The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

chastity n. purity, continence, virginity, maidenhood, maidenhead, virtue, celibacy, abstinence, abstention, abstemiousness, restraint, self-restraint, forbearance: She was a nun and had taken a vow of chastity.

chatter v. 1 prattle, gabble, jabber, prate, patter, gibber, cackle, jibber-jabber, Brit chaffer, Colloq gab, jaw, Brit natter, witter, rabbit on or away, waffle: He just kept chattering on about nothing. 2 clatter, rattle: It was so cold my teeth were chattering.

--n. 3 prattle, prate, patter, gossip, cackle, jabbering, chattering: I don't want to hear any more chatter in the library.

cheap adj. 1 inexpensive, low-priced, bargain-priced, low-cost, sale-priced, cut-price, reasonable; economy, budget(-priced): He was chewing on a cheap cigar. Everything used to be a lot cheaper when I was younger. 2 economical; reduced: Eggs are cheaper by the dozen. 3 shoddy, base, shabby, tawdry, sleazy, tatty, seedy; inferior, low-grade, poor, second-rate, trashy, worthless, Brit twopenny or tuppenny; Colloq tacky, Brit tinpot, Slang US two-bit, lousy, chintzy: Those cheap pictures ruin the look of the place. 4 stingy, miserly, penurious, niggardly, penny-pinching, cheese-paring, frugal, tight, tight-fisted, Scrooge-like, skinflinty: That cheap brother of yours wouldn't give even a penny to a beggar.

--adv. 5 inexpensively, cheaply, for a song, Brit for twopence

or tuppence: You can buy those cheap from any street vendor. 6

cheaply, easily, reasonably, for a song, Brit for twopence or tuppence: She has sold cheap that which she holds most dear.

--n. 7 on the cheap. inexpensively, reasonably, cheaply, at or below cost, for a song, Brit for twopence or tuppence; Slang for peanuts: We buy these watches on the cheap and sell them to tourists.

cheat n. 1 swindler, deceiver, impostor, fraud, faker, fake, swindler, trickster, confidence man, con man, operator, charlatan, mountebank, rogue, shark, Colloq phoney or US also phony, US snake-oil artist: It is amazing how many cheats are out there waiting to take advantage of you.

--v. 2 swindle, deceive, bilk, trick, con, take, fleece, defraud, euchre, hoax, hoodwink, Colloq con, take in, rook, flimflam, finagle, diddle, fiddle, move the goalposts, bamboozle, take for a ride; Slang rip off: His own solicitor cheated him out of his inheritance. If you paid ten pounds for that painting, you were cheated.

check v. 1 stop, arrest, stay, halt, obstruct, block, limit; retard, slow, brake, curb, hinder, hamper, impede, thwart: They are trying to check the spread of the disease in West Africa. 2 restrain, control, repress, stay, inhibit, contain, curb,

restrict: The animal population is checked only by availability of food. 3 authenticate, verify, confirm, substantiate, validate, corroborate, check into, check out, check up on: Please check his story to make sure he's not lying. 4 enquire about or after or into, check into, check (up) on, examine, investigate, inspect, make sure of, verify, monitor, test,

study, scrutinize: You'd best check the temperature in the kiln. 5 correspond, coincide, agree, jibe, tally, conform, check out, fit, mesh; compare: His alibi doesn't check with the witness's statement. 6 check in. arrive, report: We check in for work at 0800. 7 check in or into. register, sign in or on, enrol, log in: We checked into the hotel. 8 check into. investigate, check out, check up on, verify, check: The detective checked into the backgrounds of all applicants. 9 check off. tick (off), mark, check: Check off the names in red. 10 check out. a depart, leave; go: He checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the airport. b investigate, research,

explore, enquire into, look into or at or over, scrutinize,

examine, inspect, probe, survey, check up on, check, check into, check over: You had best check out her references before hiring her. c pass, pass muster or scrutiny, meet approval, be

verified, check: According to our records, his story checks out. d Slang cash in one's checks or chips, kick the bucket, croak: Sam checked out last week - heart attack, I think. 11 check over or out. review, verify, authenticate, check: Please check over my figures before I submit them to the accountant. 12 check up (on). a investigate, do research, probe, explore, check: I don't know her name, but I'll check up and let you know. b determine, discover, find out, look into, check: I want you to check up on where they eat lunch.

--n. 13 stop, stopping, cease, surcease, hesitation, cessation, stoppage, interruption, break, pause, balk or baulk, discontinuity, discontinuation, discontinuance, suspension: The visitors continued to arrive without check, far into the night.

14 restraint, repression, inhibition, limitation, curb, restriction, control, constraint, hindrance, obstruction,

impediment, damper: He keeps a good check on the foreman. This tax will serve as a check against free trade. 15 control, test, inspection, examination, scrutiny, verification, substantiation, authentication, confirmation, validation, corroboration: We do

a thorough check on the quality of every product. 16 US tick, mark, dash, X: Place a check in the box alongside your choice. 17 token, receipt, counterfoil, stub; voucher, chit,

certificate: Don't lose your baggage check. 18 chip, counter: Let's cash in our checks and go home. 19 Chiefly US bill, tab, charge(s): In the U.S.A., people generally add 15 per cent to the check for a tip.

cheer, considering their predicament. 2 cheerfulness, gladness, mirth, joy, gaiety, blitheness, happiness, buoyancy, light-heartedness, merrymaking: There wasn't much cheer at the pub when we learnt of what had befallen poor Grover. 3 comfort, solace, encouragement, consolation: She brought in a little breath of cheer from the outside world. 4 shout, cry, hurrah,

rah, huzzah, hurray or hooray: Three cheers for Penelope!

--v. 5 comfort, console, solace, encourage, inspirit, warm, Colloq buck up: Your friendly note cheered me considerably. 6 gladden, enliven, cheer up, hearten, buoy up, brighten, elate, brighten, uplift, lift up: Let thy heart cheer thee in the days

of thy youth. 7 applaud, shout, hurrah, clap, yell; Colloq Brit and Australian and New Zealand barrack for: The crowd cheered for five minutes when Mr Flews stood to speak.

cheerful adj. 1 joyous, glad, gladsome, blithesome, blithe, happy, cheery, of good cheer, joyful, jolly, exuberant, jubilant, gleeful, gay, light-hearted, merry: I am pleased to see that Agatha is so cheerful. Why do you cry at weddings, which are

supposed to be such cheerful occasions? 2 cheering, gladdening, animating, bright, enlivening, cheery, gay, buoyant, invigorating: She has redecorated the bedroom in more cheerful colours.

chequered adj. 1 chequer-board, checked; patchwork; plaid, tartan: You cannot use a chequered tablecloth for a formal dinner. 2 variegated, diversified, alternating, variable, good and bad, varying, fluctuating, up and down; uncertain: David Williams had a rather chequered career in the army.

cherish v. 1 treasure, hold or keep dear, prize: I know that she cherishes every moment you were together. 2 foster, tend,

chicanery n. trickery, sophistry, deception, quibbling, sharp practice, cheating, deviousness, duplicity, pettifoggery, double-dealing, artifice, skulduggery: They lost the case because of the chicanery of their lawyers.

chief n. 1 head, leader, principal, superior, supervisor, superintendent, manager, overseer, captain, master, ringleader, chieftain, Dialect himself, Colloq boss, bossman, Brit governor, gov., supremo, US man, kingpin, (head or chief) honcho, number one, numero uno, headman, big White Chief, big Chief, Great White Father, big Daddy, super; Slang big cheese, Brit gaffer, Chiefly US Mr Big: You'd best ask the chief for permission to fly to Rome.

--adj. 2 head, leading, ranking, superior, supreme, foremost, premier, first, greatest, outstanding: Terry is your chief competition for the singles trophy. 3 principal, most important, essential, key, paramount, (first and) foremost, primary, prime, main: The chief reason I came was to see you. Here is a list of the chief crimes committed in the area last year.

chiefly adv. mainly, in particular, especially, particularly, above all, most of all, pre-eminently, principally, primarily, mostly, predominantly, largely, by and large, on the whole, in the main, generally, in general, usually, as a rule: Inflation affected chiefly the price of food. The Anatomy of Melancholy consists chiefly of quotations.

child n. 1 offspring, descendant, son or daughter, little one, youngster, Formal progeny, issue, Colloq kid, nipper, Slang Brit sprog: How many children do you have? 2 foetus, newborn,

neonate, infant, baby, babe, toddler, boy or girl, lad or lass, stripling, youngster, youth, juvenile, adolescent, teenager, young man or woman, young gentleman or lady, Chiefly Scots laddie or lassie: No children were born in the village for five years. These miscreants are mere children, who should not be punished as adults.

childhood n. infancy, babyhood, boyhood or girlhood, youth, puberty, minority, adolescence, teens: During her childhood the family moved to Kent. She spent most of her childhood dreaming about travelling to the moon.

childish adj. childlike, juvenile, puerile, infantile, babyish; immature, inexperienced, na‹ve, undeveloped, underdeveloped, retarded; silly, US sophomoric: They thought his reaction to their criticism was childish and petulant.

childlike adj. youthful, young, innocent, trustful, ingenuous, unsophisticated, na‹ve, trusting, credulous, open, undissembling, unassuming, guileless, artless: There is a childlike simplicity to some primitive paintings.

chill n. 1 coldness, cold, coolness, sharpness, nip: We put on our jackets to ward off the chill of the evening. 2 cold, flu, influenza, (la or the) grippe, ague, Technical coryza, Colloq (the) sniffles, sneezles and wheezles: Take off those wet clothes before you catch a chill. 3 coolness, iciness,

frigidity, aloofness; unfriendliness, hostility: Mrs Marlow felt the chill in the stare of her husband's ex-wife.

--adj. 4 cold, cool, numbing, chilling, chilly, raw, penetrating, icy, frigid, wintry, frosty, arctic, polar,

glacial: A chill easterly wind made me shiver. 5 shivering,

chilled (through), numb, numbed, numbing, benumbed: She kissed me with a lip more chill than stone. 6 cold, cold-blooded,

aloof, indifferent, insensitive, unemotional, unsympathetic; chilly: The prison commandant viewed the corpses with chill detachment.

--v. 7 cool, freeze, refrigerate, ice: The fruit tastes better if it has been chilled. 8 dampen, dispirit, depress, deject, dishearten, distress: The news of mother's illness chilled us all.

chitter, chirr: The canary gave two chirps and jumped onto its perch.

chisel v. 1 carve, cut, pare, groove, shape, engrave, grave: He was chiselling the figure of an eagle out of the board. 2 cheat, defraud, swindle, bilk, trick, fool, dupe, gull, Colloq bamboozle: The gamblers chiselled him out of a week's wages.

chivalrous

adj. courtly, gracious, courteous, polite, gallant, noble, knightly, gentlemanly, considerate, kind, charitable, magnanimous: It was quite chivalrous of you to drive me home.

chivalry n. knight-errantry; honour, bravery, courage, courtesy, politeness, courtliness, gallantry, nobility, virtuousness, righteousness, justness, fairness, impartiality, equitableness: All the noble sentiments blended together constitute chivalry.

choice n. 1 selection, election, preference, choosing, pick, acceptance: I don't care for his choice of language. 2 option, realm of possibilities; alternative, voice, determination: She was given no choice in selecting her husband. 3 pick, ‚lite, flower, best, select, cream, crŠme de la crŠme: The king's guard is made up from the choice of the kingdom.

--adj. 4 select, exquisite, special, superior, prime, high-quality, excellent, pre-eminent, best, prize, first-rate, exceptional, preferred, desirable, ideal, rare, Colloq Brit plummy: She has the choicest wines in her cellar. 5 selected, select, hand-picked, well-chosen, fit, appropriate, fitting:

The eulogy was disposed of in a few choice words.

choke v. 1 suffocate, asphyxiate, smother, stifle, strangle, throttle, garrotte or garrote or garotte, burke: He choked his elderly victims, then stole their money. 2 stop, fill (up), block (up), obstruct, congest, clog, dam (up), constrict: The channel is completely choked with weeds. 3 Also, choke off. smother, suppress, stifle, prohibit, frustrate, deny, obviate, cut off, stop, put a stop to; dissuade, discourage: His

policies choked off any chance for innovation. 4 choke back or down. suppress, repress, stifle, restrain: He choked back the tears when he saw the gravestone.

dumpy, thickset, heavy-set, heavy, ample, overweight: She was a bit chubby when a teenager but became a professional model when she was 21.

chuckle v. 1 laugh, chortle, crow, snigger, giggle, titter: Robin always chuckled when the subject of embezzlement came up.

--n. 2 chuckling, laugh, chortle, crowing, giggle; laughter, snigger, sniggering: It was hard to resist a chuckle when we saw the looks on their faces.

lightning speed. 2 slide, shaft, channel, ramp, runway, trough, incline: The parcels come down this chute and you have to sort them by postcode.

3.4 circle...

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circle n. 1 disc or chiefly US disk, ring, hoop, loop, band, wheel, annulus, ringlet; cordon: Using a compass, he carefully drew a circle. We formed a circle around the speaker. 2 set, coterie, clique, class, division, group, crowd; society, fellowship, fraternity, company: John and I don't move in the same circles.

--v. 3 encircle, circumambulate, go round or around, tour; circumnavigate: For exercise, I circle the lake in the park