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10 matching synonym questions
Etymology: [consummare, consummatus (Latin), "add together," "complete";
from cum, "with" + summare, "to sum up"]
from cum, "with" + summare, "to sum up"]
carried to the highest degree; perfect
Jennifer O'Neill once said that John Wayne was a consummate gentleman.
Synonyms: supreme, pre-eminent
Antonyms: inept, bungled, botched
NOTE: Consummate used as a verb means "to raise to the highest degree"; "to complete, to achieve, to perfect, to accomplish."
They expect to consummate the deal without any further delay.
Etymology: [bana (Anglo-Saxon), "a murderer"]
a source of ruin and destruction; vexation or nuisance
Pomposity and lack of humility have often been the bane of talented persons.
Synonyms: ruination, destruction, affliction, scourge
Antonyms: preservation
Etymology: [callosus (Latin), "thick-skinned"]
having a hardened, thickened area of the skin; hence hardened in feeling; unfeeling; lacking in sensitiveness
"Nature is not cruel, pitiless, indifferent. This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply callous — indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose." — Richard Dawkins
Synonyms: hard, insensitive, obdurate, unsympathetic
Antonyms: soft, soft-hearted, thin-skinned, sensitive, tender, compassionate, sympathetic
NOTE: Callous is an adjective; callus is a noun.
Etymology: [construere (Latin), "to heap up together"; from cum, "together" + struere, "to build"]
to interpret or explain the meaning or intention of words or actions
The jury will construe the man's silence as an admission of guilt.
Synonyms: infer, deduce, translate
Antonyms: misconstrue, misinterpret
NOTE: In grammar, to construe means "to explain or analyze the relations of words in a sentence and thus make clear their meaning." In connection with a foreign language, construe means "to translate."
Etymology: (Madeleine (Old French), "Magdalen," who is often pictured with eyes swollen with tears of penitence]
sentimental to the point of being easily moved to tears; incapable of controlling emotion
Tom becomes maudlin at the mention of an old person in distress.
Synonyms: mawkish, effusive, tearful, lachrymose
Antonyms: unsentimental, unemotional, stolid
Etymology: [in (Latin), "not" + terminare, "to end" + bilis, "able to be"]
without ending
"The answer to old age is to keep one's mind busy and to go on with one's life as if it were interminable. I always admired Chekhov for building a new house when he was dying of tuberculosis." — Leon Edel
Synonyms: infinite, endless, boundless, eternal
Antonyms: ephemeral, terminable, fleeting, transitory
Etymology: [diffidens (Latin), "having no confidence"; from diffidere, from dis, "not" + fidere, "to trust"]
lacking confidence in oneself
The great English essayist Addison was diffident in the company of people he did not know, but self-confident the moment he sat down to write.
Synonyms: modest, reserved, shy, timid
Antonyms: self-confident, self-reliant, aggressive, forward
Etymology: [mollifier (French); from mollis (Latin), "soft" + facere, "to make"]
to calm or pacify; to make less severe
The preacher's soft words succeeded in mollifying the old man's anger at fate.
Synonyms: soothe, placate, appease, assuage
Antonyms: intensify, aggravate, sharpen
Etymology: [hibernare (Latin), "to pass the winter"]
to pass the winter (or, figuratively speaking, any extended length of time) in a state of sleep or suspended animation; hence, to be inactive for a long time
Bears, woodchucks, snakes, and some other creatures hibernate, but when the winter cold is over, they wake up from their long nap, ready for activity.
Synonyms: winter, drop out of sight, go into hiding
Etymology: [in gratiam (Latin), "into favor"]
to gain favor or bring oneself into another's good graces
"Somewhere around the fifth or seventh grade I figured out that I could ingratiate myself to people by making them laugh. Essentially, I was just trying to make them like me. But after a while it became part of my identity." — Tina Fey
Synonyms: insinuate, curry favor with, flatter, to soft soap
Antonyms: alienate, estrange