The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms
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nosedive or tailspin: Prices on the stock market slumped |
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following announcement of a rise in interest rates. 3 See |
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slouch, 1, above. |
slur |
n. 1 smear, insult, calumny, aspersion, affront, stigma, stain, |
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blot, spot, (black) mark, discredit, insinuation, innuendo, |
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imputation, slander, libel, slight, Colloq put-down: She |
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resents any slur on her husband's character. |
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--v. 2 mumble, misarticulate, garble, stutter, lisp: Some |
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people nowadays slur their speech so badly that one can hardly |
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understand them. 3 slur over. gloss over, pass over, disregard, |
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give short shrift to, ignore: The eulogies at the memorial |
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service slurred over his faults and focused on his |
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accomplishments. |
sly |
adj. 1 cunning, artful, crafty, clever, wily, guileful, |
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underhand(ed), deceitful, treacherous, foxy, scheming, plotting, |
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designing, conniving, furtive, shrewd, sneaky, stealthy, |
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insidious, devious, disingenuous, tricky, shifty, sharp, canny, |
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Colloq shady: It was devilishly sly of him to manoeuvre you |
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into paying for his party. 2 impish, elfish, roguish, |
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mischievous, puckish, devilish, scampish, naughty, arch, |
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waggish: Even as he was flirting with Allison he was giving |
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Antonia sly, conspiratorial winks. |
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--n. 3 on the sly. slyly or slily, quietly, surreptitiously, |
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covertly, stealthily, furtively, sneakily, underhandedly, |
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clandestinely, Colloq on the q.t. or Q.T., on the side: |
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Although her parents had forbidden her to see him again, Antonia |
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continued to meet Kevin on the sly. |
19.8 small...
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small adj. 1 little, tiny, short, diminutive, petite, mignon(ne), wee, teeny, elfin, Lilliputian, midget, miniature, minute, minuscule, baby, bantam, pocket(-sized), mini; undersized,
immature, young, under age; Colloq pint-sized, US peewee: She was once small enough to fit into a size 7. When I was very small, my father took me to my first cricket match. 2 slight, secondary, insignificant, trivial, inconsequential, lesser,
puny, negligible, minor, trifling, unimportant, paltry,
nugatory: The opinions of other people were not of the smallest importance to him. 3 unimaginative, shallow, unoriginal,
mundane, everyday, limited, unprofound, uninspired, commonplace, matter-of-fact, flat, two-dimensional: With their small minds
they were incapable of fully appreciating the scope of the project. 4 skimpy, niggardly, stingy, uncharitable, ungenerous, scanty, meagre, cheap, petty, parsimonious, grudging, stinting, selfish, miserly, tight, tight-fisted, close-fisted, close;
poor, insignificant, inadequate, insufficient, unsatisfactory, negligible, trifling, humble, small-scale, modest,
unpretentious, Colloq piddling, measly: With all your money, it was very small of you not to contribute more to the scholarship fund. We all thought their cheque was too small. 5 insignificant, limited, negligible, trifling, tiny; little,
minor, diminished, reduced, slight: Only a small number of people came to the opening night. It was small consolation to be told that he had come a good second. 6 feel small. feel embarrassed or ashamed or shamed or humiliated or foolish, feel discomfited or disconcerted or uncomfortable, feel mortified or chagrined, Colloq feel put down: Doreen always managed to make some remark that made Andrew feel small.
small-minded
adj. small, petty, selfish, stingy, grudging, niggardly, ungenerous, mean, narrow-minded, narrow, close-minded, uncharitable, hidebound, rigid, intolerant, unimaginative, short-sighted, near-sighted, myopic: Charging members of staff for local telephone calls seems rather small-minded.
small-time
adj. small, small-scale, unimportant, petty, piddling, minor, insignificant, trifling, trivial: In less than ten years he succeeded in building a small-time used-car business into a national chain.
smart adj. 1 intelligent, clever, bright, brilliant, quick-witted, sharp, acute, astute, capable, adept, apt, quick, ingenious: Emily is one of the smartest children in the class. 2 canny, perspicacious, perceptive, percipient, discerning, knowledgeable, au fait, well-educated, well-read, erudite, learned, well-versed, aware, shrewd, streetwise, Slang hip, tuned in, US savvy: Brendan is smart enough to avoid trouble.
that perfume I knew that Nicole had been there. 4 stink, reek, Colloq Brit pong, hum: The milk had gone off and smelled to high heaven.
smelly adj. malodorous, evil-smelling, foul-smelling, foul, mephitic, fetid, putrid, reeky, stinking, noisome, rank, offensive,
miasmic or miasmatic or miasmatical or miasmal, odoriferous,
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rancid, high, gamy, Slang Brit whiffy: She hid the diamond in a |
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washing basket full of smelly clothes. |
smile |
v. 1 grin, beam: He smiled and said he was pleased to meet me. |
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--n. 2 grin: Georgina bestowed on me a sweet, wistful smile. |
smirk |
n. 1 leer, sneer, grin, grimace, simpering smile: Wipe that |
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conceited smirk off your face. |
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--v. 2 sneer, grimace, leer: Instead of saying, 'I told you |
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so', he just stood there smirking. |
smitten adj. 1 affected, afflicted, beset, stricken, troubled, distressed, burdened, crushed, plagued, haunted, worried, bothered, vexed: Offers of help for the smitten town came pouring in. 2 captivated, enthralled, struck, bewitched,
enchanted, beguiled, charmed, enraptured, infatuated, enamoured, ensorcelled, swept off one's feet, Colloq bowled over, gaga: Anthea met some rock star and was totally smitten. They were so smitten by the beauty of the island that they returned every
year.
smooth adj. 1 regular, even, flush, flat, level, plane, unruffled, unbroken, unwrinkled, undisturbed, tranquil, peaceful, calm, serene, glassy: A light breeze rose to ripple the smooth surface of Alan's martini. 2 slick, sleek, shiny, glossy, glassy, mirror-like, uniform, polished, burnished; silky, silken, velvety, satiny: Optical mirrors for telescopes must be
as smooth as modern technology can made them. He ran his fingers over the smooth fabric. 3 unobstructed, easy, effortless, free, uncluttered, even, orderly, well-ordered, uneventful, flowing, fluent, unconstrained, uninterrupted: There were no obstacles
in the way of a smooth return to normal operations. The road to ruin is short and smooth. 4 hairless, bald, bare, naked, clean-shaven, smooth-shaven, depilated, glabrous: His smooth
give way, part: The wind snapped off tree branches like matchsticks. The back legs of the chair snapped in two as she sat on it. 2 click; pop; crack: The door snapped shut. 3 Often, snap at. a bite (at), nip, gnash or snatch at: The postman ran down the street, the dog snapping at his heels. b attack, lunge at, lash out (at), snarl at, growl (at), bark
(at), be brusque or short or curt (with), Colloq jump down (someone's) throat, fly off the handle (at): Robin is in a bad mood today, snapping at everyone. 4 Usually, snap up or US also off. grab (up), snatch (up), seize, pluck, pounce on or upon,
make off with, take (away), capture, catch, get, secure: The people who arrived early at the sale had snapped up all the bargains. 5 shoot, snapshot, photograph, click, catch: He always has his camera with him so that he can snap anything interesting. 6 snap one's fingers at. disdain, scorn, flout, dismiss, contemn, disregard, ignore, defy, mock, deride, thumb one's nose at, Brit cock a snook at: He merely snapped his fingers at the dangers when I mentioned them. 7 snap out of it.
recover, come round or around, revive, awaken, wake up, perk up, liven up, cheer up; get a grip or (a) hold on or of oneself,
pull oneself together, (re)gain control of oneself: I was feeling very blue yesterday but managed to snap out of it.
--n. 8 crack, crackle, pop, click: The lid shut with a snap. 9 spell, period, interval, wave: During that cold snap we thought we were in for a terrible winter. 10 catch, spring
catch, (snap-)fastener, fastening, clasp: Do you want snaps or buttons sewn on this shirt? 11 energy, vigour, animation, liveliness, vitality, bounce, alertness, sprightliness, ‚lan, dash, sparkle, verve, Colloq zip, zing, get-up-and-go, pep, pizazz: Granny certainly has a lot of snap left in her. 12
easy job, Slang picnic, US and Canadian breeze: There had been no need for her to worry, for the exam turned out to be a snap.
--adj. 13 abrupt, sudden, precipitate, hurried, hasty, incautious, rash, unpremeditated, unplanned, not well-thought-out, quick, instantaneous, instant: This is too important a matter for a snap decision.
snappish adj. 1 short-tempered, testy, petulant, peevish, irritable, prickly, touchy, irascible, quick to anger, quick-tempered, hot-tempered, waspish, Brit snappy, US on a short string or tether: He fancies that being snappish goes with his 'artistic'
temperament. 2 curt, short, abrupt, brusque, curmudgeonly, cantankerous, sharp, cross, grouchy, gruff, cranky, crusty, crabby, crabbed, acid, tart, acerbic, churlish, dyspeptic, choleric, splenetic, ill-humoured, ill-tempered, temperamental, moody, Brit snappy: Grandad tended to be snappish when he became impatient with our lack of experience.
snappy |
adj. 1 quick, sharp, brisk, smart, crisp, lively, rapid, |
speedy: If you want to come with us, you'd better make it |
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snappy. 2 fashionable, chic, sharp, smart, stylish, dapper, |
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modish, Colloq natty, Brit trendy: Your new friend is a very |
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snappy dresser, isn't he? |
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snare |
n. 1 trap, net, springe, noose, gin: They had caught only a |
pigeon in the snare.
--v. 2 trap, catch, entrap, seize, capture, ensnare: Using a different bait, William snared some partridges.
snarl° v. 1 growl; snap: I admit I found three snarling Dobermans a bit off-putting. The clerk snarled at me when I asked for a form.
--n. 2 growl: With a snarl the dog leapt at his throat.
snarlý v. 1 Often, snarl up. tangle, entangle, complicate, confuse, scramble, muddle, twist, mix or mess up, Colloq ball up, screw up: This situation is so snarled up that we'll never straighten
it out. 2 tangle, entangle, knot, twist, ravel, jam, kink: The rope won't feed through the pulley because it's all snarled.
--n. 3 tangle, entanglement, complexity, snag, problem, difficulty, complication, muddle, mess, predicament, fix, quandary, dilemma, Colloq snarl-up, tight spot, pickle: The situation was full of snarls and problems. 4 jungle, maze, labyrinth, knot: The drain was clogged by a snarl of hair.
snatch v. 1 grab, grasp, seize, clasp, clutch, pluck, take (hold of), catch, lay hold of, wrest, latch on to, capture, snap up, win, get, lay or get one's hands on: The thief snatched her purse and ran away. One must snatch every available opportunity for happiness. 2 Chiefly US kidnap, abduct: They snatched the kid and are holding him for ransom. 3 save, rescue, deliver,
2 sneeze at. See sneer, 2, above.
--n. 3 sternutation; sneezing: The sneeze is an involuntary convulsive action.
snicker v. 1 snigger, chuckle, giggle, titter, laugh up one's sleeve, mock, scorn, laugh (at), jeer (at): It was embarrassing when the audience began to snicker at the ineptitude of the juggler.
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--n. 2 snigger, chuckle, giggle, titter: The villain gave a |
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little snicker when he thought he had her in his clutches. |
sniff |
n. 1 whiff, breath, odour, scent: I got a sniff of her perfume |
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as she walked by. 2 hint, spirit, feeling, suggestion: There |
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is the sniff of spring in the air. |
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--v. 3 smell, snuffle, snuff: Why is your dog always sniffing |
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at my shoes? 4 sniff (at). See sneer, 2, above. |
snip |
v. 1 nip, clip, crop, cut, lop, prune, dock: When the blossoms |
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begin to fade, snip them off. |
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--n. 2 cut, slit, gash, slash, incision, nick: We could watch |
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the audience through a small snip in the curtain. 3 bit, scrap, |
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shred, snippet, fragment, cutting, clipping, remnant, morsel: |
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You are welcome to the leftover snips of fabric. 4 snips. |
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scissors, shears, tinsnips: This duct can be cut with the |
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snips. |
snipe |
v. Usually, snipe at. shoot at, fire at; attack, criticize, |
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deride, find fault with, carp at, pick apart: Newby has been |
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sniping at the organization for years and we simply ignore him. |
snivel |
v. sniffle, snuffle, blubber, whimper, whine, mewl, pule; cry, |
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Colloq Brit whinge: I'll buy some of your matches, little girl, |
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but only if you stop snivelling. |
snobbery n. snobbism, snobbishness, pretentiousness, pretension, hauteur, haughtiness, superciliousness, condescension, loftiness, contemptuousness, presumptuousness, lordliness, disdainfulness, disdain, pompousness, pomposity, affectation, inflatedness, self-importance, conceit, vainness, vanity, narcissism, self-admiration, self-centredness, egotism,