gentlemen of rank should behave with honour, my boy. 4 line, row, column, queue, series, formation; sequence: We gazed on the serried ranks of warriors, golden shields glistening in the sun. 5 ranks. soldiers, workers,

staff, employees: Smithers rose from the ranks to become chief executive officer.

--v. 6 grade, rate, classify, class, categorize; dispose, organize, order, sort, assort, arrange, array, align, range, graduate: He was ranked among the best in the school. The applicants are ranked according to their test scores. 7 rate, count, stand, have standing or value or prestige, be important or distinguished: To Janet, character ranks far above wealth. Phil is so mean that Scrooge would rank high on a list of charitable men in comparison with him.

ranký adj. 1 lush, luxuriant, abundant, flourishing, profuse, prolific, dense, superabundant, exuberant, fertile, productive,

fructuous: The expedition could hardly make its way through the rank undergrowth of th jungle. 2 corrupt, foul, low, base,

gross; downright, utter, sheer, absolute, complete, out-and-out, blatant, flagrant, unalloyed, unmitigated, undiluted: I cannot understand the rank treachery of the man after all that we have done for him. I ventured my opinion, even though a rank outsider. 3 offensive, loathsome, disgusting, gross, foul, corrupt, indecent, shocking, immodest, indecorous, shameless, risqu‚, lurid, off colour, outrageous, blue, nasty, vulgar,

vile, dirty, filthy, smutty, scatological, pornographic, obscene: Those bigots always resort to the rank vocabulary of malice and hate. In a secret cupboard was a collection of the

rankest literature. 4 offensive, loathsome, disgusting, gross, foul, foul-smelling, smelly, rancid, noisome, stinking, reeky, reeking, mephitic, miasmic or miasmal or miasmatic(al), fetid or foetid, noxious, rotten, putrid, musty, stale, disagreeable,

strong, pungent: The rank stench from the open sewers pervades the air in those pockets of poverty.

rank and file

n. (general) membership, members, majority: The union's rank and file must now vote on whether to accept management's pay offer.

comb), comb, rake or rummage through, scour, explore, scrutinize, turn inside out: I ransacked the second-hand bookshops for a copy but had no success. 2 rob, plunder, pillage, sack, despoil, loot, strip; burgle, US and Canadian burglarize: The thieves who ransacked the shop apparently missed the most valuable jewel.

ransom n. 1 redemption, rescue, deliverance; release, liberation: The envoy was held to ransom by a fanatical band of zealots. 2