The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

rupture n. 1 break, rift, split, fissure, fracture, cleavage, bursting; breaking, splitting, break-up, breach, schism, disunity, breaking up, severance, division, separation: The rupture was

caused by the expansion of the water on freezing. There was no rupture in friendly relations between the families. 2 hernia:

He is to undergo surgery for a rupture.

sacrifice n. 1 immolation, surrender, forfeiture, forgoing, giving up, yielding up, offering (up), offer, Christian religion oblation: The Aztec religion demanded the sacrifice of human beings. 2 forfeiture, forgoing, giving up, relinquishment, loss: Mrs Clinton continues her charitable work at the sacrifice of much of her time.

--v. 3 immolate, offer (up), yield (up), give up: In their religion, they were required to sacrifice small animals to propitiate the gods. 4 give up, forgo, forfeit, relinquish, surrender, let go, lose, yield, renounce, forswear; forbear, desist, cease, stop, refrain from: She was quite ready to sacrifice her inheritance to see justice done. If you sacrificed smoking you could give the money you save to charity.

sacrificial

adj. 1 sacrificed, immolated, surrendered, given up, yielded: They led the sacrificial lamb to the slaughter. 2 atoning, expiatory, propitiatory, conciliatory: The solemn sacrificial ceremonies were carried out by the high priestess.

sacrilege n. 1 desecration, profanation, debasement, violation, prostitution, dishonouring, vitiation, defilement, befouling, fouling, contamination, befoulment, misuse, abuse, perversion, maltreatment: The horrendous Buckinghamshire county office building is an example of architectural sacrilege. 2 impiety, heresy, profanation, outrage, violation, profanity, blasphemy, impiousness, irreverence, disrespect, secularization: It was an unscrupulous sacrilege to appropriate to his own use the offerings to the gods.

sacrilegious

adj. profane, impious, heretical, blasphemous, irreverent, disrespectful: The inscription contains a curse on any who perpetrate any sacrilegious act against the remains of the pharaoh.

dismal, funereal, sombre, lugubrious, saddening, heartbreaking, bleak, distressing, dispiriting, calamitous: It was a sad day

for all of us here when the England team lost the semifinal. 3 unfortunate, unsatisfactory, awful, bad, shabby, dirty, lamentable, miserable, sorry, wretched, pathetic, pitiful, pitiable, deplorable, terrible, Colloq lousy, rotten: After two weeks under water, the sofa was in pretty sad shape.

sadden v. depress, deject, sorrow, dishearten, distress, dispirit, discourage, grieve, aggrieve: It saddens me to think of all the starving people.

sadistic adj. cruel, monstrous, brutal, brutish, beastly, ruthless, perverse, Technical algolagnic: She derives sadistic pleasure from reminding me of all my failures. The scars and bruises confirmed the sadistic treatment he had undergone.

sadly adv. 1 unfortunately, alas, unhappily, unluckily, lamentably, regrettably, deplorably, sad to relate: Sadly, all our oldest oaks were uprooted in the hurricane. 2 unhappily, gloomily, morosely, mournfully, despondently, miserably, wretchedly, dejectedly, dismally, sombrely, lugubriously: He told me sadly that he did not expect to return to England again.

sadness n. unhappiness, dolour, misery, sorrow, dispiritedness, grief, depression, dejection, dejectedness, sorrowfulness, despondency,

salted with expressions like 'Shiver me timbers!', 'Avast there!', and 'Blow me down!' 7 pickle, cure, preserve, corn,

marinate, souse: The book gives several recipes for curing ham and salting beef. 8 salt away. save (up), hoard, put or lay or

set by or aside, squirrel away, store up, stockpile, amass, accumulate, pile up, Colloq stash away, US and Canadian sock away: They were always terribly stingy, claiming they were salting something away for their old age.

--adj. 9 salty, saline, brackish, briny: The water had a salt taste. 10 pickled, kippered, marinated, soused; corned; cured: Do you like salt herring?

salute v. 1 greet, hail, address, accost: The moment I stepped in at the door I was saluted with the peremptory question, 'Where have you been?' 2 pay respects or homage or tribute to, honour, recognize, acknowledge: Wherever she went she was saluted as a heroine.

--n. 3 greeting, address, salutation: He returned my salute with a nod.

salvage v. 1 save, recover, rescue, redeem, deliver, retrieve, reclaim: Were you able to salvage anything of value after the fire?

--n. 2 recovery, rescue, retrieval, redemption, deliverance, reclamation, salvation: The salvage of a vessel or cargo at sea invests the salvager with legal rights under certain conditions.

salve n. 1 balm, ointment, unguent, dressing, cream, lotion, demulcent, embrocation, liniment: The doctor applied a salve to the wound and bandaged it. 2 emollient, balm, palliative, tranquillizer, opiate, anodyne, narcotic, relief, assuagement:

The money was more a salve to his conscience than a token of his charity.

--v. 3 mitigate, relieve, ease, alleviate, assuage, palliate,

soothe, mollify, comfort, appease: There must be something you can do to allow them to save face and to salve their wounded pride.

same adj. 1 identical, exact (same), selfsame; very: When I said they were wearing the same dress I meant that they were wearing

identical dresses. That's the same tie you wore when we first

met. 2 unchanged, unchanging, changeless, unmodified, unaltered, constant, uniform, unvaried, unvarying; word-for-word, verbatim: As you can see, it's the same old Charley you used to know and love. Professor Spicer is still giving the same lecture that he

has given all these years. 3 all the same. at the same time, nevertheless, nonetheless, even so, yet, but, anyway, anyhow, in any case, in any event, at any rate, regardless, still (and

all), in spite of or despite the fact, notwithstanding, for all that, that (having been) said, having said that, after all is

said and done, just the same: Of course you have a right to go; all the same, I wish you had let me know.

sample n. 1 specimen, example, representative, representation, illustration, sampling, sampler, cross-section; swatch; bite, nibble, taste: I should like to see a sample before deciding whether to place an order with you.

--v. 2 test, try, taste, experience: Anyone is welcome to sample the merchandise on request.

--adj. 3 representative, specimen, illustrative, representational, trial, test: A sample copy of the book is available for examination.

sanatorium

n. rest-home, convalescent home, nursing home, clinic, health farm, US also sanitarium: After spending a month recuperating in a Swiss sanatorium, Gladys was as good as new.

sanctify v. 1 consecrate, hallow, make sacred or holy, glorify, exalt, canonize, enshrine; Rom Cath Ch beatify: The site was sanctified and is visited by pilgrims throughout the year. 2 purify, cleanse: According to Scripture, some are sanctified before birth. 3 confirm, sanction, ratify, justify, legitimate, legitimatize or legitimize, legalize, license: Her family insisted that the marriage be sanctified at the church in Suffolk, where they live.

sanctimonious

adj. hypocritical, self-righteous, canting, mealy-mouthed, holier-than-thou, Pharisaical, pietistic, unctuous, Tartuffian, Colloq goody-goody, Chiefly Brit smarmy Slang Brit pi: I