The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

tempting adj. 1 seductive, enticing, inviting, alluring, captivating, attractive, tantalizing, appealing, irresistible, titillating; fetching, winsome, prepossessing, ravishing, voluptuous,

sensuous, Colloq sexy, US foxy: They made her a very tempting offer which she found hard to refuse. He was continually distracted by thoughts of tempting young girls. 2 appetizing, mouth-watering, delicious, savoury, delectable, succulent, luscious, toothsome: Why does food always look most tempting when I am on a diet?

temptress n. seductress, vamp, siren, femme fatale, coquette, flirt, enchantress, sorceress, Circe, Slang sexpot, man-eater, US foxy lady, fox, mantrap: You warned me against that temptress because you wanted her for yourself.

tenable adj. defensible, supportable, justifiable, maintainable, workable, viable, defendable, plausible, reasonable, rational, arguable, believable, credible, creditable, imaginable, conceivable, possible: Copernicus showed that Ptolemaic cosmology was no longer tenable.

tenacious adj. 1 persistent, dogged, unfaltering, pertinacious, unswerving, determined, diligent, resolute, staunch, stalwart, steadfast, strong, sturdy, unwavering, strong-willed, strong-minded, unshaken, unshakeable or unshakable, obstinate, intransigent, stubborn, adamant, obdurate, refractory, immovable, inflexible, rigid, firm, unyielding, uncompromising: Despite his age, Christopher maintains a tenacious grip on reality. 2 cohesive, strong, tough; adhesive, sticky, clinging; gummy, gluey, mucilaginous, glutinous, viscous, viscid: The bricks are then smeared over with a tenacious mud, which dries hard. 3 Often, tenacious of. clinging (to), grasping,

maintaining, keeping (up), staying with, retentive (of), persisting or persistent (in), retaining: She is tenacious of

the old ways of doing things. 4 retentive, good: Aunt Agatha has a very tenacious memory.

tenacity n. 1 tenaciousness, persistence, doggedness, perseverance, pertinacity, determination, grit, diligence, resoluteness, resolution, purposefulness, resolve, staunchness, steadfastness, stamina, assiduity, sedulousness, strength, strong-mindedness, unshakeability or unshakability, obstinacy, intransigence,

stubbornness, obduracy, inflexibility, rigidity, firmness, uncompromisingness, Colloq US sand, stick-to-it-iveness: He persisted with the tenacity of the English bulldog. 2 tenaciousness, cohesiveness, strength, power, toughness, resilience; adhesiveness, stickiness, gumminess, glueyness, mucilaginousness, glutinousness, viscousness, viscidity, US cling: The texture of the surfaces affects the tenacity of the bonding cement.

tendency n. inclination, bent, leaning, disposition, propensity, predisposition, proclivity, predilection, susceptibility, proneness, readiness, partiality, affinity, bias, drift,

direction, trend, movement: Brian has always had a tendency to being overweight. The particles exhibit a tendency to align themselves north and south.

tender° adj. 1 sensitive, delicate, fragile, frail, infirm, unstable, shaky, weak, feeble, unwell, sickly, ailing, unsound: His condition is still a bit too tender for him to go outside. 2 chewable, edible, eatable, soft: The steak will become more tender if it is marinated. 3 young, youthful, immature,

juvenile, inexperienced, impressionable, vulnerable, green, new, raw, undeveloped, untrained, uninitiated, callow: At his tender age he could not have known about such things. 4 sensitive,

touchy, ticklish, dangerous, troublesome, provocative, difficult, tricky: Please avoid mentioning the wedding, it's a tender subject around here. 5 gentle, soft, delicate, light, sensitive, soothing: Oh, how he yearned for her tender touch at his fevered brow. 6 kind, kind-hearted, loving, affectionate, fond, gentle, mild, compassionate, considerate, humane, benevolent, sympathetic, feeling, thoughtful, soft-hearted, warm, caring, merciful, solicitous, tender-hearted,

warm-hearted, good-natured: Wounded and helpless, he succumbed to the tender care of the nurses. 7 touching, emotional,

moving, stirring, soul-stirring, heart-rending, heartfelt, passionate, impassioned, impassionate, poignant, sentimental, mawkish, maudlin: Who could forget the tender scene as Cedric bade farewell to his mother and went off to war? 8 sore, raw, painful, sensitive, inflamed; smarting, burning, hurting,

aching, agonizing: This spot, right here, is so tender that it hurts just to think about it. 9 loving, affectionate, amatory, amorous, adoring, romantic: They exchanged tender, knowing looks.

tenderý v. 1 offer, proffer, present, propose, put forward, extend, hold out, submit, advance, put up, set before: Donald tendered his resignation yesterday. She has tendered the committee an excellent proposal.

--n. 2 offer, bid, presentation, proposal, proposition: The city is accepting tenders for the construction of a new bridge. 3 currency, money, specie, (bank) notes, cash, bills; payment,

compensation: Pound notes are no longer legal tender in England and Wales.

tender° n. 1 dinghy, gig, skiff, launch, boat, row-boat or rowing-boat, jolly-boat: The yacht moved easily through the water towing a

theme, thread, implication, inference, intent, purpose, tendency, purport, direction: The general tenor of Mark's letters was unfriendly.

tense adj. 1 taut, strained, stiff, under tension, rigid: One could see how tense the muscles were under the skin. 2 intense, nervous, anxious, under (a) strain, highly-strung, high-strung, strained, on edge, wrought up, keyed up, worked up, taut, on tenterhooks, apprehensive, distressed, upset, disturbed,

worried, edgy, on pins and needles, jumpy, fidgety, overwrought, Colloq wound up, jittery, having a case of the jitters, Brit

strung up, US strung out, Slang uptight, US antsy: Try to relax and not be so tense. 3 nervous, anxious, worrying, worrisome, distressing, disturbing, stressful, nerve-racking or nerve-wracking, fraught, disquieting: Those were tense moments while we waited for the winner's name to be posted.

--v. 4 tighten, stretch, strain, tauten, tension: The mast will be secure once the stays have been tensed.

tension n. 1 stress, tightness, tautness, strain, pull, traction, pressure, tenseness, force: Can this cable withstand so much tension? 2 nervousness, anxiety, anxiousness, strain, edginess, apprehension, suspense, tautness, distress, upset, worry, jumpiness, fidgetiness, Colloq jitteriness, (a case of) the jitters: I could feel the tension building among the audience.

tentative adj. 1 experimental, speculative, exploratory, probative, trial, provisional: We have tentative plans for introducing a new work methodology. 2 unsure, hesitant, uncertain, indecisive, cautious, timid, shy, diffident, uneasy,

apprehensive: The child gave him a tentative smile, not knowing what to expect.

tenuous adj. 1 thin, slender, thin, fine, attenuated, delicate, gossamer, diaphanous, fragile: The spider descended slowly on its tenuous thread. 2 flimsy, insubstantial or unsubstantial, paltry, weak, feeble, frail, meagre, vague, negligible, insignificant, trifling, sketchy, hazy, nebulous, dubious, doubtful, shaky: Your case rests on very tenuous evidence.

tenure n. 1 possession, holding, occupancy, incumbency, tenantry, tenancy, occupation, residency, residence: The laws on tenure

terminal adj. 1 closing, concluding, terminating, ending, final, ultimate, extreme; maximum, greatest: Spencer wrote that the human being is at once the terminal problem of biology and the initial factor of sociology. 2 deadly, mortal, fatal, lethal, incurable: The cancer was diagnosed as terminal.

--n. 3 terminus, (terminal) station, end of the line, depot: We arrived at the air terminal with five minutes to catch our plane. 4 keyboard, monitor, position, station, VDU (= 'visual display unit'), PC (= 'personal computer'), module, CRT (= 'cathode ray tube'), screen, (control) panel: The computer system supported a terminal for each member of the team. 5

connection, wire, connector, coupler, coupling, conductor: Do I attach the red cable to the positive or the negative terminal?

terminate v. stop, end, come to an end, finish; put an end to, cease, conclude, discontinue, drop, abort, bring to an end or a close, wind up or down, sign off, cut off: The railway line once terminated at the port. They said they wanted to terminate the contract.

termination

n. 1 end, ending, stop, stopping, stoppage, ceasing, cessation, discontinuation, abortion, Colloq wind-up, winding up, close, finish, finishing, conclusion: The rights revert to us at the termination of the agreement. Because of her condition, termination of the pregnancy was recommended. 2 suffix, desinence, ending: The English termination -ly usually denotes an adverb but is occasionally adjectival, as in sickly .

terminology

n. nomenclature, vocabulary, language, words, locutions, wording, terms, phraseology, phrasing, jargon, shop-talk, argot, cant, Colloq lingo: Medical terminology requires specialized dictionaries.

terrain n. topography, landscape, ground, territory: These vehicles are specially designed for rough terrain.

terrestrial

adj. 1 earthly, earthbound, worldly, terrene, tellurian or telluric, global, sublunary, subastral; mundane: He insists that we tackle our terrestrial problems before spending a fortune on space travel.

--n. 2 earth-man, earth-woman, earth-person, earthling, mortal, human: My experiences are beyond the imaginations of you mere terrestrials.

adj. alarming, frightening, scary, shocking, horrifying, paralysing, petrifying: Being chased by a bull is a terrifying experience.

territory n. 1 area, region, district, neighbourhood, zone, sector, tract, land, precinct, quarter, vicinage, vicinity, purlieu: Each one of these animals stakes out its own territory and

protects it. 2 area, bailiwick, domain, province, haunts, patch, Colloq stamping-ground, US turf: Richard would be best advised to stick to his own territory.

terror n. 1 fright, dread, fear, horror, panic, shock, alarm, anxiety, dismay, consternation, intimidation, awe: They felt a sense of terror when they caught sight of the enemy forces. 2 scourge, demon, brute, monster, fiend, devil, US mad dog: The gang of teenagers was the terror of the neighbourhood. Her daughter is a little terror.

terrorist n. subversive, radical, insurgent, revolutionary, anarchist, nihilist; bomber, arsonist, incendiary; desperado, gunman, thug, felon, criminal: The shooting was carried out by a previously unknown gang of terrorists.

testify v. state, aver, assert, attest, swear, say, affirm, declare, give evidence or testimony, bear witness, avow, vouchsafe,

proclaim, announce: He testified that he saw you there. Is your mother going to testify at the trial? The fingerprints testify

to the fact that she was here.

testimonial

n. endorsement, certification, commendation, (letter of) recommendation, reference, Colloq blurb: I am happy to write a testimonial for you.

testimony n. evidence, attestation, affirmation, confirmation, verification, authentication, corroboration, avowal, deposition, statement, affidavit, declaration, assertion, claim, averral, asseveration, information: We have only his testimony that the woman caused the accident.

testy adj. irritable, bad-tempered, irascible, short-tempered, petulant, touchy, tetchy, querulous, peevish, hot-tempered, crusty, cross, grumpy, grouchy, bearish, crabby, crabbed, fretful, captious, waspish, snappish, quarrelsome, fractious, contentious, choleric, splenetic, ill-humoured, disagreeable, ill-tempered, edgy, on edge, quick-tempered, crotchety, cantankerous, US cranky, Colloq and US and Canadian dialect ornery: The old colonel made a few testy remarks about the boys' haircuts. Why make excuses for his being so testy?

tˆte-…-tˆte

n. 1 (cosy or personal) chat, dialogue, causerie, pillow talk, private talk or word, parley, interview, Colloq confab, US one-on-one: Will we have time for a brief tˆte-…-tˆte after dinner?

--adv. 2 intimately, privately, in private, face to face, confidentially, secretly, … deux, in secret, Colloq US one-on-one: Could we meet tˆte-…-tˆte some time?

--adj. 3 intimate, private, intime, cosy: I arranged a little tˆte-…-tˆte dinner at my flat.

tether n. 1 lead, leash, rope, cord, fetter, restraint, halter, tie,

chain: The dog had broken loose from its tether and was running around in the yard.

--v. 2 tie (up or down), restraint, fetter, chain (up or down), leash, manacle, secure, shackle, fasten, picket, stake: Why don't you tether the goat where the grass is more plentiful?

abstract, section, quotation, part, paragraph, passage, verse, line: What text from the Scripture are we discussing next week? 3 subject(-matter), topic, theme, motif, issue, focus: For

today's talk I have chosen for my text the problem of alcoholism. 4 textbook, school-book, reader, manual, primer, workbook, exercise book, Archaic hornbook: Today's science texts are much more advanced than those of twenty years ago.

texture n. feel, surface, character, grain, features, consistency, weave; configuration, nature, structure, fabric, constitution, substance: The material has a rough texture. The texture of the plot is reinforced by the dialogue.

20.3 thank...

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thank v. 1 express or show (one's) gratitude or thanks or appreciation, say thank you or thanks, give or offer or tender thanks: Don't forget to thank your uncle for the gift, William. 2 blame, hold responsible, credit, acknowledge: You have your mother to thank for the present state of affairs.

--n. 3 thanks. gratitude, appreciation, gratefulness, acknowledgement, recognition, thanksgiving: I gave thanks that I was again on dry land. 4 thanks to. owing to, because of, as

a result of, thanks be given to, in consequence of, as a consequence of, by reason of, through, Sometimes non-standard due to: Thanks to you, I have to commute to work by train.

thankful adj. grateful, appreciative, indebted, pleased, glad, obliged, obligated, under obligation, beholden to: I am most thankful that you came, doctor.

thankless adj. unappreciated, unacknowledged, useless, unrewarding, fruitless, unprofitable, profitless, unrequited, vain, futile, bootless: She always regarded housekeeping as a thankless task.