The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms
.pdfdisgusted, revolted, repulsed, offended, repelled, nauseated; annoyed, chagrined, irritated: She was sick at what she saw in the army field hospital. The way you do things sometimes makes me sick. 7 Sometimes, sick of. (sick and) tired, bored, weary, Colloq fed up with: Don't you get sick of telling them the same thing so many times?
sicken v. 1 fall ill, take sick, contract, be stricken by, come down with or catch something or a bug, fail, weaken: After he seemed to be recovering so well, he suddenly sickened and died. 2 make ill or sick, afflict, affect, disgust, nauseate, turn one's
stomach, upset, appal, shock, repel, revolt, repulse, offend,
|
make one's gorge rise; put out: The scene in the abattoir |
|
sickened me. |
sickly |
adj. 1 See sick, 2, above. 2 ailing, feeble, delicate, wan, |
|
weak, pallid, pale, drawn, peaked, peaky, peakish: Jennie looks |
|
sickly and must build up her resistance. 3 mushy, mawkish, |
|
maudlin, cloying, insipid, weak, watery: The sickly |
|
sentimentality of the episode about the boy and his lost puppy |
|
was unbearable. |
side |
n. 1 Sometimes, sides. flank(s), edge(s), verge, margin(s), |
|
rim, brim, brink, border(s); bank; boundary or boundaries, |
|
perimeter, periphery, limit(s): This side of the road is in |
|
West Sussex, the other in East Sussex. The sides of the |
|
swimming-pool are tiled. 2 surface, face, plane; facet: The |
|
smallest possible number of sides of a pyramid is four. 3 |
|
faction, interest, party, part, sect, camp, (point of) view, |
|
viewpoint, aspect, opinion, standpoint, stand, cause, angle, |
|
position, attitude, school, philosophy: Which side do you |
|
support in the controversy? 4 team; string, squad; American |
|
football and Association Football or Soccer and Cricket eleven, |
|
Australian Rules football eighteen, Baseball nine, Basketball |
|
five, Gaelic football and Rugby Union fifteen, Rugby League |
|
thirteen: Whichever side Craig is on seems likely to win. The |
|
local side is now coming out onto the field. 5 affectation, |
|
pretension, haughtiness, arrogance, insolence, pretentiousness, |
|
airs: Chauncy puts on a bit too much side for my taste. 6 side |
|
by side. together, jointly, cheek by jowl: These paintings |
|
should not have been hung side by side. 7 take sides. show |
|
preference, be partial, show favouritism: A judge must avoid |
|
taking sides. |
--adj. 8 secondary, incidental, subordinate, tangential, subsidiary, indirect, ancillary, marginal, lesser, minor, unimportant, inconsequential, inconsiderable, insignificant: The main point is that he refuses to cooperate, and his reasons are entirely a side issue. 9 auxiliary, secondary: We live in a quiet side-road just off the High Street.
--v. 10 side with. take sides with, show preference for, be partial to, show favouritism to or for, support, favour, prefer, go in or along with, join ((up) with), ally with, be or become allied with, Colloq US throw in with, team up with: You can be sure that Kenneth will always side with the favourite candidate.
sidelong adj. oblique, indirect, sideways, covert, surreptitious: He marched straight ahead, without so much as a sidelong glance in her direction.
sidestep v. avoid, dodge, circumvent, skirt, evade, shun, steer clear of, Colloq duck: The minister neatly sidestepped all questions about her retirement.
sidetrack v. divert, deflect, draw off or away, distract, turn aside; shunt: Where was I? I got sidetracked by your comment about being overweight.
sidewalk n. walk, Chiefly Brit pavement, footpath, footway: You may play on the sidewalk, but don't you dare step into the street.
sideways adv. obliquely, laterally, edgeways, edge on, sidelong, crabwise, indirectly, US and Canadian edgewise: The dresser will go through the door if you turn it sideways.
sidle |
v. |
edge: She sidled towards the door, opened it, and was gone. |
siege |
n. |
1 blockade, encirclement, beleaguerment, besiegement: The |
siege of Troy lasted ten years.
--v. 2 lay siege to, besiege, blockade, beleaguer, cordon off, encircle, box or pen or shut in, bottle up: They sieged the city and the inhabitants surrendered when they ran out of food and water.
sift |
v. 1 strain, sieve, riddle, filter, screen, bolt; winnow, |
|
separate, weed out, sort out, select, choose, pick: It is not |
|
easy to sift out the promising manuscripts. 2 examine, analyse, |
|
study, probe, screen, scrutinize, investigate: The police are |
|
sifting the evidence of the witnesses. |
sigh |
v. 1 breathe, sough; suspire: Troilus sighed forth his soul to |
|
the tent where sleeping Cressid lay. 2 sigh for. bemoan, lament |
|
or mourn or grieve or weep for, bewail; yearn or pine for: Now |
|
and then, all of us sigh for the good old days. |
|
--n. 3 murmur, exhalation, sound; suspiration: I gave a sigh |
|
of relief as the train left the station. |
sight |
n. 1 eyesight, vision, eyes: His sight was completely restored |
|
by the operation. 2 field of view or of vision, range of |
|
vision, ken, perception, view, eyeshot, gaze: We turned a |
|
corner, and at last the welcoming lights of the pub came into |
|
sight. 3 spectacle, scene, show; rarity, marvel, wonder, |
|
phenomenon; pageant: I shall never forget the sight of Biffy |
|
Harbottle, stark naked, standing on that table in the officers' |
|
club. We went to Rome to see the sights. 4 mess, disaster, |
|
eyesore, monstrosity, Colloq fright, atrocity: The flat looked |
|
a sight after the boys finally moved out. 5 catch sight of. |
|
spot, notice, descry, spy, espy, glance at, (catch a) glimpse |
|
(of), (get a) look or peep or peek at, Colloq take a gander at, |
|
get a look-see at, Slang get a load of, US glom, pipe: We |
|
caught sight of a sinister-looking person slipping behind a |
|
pillar. 6 out of sight. a remote, distant, far-away, unseeable, |
|
imperceptible, invisible: She soon walked out of sight down the |
|
road. The mortar emplacement is out of sight, over the hill. b |
|
unusual, rare, extraordinary, outrageous, imaginative, |
|
awe-inspiring, incredible, shocking, unreal, moving, jolting, |
|
Colloq neat, cool, Brit brilliant, brill: The gig last night |
|
was out of sight, man. |
|
--v. 7 look, view, (take) aim, peer, peek, peep, draw a bead: |
|
Sight along this stick and you'll see a cluster of stars called |
|
the Pleiades. 8 spot, see, catch sight of, mark, observe, |
|
behold, view, distinguish, discern, identify, note, notice, |
|
remark, glimpse, descry, espy, spy: A group of bird-watchers |
|
have sighted a golden eagle recently in the Grampians. |
sightseer n. tourist, traveller, globe-trotter, Colloq rubberneck(er), Brit tripper, day-tripper: As usual, the streets of Oxford were crowded with sightseers and tourists.
sign |
n. 1 token, symbol, indication, mark, signal, indicator; |
|
notice: I interpreted the shouts of the crowd as a sign that I |
|
had won the race. 2 movement, gesture, motion, signal, cue, |
|
gesticulation: She made a sign motioning me to come over. 3 |
|
trace, indication, evidence, mark, clue, hint, suggestion, |
|
vestige: She waited for an hour but there was no sign of him. |
|
4 device, mark, symbol, representation, emblem, trade mark, |
|
badge, brand, stamp, seal, ideogram, ideograph, lexigram, |
|
phonogram, grapheme, hieroglyph, cartouche, rebus, logo(type), |
|
colophon, ensign, standard, banner, flag; monogram, initials, |
|
cipher or cypher: Sir Roger fought under the sign of a rampant |
|
lion. 5 signboard, advertisement, placard, poster, US |
|
broadside; shingle, notice, announcement: You can't miss the |
|
huge supermarket sign at the corner. 6 omen, augury, warning, |
|
forewarning, foreboding, portent, indication, writing on the |
|
wall, prophecy, prognostication, foreshadowing: We took the |
|
rumbling as a sign of an imminent earthquake. |
|
--v. 7 autograph, put one's signature on or to, inscribe, |
|
countersign, endorse, witness, put or set one's hand to, mark; |
|
sign on the dotted line; Colloq US put one's John Hancock on or |
|
to: I have already signed the petition, have you? The painting |
|
is valueless unless signed by the artist. 8 sign away. forgo, |
|
relinquish, give up, abandon, abandon or quit claim to, waive, |
|
release, surrender, dispose of, sacrifice, get rid of: With one |
|
stroke of the pen, he signed away most of his fortune. 9 sign |
|
off. close down, discontinue (broadcasting, writing a letter, |
|
etc.): It is midnight, time for us to sign off till tomorrow. |
|
10 sign on or up. a enrol, enlist, sign up (for), register, |
|
volunteer, join (up), contract: I signed on to be a bodyguard, |
|
not a nursemaid. b enrol, enlist, hire, employ, put under |
|
contract, retain, engage, take on, Colloq take on board, bring |
|
aboard: We signed up three new engineers this week. 11 sign |
|
over. assign, consign, transfer, make over, deliver, give, |
|
donate, present, dispose of, turn over: Aunt June was persuaded |
|
to sign over the ownership of the business to her nephews. |
signal n. 1 See sign, 1, above. 2 incitement, stimulus, spur, impetus, goad, prick: The waving of the flag will be the signal
to advance.
--adj. 3 remarkable, conspicuous, striking, extraordinary, unusual, unique, singular, special, noteworthy, notable, exceptional, significant, important, outstanding, momentous, consequential, weighty: The British forces won a signal victory at Khartoum that day. Winning the competition is a signal accomplishment.
--v. 4 motion, indicate, gesture, gesticulate, communicate, announce, notify; whistle, wink, blink, nod, beckon, wave, sign: When your turn comes, a clerk will signal you to approach the counter. Peter raised his hand as a request to leave the room and the teacher signalled his assent.
significance
n. 1 meaning, sense, signification, denotation, message, idea, point, import, purport, implication, portent, content, pith, essence; gist, drift, vein, impression, connotation: The significance of words like God and love is different for almost everyone who uses them. 2 importance, weight, weightiness, consequence, moment, relevance, value: The significance of the agreement lay not in its wording but in the fact that it was drawn up at all.
significant
adj. 1 important, weighty, momentous, consequential, critical, substantial, substantive, noteworthy, notable, valuable, valued, meritorious, outstanding, impressive, historic, relevant, signal: Appleton made significant contributions to knowledge
about the ionosphere. 2 meaningful, eloquent, pithy, expressive, pregnant, suggestive, informative: It is significant that they prefer the term Britain to England, Scotland, and Wales .
signify v. 1 sign, signal, indicate, communicate, make known, convey, symbolize, betoken, represent, express, announce, declare, denote, say, mean, specify; connote, intimate, suggest, reveal, disclose, impart: She signified her agreement by a nod. What does the phrase 'pursuit of happiness' signify to you? 2 matter, count, be significant or important or consequential, be of significance or of importance or of consequence, carry weight, impress, stand out, deserve or merit consideration: It
signifies little that they were found innocent of a crime we all
believe they committed.
silence n. 1 quiet, quietness, stillness, soundlessness, noiselessness, calm, calmness, hush, quietude, tranquillity, peace, peacefulness, serenity: The silence was so complete that I could hear my heart beating. 2 speechlessness, muteness, dumbness, reticence, taciturnity, uncommunicativeness: Do not construe his silence as agreement.
--v. 3 quiet, mute, hush, still, shush, calm, tranquillize, soothe, Chiefly Brit quieten: The audience was silenced by the start of the overture. 4 mitigate, temper, mollify, take the sting out of, propitiate, pacify, blunt, suppress, repress, restrain, subdue, draw the fangs or teeth of, inhibit, put down, damp, mute, squelch, quash, emasculate, muzzle, muffle, shut off, gag, stifle, smother, deaden (the effect of): Only a full account of what lay behind these events will silence criticism in the media.
silent adj. 1 quiet, still, soundless, noiseless, tranquil, hushed, shushed, mute; calm, serene, placid, peaceful, pacific, unagitated, unruffled, untroubled, undisturbed, Literary stilly: After the children left the house fell silent. Not a mouse stirred in the silent city. 2 uncommunicative, mute, close-mouthed, taciturn, reticent, reserved, mum, tight-lipped, secretive: Millie told me a great deal about her children but was silent on the subject of her own activities. 3 unspeaking, unspoken, mute, unexpressed, tacit, understood, implicit, implied, unstated, unsaid: There is a silent agreement among the islanders not to reveal where the whisky is hidden. 4 inactive, non-participating, passive, quiescent, Brit sleeping:
Although John runs the company, he has several silent partners. 5 unpronounced, unuttered, not sounded, Technical aphonic: The g in sign is silent, like the k in know and the l in could .
silently adv. quietly, soundlessly, noiselessly, with catlike tread, as quietly as a mouse, stealthily; wordlessly, speechlessly, mutely: They fold their tents like the Arabs, And silently steal away. He stood by silently, allowing his brother to do all the talking.
silhouette
n. outline, profile, contour, form, figure, shape, shadow,
|
configuration, periphery, perimeter: I could see the silhouette |
|
of a person on the window-blind. |
silky |
adj. silken, silklike, delicate, sleek, soft, smooth, satiny, |
|
shiny, glossy, lustrous, Technical sericeous: Her long, silky |
|
black hair hung below her shoulders. |
silly |
adj. 1 senseless, nonsensical, absurd, ridiculous, ludicrous, |
|
laughable, risible, asinine, inane, preposterous, idiotic, |
|
childish, puerile, foolish, foolhardy, irresponsible, |
|
unreasonable, illogical, irrational, pointless, fatuous, stupid, |
|
unwise, imbecilic, crazy, mad, insane: It would be silly to pay |
|
for it if you can get it for nothing. 2 stunned, stupefied, |
|
daze, giddy, dizzy, muzzy, benumbed: Culley said something rude |
|
and the girl knocked him silly with a karate chop. |
|
--n. 3 fool, nincompoop, idiot, dunce, ninny, halfwit, |
|
simpleton, numskull or numbskull, dim-wit, booby, dolt, jackass, |
|
twit, dolt, blockhead, bonehead, nitwit, ignoramus, clod, US |
|
thimble-wit, Colloq dope, dummy, knuckle-head, goose, drip, |
|
silly billy, Brit clot, Slang US and Canadian jerk, nerd: |
|
Warren is such a silly to spend so much money on a girl who |
|
cares nothing for him. |
silt |
n. 1 deposit, sediment, alluvium, ooze, sludge: The irrigation |
|
pumps get clogged up with silt. |
|
--v. 2 Usually, silt up or over. become clogged or choked or |
|
obstructed or dammed or congested: The channel silts up and has |
|
to be dredged yearly so that the boats can pass through. |
silver n. 1 silverware, sterling, (silver) plate; cutlery, US
flatware; hollowware: Guests are coming so I'll have to polish the silver. 2 white, greyish, whitish-grey, greyish-white, grey: When your hair has turned to silver, I will love you just the same.
--adj. 3 silvery, shiny, shining, polished, burnished, lustrous, pearly, nacreous, bright, gleaming, Literary or
heraldry argent; white: The moon's silver crescent hung low in the sky. Her hair is more silver than grey. 4 silvery, silver-toned, silver-tongued, sweet, pretty, euphonious, melodious, mellifluous, mellifluent, dulcet, musical: The
silver tones of the muezzin echoed in the streets, calling the faithful to prayer.
similar adj. 1 like, almost identical, comparable, equivalent, nearly the same; alike: That brooch is similar to the one I bought for my mother. The two may be similar, but they are not the same. 2 be similar to. resemble, be like, correspond to, compare favourably with: This letter is very similar to the one I
received yesterday.
simmer v. 1 seethe, stew, cook, boil, bubble: A huge cauldron of soup simmered on the fire. 2 chafe, seethe, stew, steam, smoulder, fume, rage, burn, Colloq US do a slow burn: Father is still simmering because you scratched his car. 3 simmer down. calm or cool down, cool off, calm oneself, become quiet, control
oneself, get control of or over oneself, Chiefly Brit quieten down, Slang cool it: Yesterday he was in a towering rage, but he has simmered down a bit today.
simple adj. 1 uncomplicated, plain, uninvolved, unsophisticated, understandable, intelligible, (easily) understood, comprehensible, clear, lucid, straightforward, easy, elementary, basic: At the age of four, Jan was able to do simple mathematical calculations. 2 plain, unadorned, undecorated, unembellished, basic, fundamental, elementary, elemental, mere, unostentatious, unassuming, unpretentious, modest, classic, uncluttered, stark, clean, severe, austere, Spartan, homely; unvarnished, naked, honest: Thea was stunning in a simple black dress with a colourful scarf and gold jewellery. The simple
truth is that he came home from work to find the house broken into and his wife gone. 3 sincere, frank, candid, open, unaffected, uncomplicated, unpretentious, straightforward, above-board, simple-hearted, uncontrived, direct, upright, square, forthright, four-square, righteous, honest, na‹ve, guileless, artless, undesigning, childlike, ingenuous, unsophisticated, innocent, green: The colonel was a simple man who was respected because he always said just what he meant. A simple heart may be its own best guide. 4 unsophisticated, na‹ve, slow, slow-witted, stupid, thick, thickheaded, simple-minded, feeble-minded, oafish, bovine, dense, obtuse, dull, dull-witted, witless, halfwitted, brainless, backward, imbecilic or chiefly Brit imbecile, cretinous, Colloq dumb,
moronic: That chap Dawson is far too simple to understand what
you are asking him. 5 lowly, humble, inferior, mean, base, subservient, common, subordinate: The lord of the manor regarded his tenants as simple folk, a breed apart from himself and his family.
simplicity
n. 1 uncomplicatedness; understandability, comprehensibility, lucidity, straightforwardness, clarity, intelligibility, decipherability: Consider the simplicity of some life forms in contrast to the complexity of others. The simplicity of the Bible can be deceptive. 2 plainness, cleanness, clarity, severity, starkness, austereness, asceticism, restraint, bareness, purity: She prefers the simplicity of classical or very modern design to baroque and rococo clutter. 3 sincerity, openness, artlessness, candour, guilelessness, frankness, unsophisticatedness, ingenuousness, straightforwardness, forthrightness, unaffectedness, unpretentiousness, modesty, na‹vety; plainness, directness, inelegance, rusticity,
pastoralism: Many have been charmed by the simplicity of the local folk art. 4 stupidity, slow-wittedness, thickheadedness, simple-mindedness, feeble-mindedness, oafishness, cloddishness, obtuseness, dullness, dull-wittedness, witlessness, halfwittedness, imbecility, brainlessness: The simplicity of some of those yokels is incredible.
simplify v. clarify, clear up, make easy, paraphrase, explain, explicate, disentangle, untangle, unravel, streamline: Simplify your request and we shall be able to do what you ask.
simply adv. 1 merely, barely, purely, only, solely, just, entirely, fully, totally, wholly, altogether, absolutely, really: Is it true that they met regularly simply to discuss politics? 2 totally, completely, altogether, entirely, just, plainly,
obviously, really, unreservedly, unqualifiedly: If you believe that, you're simply too stupid for words! 3 na‹vely, artlessly, guilelessly, openly, innocently, ingenuously, unaffectedly, unpretentiously, plainly, naturally: He asked her very simply what she did as a 'working girl'. 4 plainly, modestly, starkly, severely, sparely, sparsely, austerely, ascetically: His home is simply furnished, without paintings or any other decoration.
5 distinctly, unambiguously, plainly, obviously, unmistakably or unmistakeably: The instructions must be written simply so that they are understandable to anyone.
simultaneous
adj. coincident, coinciding, concurrent, contemporaneous, synchronous; contemporary: The simultaneous appearance of two books on such an obscure subject was very unusual.
sin |
n. 1 trespass, transgression, offence, wrong, impiety, misdeed, |
|
profanation, desecration, iniquity, evil, devilry, sacrilege, |
|
crime, infraction, misdeed, dereliction, infringement, |
|
violation, misdemeanour, fault, foible, peccadillo: How many |
|
sins have been committed in the name of righteousness! It's a |
|
sin to tell a lie. The seven deadly sins are anger, |
|
covetousness, envy, gluttony, lust, pride, and sloth. 2 |
|
wickedness, sinfulness, vice, corruption, ungodliness, badness, |
|
evil, wrongfulness, iniquity, iniquitousness, immorality, |
|
depravity, impiety, irreverence, impiousness, sacrilege: His |
|
brother Edmund was conceived in sin, and sin ruled his entire |
|
life. |
|
--v. 3 transgress, offend, fall (from grace), lapse, go wrong, |
|
stray, go astray, err, Biblical or archaic trespass: Strictly |
|
speaking, we can sin only against God. |
sincere adj. honest, truthful, true, veracious, genuine, heartfelt, true-hearted, undissembling, unfeigned, open, (open and) above-board, straightforward, direct, frank, candid, guileless, artless, Colloq upfront, on the level, on the up and up: I took her criticism as a sincere desire to see improvement in my work. You have always been sincere in your emotional involvements.
sincerely adv. truly, honestly, really, wholeheartedly, candidly, frankly, unequivocally, seriously, earnestly, genuinely, deeply, fervently: When they say they love each other, they mean it sincerely.
sincerity n. honesty, truthfulness, straightforwardness, openness, forthrightness, frankness, candour, candidness, seriousness, genuineness, uprightness: Everyone appreciates sincerity in dealings with others.
sinew n. 1 ligament, tendon; muscle, thew: After the climb, I ached in every sinew. 2 Usually, sinews. strength, force, power, energy, brawn, vigour, might, stamina, vitality: The sinews of