The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms
.pdfadj. 1 cultivated, cultured, refined, experienced, worldly, cosmopolitan, polished, elegant, urbane, worldly-wise, knowledgeable, knowing, suave, soign‚(e), blas‚, chichi, slick, Slang hip or hep, cool, with it: The Gordons mix with a pretty sophisticated crowd. 2 advanced, complex, complicated, intricate, elaborate, subtle, refined, multifaceted: The desk-top computers of today are much more sophisticated than most older main-frame systems.
sophistication
n. 1 worldliness, urbanity, culture, refinement, knowledge, knowledgeability, cosmopolitanism, polish, elegance, poise, suavity or suavit‚, savoir faire, savoir vivre, finesse, discrimination, discernment, awareness, taste, tastefulness, style: They want him on the board of directors of the museum because he lends it sophistication. 2 complexity, intricacy, subtlety, refinement: There is a staggering amount of sophistication built into modern integrated circuits.
sorcerer n. sorceress, magus, necromancer, wizard, witch, warlock, enchanter, enchantress, magician, thaumaturgist, shaman, witch-doctor, medicine man: The law demanded death for the sorcerers and for those who dealt with them.
sorcery |
n. witchcraft, enchantment, sortilege, necromancy, wizardry, |
(black or white) magic, shamanism, black art, diabolism: Once |
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Vera works her sorcery on you, you obey her every whim. |
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sordid |
adj. 1 base, vile, corrupt, low, ignoble, debased, degraded, |
abased, mean, ignominious, dishonourable, despicable, disreputable, shabby, shameful, scurvy, rotten, execrable: He forced his family to do the most sordid things to raise money. 2 avaricious, greedy, grasping, mercenary, piggish, hoggish, selfish, rapacious, money-grubbing, stingy, parsimonious: His
most sordid plan was to pretend he was collecting money for the handicapped. 3 dirty, foul, filthy, squalid, unclean, untidy, mean, slummy, seamy, seedy, wretched, unsanitary, insanitary, offensive, defiled, polluted, fetid, feculent, mucky, maggoty, putrid, fly-blown, slimy: The conditions of some of the homes the social workers visit are indescribably sordid. 4 wretched, miserable, poor, poverty-stricken, down-and-out, impoverished,
ramshackle, hovel-like, tumbledown, dingy, seamy, seedy, slummy, deteriorated, sleazy, back-alley: When he first came to town,
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he lived in a sordid shack lent him by a farmer. |
sore |
adj. 1 painful, sensitive, tender, raw, angry, burning, |
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stinging, smarting, hurting; irritated, inflamed, chafed: My |
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finger is still sore round the cut. 2 sensitive, delicate, |
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tender, embarrassing, awkward, ticklish, touchy, thorny, |
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prickly: Failing to complete medical school is a sore point |
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with her. 3 dire, serious, acute, extreme, critical, urgent, |
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pressing, desperate: He is in sore need of some good advice. 4 |
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angry, angered, annoyed, irritated, vexed, irked, upset, Colloq |
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peeved: Don't get sore at me because you got low marks in your |
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exams. 5 painful, troublesome, grievous, aggrieved, |
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distressing, distressful, harrowing, severe, agonizing, bitter, |
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fierce, burdensome, onerous, heavy, oppressive: Melanie's |
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marital troubles proved a sore trial for her friends. 6 sore |
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straits. difficulty, trouble, distress, danger, dangerous or |
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precarious condition: The business is in sore straits, I fear. |
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--n. 7 injury, damage, swelling, rawness, infection, |
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inflammation, bruise, abrasion, cut, laceration, scrape, burn, |
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canker, ulcer: If that sore on your arm doesn't heal, you'd |
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better see a doctor. |
sorrow n. 1 sadness, heartbreak, grief, unhappiness, dolour, misery, woe, anguish, distress, suffering, torment, agony, wretchedness, heartache, desolation, desolateness: How can one deal with the sorrow of the loss of a child? 2 affliction, trouble, trial, tribulation, misfortune, hardship, adversity, bad or hard luck, cares, pressure, strain, travail: It is unbelievable that
anyone could survive a life filled with such sorrow.
--v. 3 grieve, lament, mourn, regret, keen, bemoan, agonize, moan, bewail: She is sorrowing over the loss of her nephew.
sorrowful adj. 1 sad, unhappy, regretful, sorry, depressed, dejected, crestfallen, chap-fallen, gloomy, downcast, blue, dispirited, melancholy, in the doldrums, wretched, woebegone, miserable, heartsick, disheartened, piteous, heavy-hearted, broken-hearted, rueful, woeful, tearful, disconsolate, inconsolable, grief-stricken, Colloq down in the mouth, down in the dumps: The entire family was sorrowful to learn of Carriston's death.
2 distressing, lamentable, doleful, unfortunate, bitter, distressful, troublous, grievous, unlucky, hapless, afflictive:
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What a sorrowful life some of those miners' families have led! |
sorry |
adj. 1 regretful, penitent, remorseful, contrite, |
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conscience-stricken, guilt-ridden, repentant, apologetic, |
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penitential: I am sorry if I offended you. 2 abject, |
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miserable, depressing, wretched, pitiful, pitiable, pathetic, |
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deplorable, stark, grim, sordid, dismal, base, star-crossed, |
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ill-starred: Crackham has led a rather sorry life, most of it |
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as a vagrant. Agnes again made a sorry spectacle of herself at |
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the Christmas party. 3 See sorrowful, 1, above: I was indeed |
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sorry to learn that you are moving away, Peggy. |
sort |
n. 1 kind, variety, type, class, classification, group, |
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category, brand, make, mark, stamp, description, mould, stripe, |
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ilk, feather, kidney, character, nature; manner, species: A |
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1928 Alfa-Romeo coup‚ is not exactly the right sort of car for a |
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family. Lewis is a person of a different sort. What sort of |
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person is he? 2 kind, type, manner: This sort of behaviour must |
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stop. 3 species, genus, family, phylum, subgenus, subspecies, |
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race, breed, strain, stock, kind, variety, type: Aberdeen Angus |
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is a better sort of beef for steaks. 4 person, individual, lot; |
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thing: He is not really such a bad sort. 5 of sorts. of a |
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sort, of a mediocre or passable or admissible or not (too) bad |
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or fair or sufficiently good or adequate or undistinguished or |
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indifferent kind or quality or proficiency: Yes, one might say |
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that he is a violinist of sorts. 6 out of sorts. not oneself, |
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not up to snuff, unwell, ailing, indisposed, (slightly) ill, |
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low, Colloq off one's feed, under the weather: He is out of |
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sorts after last night's revelries. 7 sort of. See somewhat, |
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above. |
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--v. 8 assort, classify, file, order, rank, grade, class, |
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categorize, separate, divide, combine, merge, arrange, organize, |
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systemize, systematize, catalogue, group, sort out: Sort these |
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names into alphabetical order. 9 describe, characterize, |
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categorize, cast, throw, combine, mould, type: I did not enjoy |
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being sorted together with thieves and murderers. 10 sort out. |
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a organize, set or put straight, straighten out, resolve, tidy |
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(up), clarify, clear up, solve; decide: Someone will have to |
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sort out how we are to proceed. b choose, select, separate, |
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divide: Sort out all the books that you want to keep from those |
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to be donated to the library. |
so so |
adj. mediocre, all right, average, undistinguished, passable, |
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not (too) bad or good, adequate, fair (to middling), middling, |
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indifferent, ordinary, tolerable, comme ci, comme ‡a, modest: |
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Sabrina, whose singing is just so so, will never be a star. |
soul |
n. 1 (vital) spirit or force, being, (inner or true) self, |
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essence, psyche, heart, mind, intellect, reason, anima: He |
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finally surrendered, body and soul. 2 person, individual, man, |
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woman, mortal, (human) being: I won't tell a soul about our |
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conversation. What a sweet old soul she is! 3 incarnation, |
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embodiment, personification, typification, essence, |
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quintessence: You can count on me as the soul of discretion. 4 |
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emotion, feeling, sentiment, sincerity, fervour, ardour, warmth, |
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dynamism, vivacity, energy, spirit, vitality, force: Alice puts |
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a lot of soul into her singing, and that comes across to the |
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audience. |
soulful adj. sincere, deep, profound, moving, emotional, warm, ardent, intense, fervent, expressive: The lovers exchanged soulful
looks.
sound° n. 1 tone; noise; din; cacophony; report: This piano has a tinny sound. We could hear the sound of laughter from below. I heard nothing over the sound of the crowd. Sounds of gunfire echoed in the valley. 2 ring, tone, impression, characteristic, quality, effect, aspect, look: I didn't like the sound of that remark. 3 hearing, range, earshot: Anyone within the sound of his voice could tell that he was angry.
--v. 4 resound, reverberate, echo, resonate: The noises sound very close. 5 seem, appear, look; strike one, give one the impression or feeling or sense (that); resemble, sound or seem or look like: It sounds as if you don't want to come to my party. That sounds like Russian to me. 6 ring, (be) activate(d), (be) set or touch(ed) off, signal: Anyone walking into the room sounds the alarm. The alarm sounds when the beam is broken. 7 Sometimes, sound out. articulate, pronounce, enunciate, utter; voice, vocalize: I was taught to speak clearly, to sound each consonant and vowel. 8 Sometimes, sound out or off. shout (out), cry out, yell (out): Sound out those numbers loud and clear! 9 sound off. vituperate, complain, bluster, grumble,
Slang bitch: Today Mr Morrison was again sounding off about the service in the caf‚.
soundý adj. 1 undamaged, uninjured, whole, unmarred, in good condition or shape, intact, unimpaired, unscathed: When the vase was sold
to you it was sound. 2 healthy, hale (and hearty), fit (as a fiddle), robust, vigorous, blooming, rosy, ruddy: Old Tom is as sound as ever. 3 firm, solid, substantial, strong, sturdy,
tough, rugged, durable, well-built, well-constructed, dependable: A business, like a building, must be built on sound foundations if it is to last. 4 sane, balanced, normal,
rational, wholesome, reasoning, reasonable, clear-headed, lucid, right-minded, responsible, practical, prudent, politic, wise, sensible, logical, common-sense, commonsensical, astute, far-sighted, perceptive, perspicacious, percipient; valid, good, judicious, reliable, useful: As Juvenal said, 'Mens sana in corpore sano,' or 'A sound mind in a sound body'. My old teacher gave me a lot of sound advice. 5 safe, secure, good, conservative, non-speculative, solid, riskless; profitable: Are you sure that utilities are a sound investment now? 6 unbroken, uninterrupted, undisturbed, untroubled, peaceful, deep: I drank the potion and at once fell into a sound sleep.
sound° v. 1 Often, sound out. plumb, probe, test, check (out or into), fathom, inquire or enquire of, question, poll, canvass, investigate, examine, survey: Sound out the membership on their feelings about increasing the dues. 2 dive, plunge, submerge: The great whale sounded, almost taking the tiny boat down with it.
sound4 n. inlet, strait(s), fiord or fjord, bight, (sea) loch, bay,
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arm of the sea, cove, Scots firth: The breeze freshened as we |
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sailed across the Sound of Mull. |
sour |
adj. 1 acid, acidic, tart, vinegary, lemony, acidulous or |
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acidulent, acidulated, acescent, acerbic: This apple has a |
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pleasant, slightly sour taste. Do you like sour dill pickles? 2 |
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turned, bad, (gone) off, fermented, curdled, rancid, spoilt or |
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spoiled: If the food is sour, throw it away. 3 disagreeable, |
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unpleasant, distasteful, bad, nasty, bitter, terrible: The poor |
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service and facilities made the entire holiday a very sour |
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experience. 4 acrimonious, bitter, embittered, unpleasant, |
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churlish, ill-natured, ill-tempered, bad-tempered, crusty, |
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curmudgeonly, crabbed, crabby, grouchy, cross, cranky, testy, |
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petulant, impatient, abrupt, nasty, curt, caustic, brusque, |
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energetic, vigorous, brisk: The pony drew the dogcart at a |
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spanking pace. |
spar° |
n. Nautical mast, yard, yard-arm, boom, boomkin, gaff, jigger, |
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mizen, Colloq stick, pole: The first gusts of the storm tore |
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the remaining canvas from the spars. |
sparý |
v. 1 fight, box, exchange blows; shadow-box: He was once the |
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champion's sparring partner. 2 dispute, argue, bicker, |
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squabble, wrangle, bandy words, have words; fight, Colloq scrap: |
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I have better things to do than spar with you over breakfast |
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every day. |
spare |
adj. 1 extra, surplus, supernumerary, auxiliary, supplementary, |
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additional; odd, leftover; in reserve, in addition: We got a |
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puncture, so Dad stopped and put on the spare wheel. Give them |
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the spare room. Have you a spare cigarette? 2 unoccupied, |
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leftover, leisure, free, surplus, extra; not spoken for: Her |
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demanding job left her very little spare time. 3 thin, skinny, |
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scrawny, cadaverous, gaunt, raw-boned, meagre, gangling, |
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lank(y), wiry, slim, slender; all skin and bones: The spare, |
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ragged figure crouched in the shadows, his hand outstretched in |
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supplication. 4 See sparing, below. 5 meagre, frugal, small, |
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skimpy, modest, scanty: Their meals were spare but wholesome. |
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--v. 6 save, rescue, deliver, redeem: Bill spared me from a |
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fate worse than death. Spare me the embarrassment of having to |
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ask for my money back. 7 pardon, let go, release, have mercy on, |
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let off, free, liberate: At the last moment, the judge spared |
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him. 8 allow, relinquish, let go (of), give, award, bestow, let |
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have, donate, part with, give, yield: She decided she could |
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spare a couple of pounds for the disaster appeal. Buddy, can you |
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spare a dime? 9 avoid, dispense with, manage or do without, give |
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up, forgo, forsake, surrender, sacrifice: We spared a great |
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deal of trouble by settling the dispute. Spare the rod and spoil |
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the child. |
sparing adj. 1 thrifty, saving, frugal, spare, careful, prudent, parsimonious, economical, penurious, mean; penny-pinching, stingy, niggardly, miserly, close, close-fisted, cheap, Colloq tight, tight-fisted, Brit mingy: As sparing in his praise as he
was in his purse, General Waller rarely complimented his troops. 2 See sparse, 2 below.
spark n. 1 scintilla, flicker, glimmer, glint, sparkle, speck, hint, suggestion, vestige, atom, whit, jot (or tittle), iota: As long as a spark of life remained in his body he fought for freedom and justice.
--v. 2 Often, spark off. set or touch off, ignite, kindle, enkindle, electrify, animate, trigger, energize, galvanize, activate, excite, stimulate, set in motion, bring about, start (up), begin, initiate, inspire, inspirit, provoke, precipitate: Was there any single factor that sparked the Renaissance?
sparkle v. 1 glitter, scintillate, glint, flicker, shine, twinkle,
wink, blink, glimmer, flash, coruscate, blaze, burn, flame: The setting sun sparkled on the sea. Brian's eyes sparkled with an inner fire. 2 effervesce, fizz, bubble: We ordered a jeroboam of sparkling Burgundy.
--n. 3 glitter, scintillation, twinkle, coruscation, dazzle, spark, gleam, brightness, brilliance, radiance: I fear that the sparkle has gone out of her smile. 4 vivacity, liveliness, fire, brightness, wittiness, effervescence, ebullience, excitement, animation, vigour, energy, spirit, cheer, joy, light-heartedness, ‚lan, zeal, gusto, dash, life, gaiety, cheer,
cheerfulness; certain something; Colloq vim, zip, zing, pizazz, oomph: It is easy to see that she gets her sparkle from her mother.
sparse adj. 1 thin (on the ground), few (and far between), meagre, scanty, (widely) dispersed or scattered, spread out, spotty, in short supply, scarce: Tourists are sparse in Scotland in January. Sparse blooms appeared on the rose-bushes this year. 2 little, limited, meagre, scant, sparing, inappreciable, not
much, insignificant: Sparse use was made of the new tennis court because of the rain.
Spartan adj. austere, strict, severe, harsh, hard, stern, rigorous, rigid, ascetic, stringent, controlled, disciplined, self-denying, abstinent, abstemious: He gave up all luxuries and today lives a Spartan life in the forest.
spasm n. 1 convulsion, throe, fit, twitch, paroxysm: Deprived of his medication, Brian might go into spasms. 2 fit, seizure,