The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms
.pdfwreck, sabotage: The regime was subverted from within, not by outside forces.
subway |
n. |
1 |
Brit underground (railway), tube: She takes the subway to |
work. |
2 |
US tunnel, underpass: Use the subway to cross the road |
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in safety. |
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succeed |
v. |
1 follow, come after, supervene: The end of the war in the |
Pacific succeeded the surrender in Europe. 2 be successor (to), follow, be heir (to), replace, take the place of, inherit or
take over from: Elizabeth I succeeded Mary in 1558. 3 Often, succeed in or at. make good, thrive, prosper, flourish, be a success, be successful, progress, advance, get ahead or on, attain or gain or achieve success, win, triumph, Colloq make it, arrive, get to the top: Has she succeeded in persuading you to sing? He always wanted to make a lot of money and now he has succeeded. They have succeeded at whatever they have tried.
success n. 1 good or happy result or outcome, good fortune, achievement, triumph, attainment, ascendancy, prosperity: The success of the fast food business is evident everywhere. 2
star, celebrity, (big) name, sensation: She was a great success as a singer, dancer, and actress.
successful
adj. 1 wealthy, rich, prosperous, fortunate, lucky, flourishing, thriving, prospering, well-to-do, affluent, Colloq
loaded, well-heeled, flush, in the money, US well-fixed: He is a very successful investor. 2 lucrative, booming, profitable, fruitful, moneymaking, remunerative: The shares they bought proved to be a successful investment. How successful was last
year for the company? 3 famous, well-known, famed, celebrated, renowned, eminent; prominent, pre-eminent, popular, leading, top, best-selling: Constance is one of our most successful
poets. That book of mine was also successful. 4 victorious, triumphant; first; winning: Henry was successful in his bid for the chairmanship. I want to see a successful conclusion to the tour.
succession
n. 1 passing (on), handing down or on, transmittal, transmission, transfer, transferral, shift, conveyance, conveyancing: According to her will, the succession of the
property is via her first-born. 2 sequence, progression, order, series, turn, course, flow, chain, train, procession: The succession of events was as he described. 3 accession, assumption, attainment, elevation, promotion; inheritance: What was the year of Charles II's succession to the Spanish throne?
4 lineage, descent, birthright, dynasty, ancestry, descendants, bloodline: The 18th century began with the War of the Spanish Succession. 5 in succession. one after or behind the other, at intervals, successively, consecutively, in a row, running, without interruption, uninterruptedly, in order, in line: They published several historical novels in quick succession.
successive
adj. uninterrupted, continuous, unbroken, continual, consecutive, succeeding: Last season he scored in sixteen successive matches.
succinct adj. compact, brief, concise, pithy, terse, short, compressed, condensed, epigrammatic: He prefers a succinct style of writing, one that gets to the point.
succulent adj. juicy, rich, luscious, mouth-watering, toothsome: He was eating a succulent peach with evident enjoyment.
succumb |
v. yield, give up, give way, surrender, accede, submit, |
capitulate: I finally succumbed and agreed to their request for |
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help. |
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sucker |
n. dupe, goat, gull, victim, butt, cat's-paw, fool, Colloq |
(easy) mark, easy or fair game, chump, pushover, soft touch, Chiefly US and Canadian fall guy, Slang sap, pigeon, Brit mug, Chiefly US and Canadian patsy: He's asking far too much for his car, but some sucker will buy it.
sudden adj. unexpected, unannounced, unanticipated, unforeseen; unwonted, surprising, startling; precipitate, abrupt, quick, immediate, rapid, swift, brisk; impetuous, hasty, rash, impulsive: His sudden turn caught us off balance. Your change of heart was quite sudden.
suddenly adv. 1 in a flash or a moment or a split second, all at once, instantly, instantaneously, momentarily, fleetingly, in the twinkling of an eye, in a trice; quickly, abruptly, swiftly,
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speedily, rapidly: Suddenly, my whole life flashed before me. |
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He suddenly realized why the head of MI6 had summoned him. 2 all |
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of a sudden, out of the blue, unexpectedly, without warning, on |
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the spur of the moment, hastily, hurriedly, feverishly: |
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Suddenly, she turned on her heel and stormed out. |
sue |
v. 1 proceed or move or act (against), take (legal) action or |
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bring suit or prefer charges (against); summon(s), charge, |
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accuse: He threatened to sue. They are suing him for the |
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injuries they sustained. 2 petition, beg, plead, entreat, pray, |
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request, solicit, apply, beseech, implore, supplicate: After |
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five years of constant warfare, the country is suing for peace. |
suffer |
v. 1 Sometimes, suffer from or with. agonize, smart, hurt, |
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writhe, sweat, ache: He is suffering with a stomach virus. How |
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terribly they suffered when their child was kidnapped! 2 endure, |
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undergo, experience, bear, live or go through, tolerate, |
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withstand, sustain, take, submit to, abide, submit to, Colloq |
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put up with: He suffered years of ill-health before he finally |
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died. 3 allow, tolerate, permit, let, admit, humour, indulge: |
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They suffer the storks to build their nests on their chimneys. |
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4 deteriorate, diminish, decline, go down, fall off, be reduced |
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or diminished: If you discontinue advertising, sales will |
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suffer. |
suffering n. pain, agony, distress, misery, affliction, hardship, torment, torture, tribulation, trial: The man's suffering is written in his face.
suffice v. satisfy, serve, do, be sufficient or enough or adequate, answer, sate, satiate, quench: If you are merely thirsty, water should suffice.
sufficient
adj. adequate, enough: Have we sufficient food to last through the winter?
suffix n. 1 ending, desinence, addition; affix: The suffix -ness is added to many English adjectives to form nouns.
--v. 2 add (on), join, fasten to, subjoin, amend, Colloq tack
on: One can suffix -ness to a huge number of adjectives to form nouns.
suffrage n. (right to) vote, voting right(s), franchise, voice, say, ballot, option, choice: They campaigned for universal adult suffrage.
suffuse v. overspread, imbue, pour or spread over, bathe, cover, permeate, pervade, flood, flush, penetrate, saturate, mantle, infuse, transfuse, imbrue or embrue: A rosy glow suffused her face.
suggest v. 1 propose, advance, recommend, urge, advocate, support, offer, proffer, put or set forward, present, mention, introduce: He suggested going out to a pub for dinner. Can you suggest an alternative? 2 call to mind, bring up, hint (at), imply,
insinuate, intimate, make one think, lead one to believe, indicate: His silence suggested that this was not the right time to pursue the matter.
suggestible
adj. impressionable, susceptible, receptive, impressible, susceptive, open, mouldable, fictile: Patricia was very suggestible at that age and readily believed everything that she was told.
suggestion
n. 1 proposal, proposition, recommendation, plan, advice, counsel, idea, notion, opinion; prompting, urging: The committee rejected your suggestion that membership fees should be increased. 2 indication, trace, whisper, insinuation,
innuendo, implication, intimation, hint, soup‡on, touch, tinge, suspicion, breath, iota, jot or tittle: There wasn't the
slightest suggestion of animosity in her criticism.
suggestive
adj. 1 Often, suggestive of. reminiscent (of), evocative (of), indicative (of): To me, the smell of orange blossom is always suggestive of southern California. 2 provocative, naughty, risqu‚, ribald, off colour, racy, bawdy, earthy, lusty, rude, indelicate, unseemly, immodest, improper, indecent, prurient, blue, offensive, vulgar, smutty, dirty, pornographic, lewd, salacious, Colloq sexy, spicy, Slang raunchy: He used to sing his suggestive songs in night clubs.
suit |
v. 1 adapt, accommodate, fit, adjust, tailor, make appropriate |
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or suitable: It will require some reorganization to suit the |
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office space to our needs. 2 please, satisfy, fill (someone's) |
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needs, gratify, be acceptable or suitable or convenient to or |
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for, befit; conform to: Choose whichever room suits you. The |
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schedule does not suit my personal plans at all. |
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--n. 3 jacket and trousers or skirt, outfit, uniform, ensemble, |
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costume, habit; garb, clothing, clothes, livery: He showed up |
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wearing a new silk suit. 4 lawsuit, action, case, proceeding, |
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process, cause, trial; litigation: I do not want to enter into |
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a suit over the damage to my car. 5 petition, plea, request, |
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entreaty, prayer, solicitation, application, appeal, |
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supplication; courtship: The king rejected all suits for his |
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daughter's hand in marriage. |
suitable adj. appropriate, apt, fit, fitting, befitting, becoming, |
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right, proper, correct, acceptable, satisfactory, applicable, |
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meet, seemly; timely, opportune: John has at last found |
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suitable employment. A chandelier is not suitable at all for |
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such a low room. Is this a suitable time for me to ask you a |
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favour? |
suitcase n. bag, valise, overnight bag, holdall, grip or Brit handgrip, |
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Brit formerly portmanteau: She packed enough for a week's |
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holiday into one small suitcase. |
suite |
n. 1 set, series, collection, number: They gave us a beautiful |
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suite of rooms at the hotel. 2 set: She bought a new suite of |
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dining-room furniture. 3 following, retinue, entourage, train, |
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cortŠge, convoy, escort; followers, attendants, retainers: Her |
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suite includes advisors, secretaries, hairdressers, and |
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bodyguards. |
suitor |
n. admirer, beau, wooer; boyfriend, paramour, lover, inamorato, |
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cicisbeo, escort, Archaic swain: Madelaine has more suitors |
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than I can count. |
sulk |
v. mope, brood, pout, be sullen or moody or ill-humoured: I |
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wish you'd get a job instead of sulking about the house all day. |
sullen |
adj. sulky, sulking, morose, brooding, pouting, gloomy, moody, |
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temperamental, dour, lugubrious, funereal, dismal, dreary, grim, |
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depressing, depressed, churlish, ill-humoured, glum, grumpy, |
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sombre, out of humour, antisocial, unsociable, cross, petulant, |
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perverse, crusty, crotchety, choleric, crabby, ill-natured, |
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ill-tempered, bad-tempered, splenetic, peevish, dyspeptic, out |
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of sorts, US cranky: He remained quite sullen and refused to |
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associate with anyone. |
sully |
v. besmirch, stain, smirch, blemish, mar, defile, soil, |
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disgrace, dirty, tarnish, pollute, spoil, ruin, destroy, wreck: |
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Sadly, his reputation was sullied when his company was found to |
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be involved in insider trading. |
sultry |
adj. 1 hot, humid, sticky, stuffy, stifling, oppressive, close, |
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muggy, steamy, steaming, moist, damp, sweltering, suffocating: |
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I was happy to be languishing again in the sultry warmth of St |
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Lucia. 2 lusty, lustful, passionate, erotic, seductive, |
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voluptuous, provocative, sensual, Colloq sexy, hot: She |
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continued her sultry, slow, sinuous dance. |
sum |
n. 1 total, aggregate, grand total, sum total, whole, totality; |
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amount, quantity: The sum of money found in the satchel was not |
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revealed by the police. He would give the neighbourhood children |
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small sums to spend on sweets. |
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--v. 2 sum up. a recapitulate, summarize, encapsulate, |
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synopsize, digest, abridge, condense, consolidate, epitomize, |
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review: He summed up by reminding the children not to accept |
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gifts from strangers. b reckon, add up, calculate, total, tot |
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up, measure (up), take the measure of: They summed up their |
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chances of escaping. c estimate, evaluate, size up, assess: |
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She had summed him up the minute she saw him. |
summarily adv. 1 immediately, at once, straightaway, directly, quickly, without delay, unhesitatingly, without hesitation, forthwith, promptly, swiftly, speedily, expeditiously, instantly, Colloq p.d.q. (= 'pretty damned quick'): Any dog caught without a muzzle will be impounded summarily. 2 suddenly, without warning, abruptly, peremptorily, precipitately: He was summarily dismissed, with no advance notice.
summary n. 1 summarization, recapitulation, encapsulation, compendium, synopsis, digest, abridgement, condensation, shortening, consolidation, epitome, epitomization, review, distillate,
conspectus, brief, outline, pr‚cis, r‚sum‚: I want a summary of the meeting on my desk in the morning.
--adj. 2 abrupt, peremptory, short, quick, brief, laconic, perfunctory, curt, terse: My simple request for some time off was denied with a summary, 'No!'
summit n. peak, top, apex, acme, pinnacle, zenith, crown; culmination, climax: The winds at the summit of Annapurna reached hurricane force. There was no doubt that I had reached the summit of my achievements.
summon v. 1 call, assemble, convoke, convene, send for, invite, muster, get together, arouse, rouse: Why would he summon us to the office at midnight? 2 Often, summon up. call or draw on or upon, draw up, mobilize, muster (up), work up, gather, invoke:
I had to summon up all my courage to ask Eve to go out.
sumptuous adj. expensive, costly, extravagant, exorbitant, dear, rich; lavish, luxurious, de luxe, opulent, palatial, royal, majestic, regal, magnificent, dazzling, splendid, showy, Colloq posh, plush, ritzy: The family treated us to a sumptuous repast to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.
sun |
n. 1 (old) Sol, Helios, Phoebus (Apollo), Ra, Sunna, day-star: |
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Many early cultures worshipped the sun. |
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--v. 2 tan, suntan, sunbathe, bask, bake, brown, bronze: They |
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spent their holidays sunning themselves on the beach. |
sundries n.pl. knick-knacks, trinkets, small items, notions, miscellanea, miscellany, kickshaws, Brummagem, frippery, bric-…-brac, odds and ends: We might find a button for your shirt in a shop that sells sundries.
sundry |
adj. various, varied, miscellaneous, assorted, different, |
mixed, diversified, divers: In addition to food, supermarkets |
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stock sundry other items. |
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sunken |
adj. 1 hollow, hollowed-out, haggard, drawn: From her sunken |
cheeks the child looked as if she hadn't eaten for weeks. 2 submerged, undersea, underwater, submersed: The boat hit a sunken wreck and foundered. 3 buried, underground, in-ground,
below-ground, settled, lowered: The old term for a sunken fence is 'ha-ha'.
sunless |
adj. dark, grim, cheerless, unhappy, joyless, funereal, |
depressing, dreary, drear, sombre, gloomy, grey, Stygian, black, |
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pitchy, inky, shadowy, tenebrous, unlit, unlighted, dusky, |
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subfusc or subfuscous, darkling: It was an overcast sunless |
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day, with rain in the offing. |
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sunny |
adj. 1 sunlit, sunshiny, brilliant, bright, radiant, fair, |
fine, cloudless, clear, unclouded: The enchanting scenery and warm sunny climate makes it a perfect place for holidays. 2 cheerful, cheery, happy, joyous, joyful, light-hearted, smiling, beaming, buoyant, blithe, gay, mirthful, jolly, bubbly,
ebullient, genial, warm, friendly, outgoing: Being with someone who has a sunny disposition was a pleasant change.
super |
adj. wonderful: A super collection of synonyms for this word |
appears under superb, below. |
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superb |
adj. wonderful, marvellous, excellent, superior, gorgeous, |
glorious, magnificent, outstanding, exquisite, fine, splendid, unequalled, sensational, noteworthy, admirable, peerless, matchless, unrivalled, first-rate, superlative, perfect, classic, exceptional, extraordinary, striking, brilliant, dazzling, miraculous, incredible, unbelievable, fantastic,
fabulous, stupendous, staggering, mind-boggling, breathtaking, Woman's dialect divine, Colloq great, super, smashing, magic, terrific, fantabulous, unreal, out of this world, mind-blowing, super, Slang out of sight, far-out, boss, solid, cool, hot, bad: The curator said he had never seen such a superb collection. She
does a superb Hedda Gabler. We were treated to a superb dinner.
supercilious
adj. haughty, contemptuous, superior, snobbish, disdainful, arrogant, condescending, patronizing, overbearing, scornful, lordly, high and mighty, pompous, lofty, stuffy, pretentious, Colloq hoity-toity, highfalutin or hifalutin, uppity, snooty, stuck-up, Brit toffee-nosed, uppish, la-di-da or lah-di-dah or la-de-da: She was very supercilious towards her customers.
superficial
adj. 1 surface, external, exterior, shallow, skin-deep, slight,
outside: I suffered a superficial wound to the forehead. 2 surface, slight, external, apparent, skin-deep, outward, cursory, insignificant, passing, unimportant, trivial, empty, insubstantial; paying lip-service, for appearances' sake, cosmetic: She bears a superficial resemblance to your sister. His interest in your welfare is entirely superficial. 3 cursory, slapdash, quick, hurried, hasty, perfunctory, nominal, meaningless, passing: The machinery is subjected to a superficial inspection before shipping.
superficies
n. (outer) surface, fa‡ade, face, externals, outside: The superficies may appeal to children, but adults appreciate the book's profundities.
superfluity
n. excess, superabundance, over-abundance, surplus, oversupply, surfeit, glut, superfluousness, profusion, plethora, oversupply, supersaturation: The middle and upper classes wallow in a superfluity of goods.
superfluous
adj. excessive, excess, superabundant, over-abundant, supererogatory, surplus, unneeded, uncalled-for, unnecessary, redundant, extra; needless, dispensable, gratuitous: The superfluous grain that remains unsold should be donated to third-world countries. They knew each other so well that words were superfluous between them.
superhuman
adj. 1 heroic, Herculean, godlike, legendary, valiant, courageous, brave, daring, dangerous, death-defying, extraordinary, miraculous, phenomenal, incredible, fabulous, fantastic, unbelievable, amazing: His superhuman feats would never be duplicated.
--n. 2 superman, hero, superhero, •bermensch, Hercules: They still believe that one day a superhuman will come along to lead them.
superintendent
n. supervisor, foreman, overseer, manager, administrator, chief, head, boss; governor, controller, director, conductor: