500-519

#500. Sage -- N.

#501. Fool. -- N. fool

• idiot

• tomfool

• wiseacre

• simpleton

• donkey

• ass

• ninny

• dolt

• booby

• Tom Noddy

• noddy

• nonny

• noodle

• owl

• goose

• imbecile

• nincompoop

• zany

• trifler

• babbler

• pretty fellow

• natural

• child

• baby

• infant

• innocent

• milksop

• sop

• oaf

• lout

• loon

• dullard

• doodle

• calf

• colt

• buzzard

• block

• put

• stick

• stock

• tony

• bull head

• dunderhead

• blockhead

• loggerhead

• beetlebrain

• muttonhead

• noodlehead

• numbskull

• dimwit

• halfwit

• lunkhead

• clod

• clod-hopper

• clod-poll

• clot-

• poll

• clot-pate

• bull calf

• gawk

• Gothamite

• lummox

• rube [U.S.]

• men of

• Boeotia

• wise men of Gotham

• sot

• changeling

• mooncalf

• dotard

• driveler

• old fogey

• old woman

• crock

• crone

• grandmother;

• incompetent (insanity) 503

• greenhorn

• dunce

• lubber

• 70

• madman

• one who will not set the Thames on fire

• one who did not invent

• gunpowder

• no conjuror

• Phr. fortuna favet fatuis[Lat]

• les fous font les festinas et les

• nomina stultorum parietibus harrent [Lat];

• stultorum plena sunt omnia [Lat][Cicero]

#502. Sanity. -- N. sanity

• soundness

• rationality

• sobriety

• lucidity

• lucid interval

• senses

• sober senses

• right mind

• sound mind

• mens sana[Lat]

• V. be sane

• retain one's senses

• retain one's reason

• become sane

• come to one's senses

• sober down

• render sane

• bring to one's senses

• sober

• Adj. sane

• rational

• reasonable

• compos mentis

• of sound mind

• sound

• sound-minded

• lucid

• self-possessed

• sober

• sober-minded

• in one's sober senses

• in one's right mind

• in possession of one's

• faculties

• Adv. sanely

#503. Insanity. -- N. disordered reason

• disordered intellect;

• diseased mind

• unsound mind

• abnormal mind

• derangement

• unsoundness;

• psychosis

• neurosis

• cognitive disorder

• insanity

• lunacy

• madness

• mania

• rabies

• furor

• mental

• alienation

• aberration

• paranoia

• schizophrenia

• dementia

• frenzy

• raving

• incoherence

• wandering

• delirium

• delusion

• hallucination

• brain storm|!

• vertigo

• dizziness

• swimming

• sunstroke

• fanaticism

• infatuation

• craze

• oddity

• eccentricity

• twist

• monomania

• (caprice) 60

• hypochondriasis

• 837[Med]

• melancholia

• depression

• clinical depression

• severe depression;

• hysteria

• screw loose

• tile loose

• slate loose

• bee in one's bonnet

• rats in the

• upper story

• dotage

• V. be insane

• become insane

• lose one's senses

• lose one's reason

• lose

• one's faculties

• lose one's wits

• go mad

• run mad

• lose one's marbles

• [coll.]

• go crazy

• go bonkers [coll.]

• flip one's wig [coll.]

• flip one's

• lid[coll.]

• flip out[coll.]

• flip one's bush [coll.]

• rave

• dote

• ramble

• wander

• drivel

• have a screw

• loose

• have a devil

• lose one's head

• render mad

• drive mad

• madden

• addle the

• wits

• addle the brain

• derange the head

• infatuate

• turn the

• brain

• turn one's head

• drive one nuts [coll.]

• Adj. insane

• mad

• lunatic

• loony[coll.]

• crazy

• crazed

• non compos mentis

• not right

• cracked

• touched

• bereft of reason

• all

• possessed

• unhinged

• unsettled in one's mind

• insensate

• reasonless

• beside

• oneself

• demented

• daft

• frenzied

• frenetic

• possessed

• possessed with a devil

• deranged

• maddened

• moonstruck

• mad-brained

• scatter brained

• shatter brained

• crackbrained

• touched

• tetched [dialect]

• off one's head

• [behavior suggesting insanity] maniacal

• delirious

• lightheaded

• incoherent

• rambling

• doting

• wandering

• frantic

• raving

• stark staring

• mad

• stark raving mad

• wild-eyed

• berserk

• delusional

• hallucinatory

• dithyrambic;

• rabid

• giddy

• vertiginous

• wild

• haggard

• mazed

• flighty

• distracted

• distraught

• depressed

• agitated

• hyped up

• bewildered

• mad as a March hare

• mad as a hatter

• of unsound mind

• touched

• in one's head

• wrong in one's head

• not right in one's head

• not in one's

• right mind

• not right in one's wits

• upper story

• out of one's mind

• out of

• one's wits

• out of one's skull [coll.]

• far gone

• out of one's senses

• out

• of one's wits

• not in one's right mind

• fanatical

• infatuated

• odd

• eccentric

• spaced out [coll.]

• imbecile

• silly

• Adv. like one possessed

• Phr. the mind having lost its balance

• the reason under a cloud

• tet

• ira furor brevis est[Latin]

• omnes

• stultos insanire [Latin][Horace]

#504. Madman. -- N. madman

• lunatic

• maniac

• candidate for Bedlam

• madcap

• crazy

• monomaniac

• dipsomaniac

• kleptomaniac

• hypochondriac

• (low spirits)

• crank

• Tom o'Bedlam

• dreamer

• rhapsodist

• seer

• enthusiast

• fanatic

• fanatico[Sp]

• knight errant

• Don Quixote

• idiot

#505. Memory.-- N. memory

• remembrance

• retention

• retentiveness;

• tenacity

• veteris vestigia flammae[Lat]

• tablets of the memory

• readiness

• reminiscence

• recognition

• recollection

• recurrence

• flashback

• retrospect

• retrospection

• afterthought

• post script

• PS

• suggestion

• prompting

• hint

• reminder;

• flapper

• memorial

• commemoration

• (celebration) 883

• [written reminder] note

• memo

• memorandum;

• things to be remembered

• token of remembrance

• memento

• souvenir

• keepsake

• relic

• memorabilia

• art of memory

• artificial memory

• memoria technica[Lat]

• mnemonics

• Mnemosyne

• prompt-book

• crib sheet

• cheat sheet

• retentive memory

• tenacious memory

• photographic memory

• green

• memory|!

• trustworthy memory

• capacious memory

• faithful memory

• correct

• memory

• exact memory

• ready memory

• prompt memory

• accurate recollection;

• perfect memory

• total recall

• celebrity

• fame

• renown

• reputation

• V. remember

• mind

• retain the memory of

• retain the remembrance of;

• keep in view

• recognize

• recollect

• bethink oneself

• recall

• call up

• retrace

• look

• back

• trace back

• trace backwards

• think back

• look back upon

• review

• call

• upon

• recall upon

• bring to mind

• bring to remembrance

• carry one's

• thoughts back

• rake up the past

• have in the thoughts

• hold in the thoughts

• bear in the thoughts

• carry in the thoughts

• keep in the thoughts

• retain in the thoughts

• have

• in the memory

• hold in the memory

• bear in the memory

• carry in the memory

• keep in the memory

• retain in the memory

• have in the mind

• hold in the

• mind

• bear in the mind

• carry in the mind

• keep in the mind

• retain in the

• mind

• hold in remembrance

• be in one's thoughts

• live in one's thoughts

• remain in one's thoughts

• dwell in one's thoughts

• haunt one's thoughts

• impress one's thoughts

• be in one's mind

• live in one's mind

• remain in

• one's mind

• dwell in one's mind

• haunt one's mind

• impress one's mind

• dwell in one's memory

• sink in the mind

• run in the head

• not be able to get out of one's

• head

• be deeply impressed with

• rankle

• recur to the mind

• flash on the mind

• flash across the memory

• [cause to remember] remind

• suggest

• prompt

• put in

• mind

• keep in mind

• bring to mind

• fan the embers

• call up

• summon up

• rip

• up

• renew

• infandum renovare dolorem [Lat]

• jog the memory

• flap the

• memory

• refresh the memory

• rub up the memory

• awaken the memory

• pull by

• the sleeve

• bring back to the memory

• put in remembrance

• memorialize

• task the memory

• tax the memory

• get at one's fingers' ends

• have at one's fingers'

• learn at one's

• fingers'

• know one's lesson

• say one's lesson

• repeat by heart

• repeat by

• rote

• say one's lesson

• repeat

• repeat as a parrot

• have at one's fingers'

• ends

• [transitive] commit to memory

• memorize

• con over

• con

• fix in the

• memory

• rivet in the memory

• imprint in the memory

• impress in the memory

• stamp in the memory

• grave in the memory

• engrave in the memory

• store in

• the memory

• treasure up in the memory

• bottle up in the memory

• embalm in

• the memory

• enshrine in the memory

• load the memory with

• store the memory

• with

• stuff the memory with

• burden the memory with

• redeem from oblivion

• keep the memory alive

• keep the wound green

• pour salt in the wound

• reopen old wounds'

• keep

• up the memory of

• commemorate

• make a note of

• jot a note

• pen a memorandum

• Adj. remembering

• remembered

• mindful

• retained in the memory

• pent up in one's memory

• fresh

• green

• green

• in remembrance

• unforgotten

• present to the mind

• within one's memory

• n

• indelible

• uppermost in one's thoughts

• memorable

• Adv. by heart

• by rote

• without book

• in memory of

• in memoriam

• memoria in aeterna[Lat]

• suggestive

• Phr. manet alta mente repostum [Lat][Vergil]

• forsan et haec olim

• meminisse juvabit [Lat][Vergil]

• absens haeres non erit [Lat]

• beatae

• memoriae [Lat]

• "briefly thyself remember" [Lear]

• mendacem memorem esse

• oportet [Lat][Quintilian]

• "memory the warder of the brain" [Macbeth];

• parsque est meminisse doloris [Lat][Ovid]

• "to live in hearts we leave

• behind is not to die" [Campbell]

• vox audita peril littera scripta manet

• [Lat]

• out of sight

• out of mind

#506. Oblivion.-- N. oblivion

• obliviousness

• lethe

• forgetfulness

• amnesia

• obliteration

• insensibility

• short memory

• treacherous memory

• poor memory

• loose memory

• slippery

• memory

• failing memory

• decay of memory

• failure of memory

• lapse of

• memory

• waters of Lethe

• waters of oblivion

• amnesty

• general pardon

• [deliberate or unconscious forgetting] repressed memory

• V. forget

• be forgetful

• fall into oblivion

• sink into

• oblivion

• have a short memory

• have no head

• forget one's own name

• have on the tip of one's tongue

• come in one

• ear and go out the other

• slip memory

• escape memory

• fade from memory

• die away from the

• memory

• lose

• lose sight of

• fail to recall

• not be able to recall

• [cause oneself to forget: transitive] unlearn

• efface

• discharge from the memory

• consign to oblivion

• consign to the tomb of the

• Capulets

• think no more of

• cast behind

• one's back

• wean one's thoughts from

• let bygones be bygones

• 918

• Adj. forgotten

• unremembered

• past recollection

• bygone

• out of

• mind

• buried in oblivion

• sunk in oblivion

• clean forgotten

• gone out of

• one's head

• gone out of one's recollection

• forgetful

• oblivious

• mindless

• Lethean

• insensible

• past

• heedless

• Phr. non mi ricordo[It]

• the memory failing

• the memory deserting one

• being at (or in) fault

#507. Expectation. -- N. expectation

• expectance

• expectancy;

• anticipation

• reckoning

• calculation

• foresight

• contemplation

• lookout

• prospect

• perspective

• horizon

• vista

• destiny

• suspense

• waiting

• abeyance

• curiosity

• anxious expectation

• ardent expectation

• eager expectation

• breathless expectation

• sanguine

• expectation

• torment of Tantalus

• hope

• trust

• auspices

• assurance

• confidence

• presumption

• reliance

• V. expect

• look for

• look out for

• look forward to

• hope for;

• anticipate

• have in prospect

• have in contemplation

• keep in view;

• contemplate

• promise oneself

• not wonder

• not wonder if

• wait for

• tarry for

• lie in wait for

• watch for

• bargain for

• keep a

• good lookout for

• keep a sharp lookout for

• await

• stand at "attention,"

• abide

• bide one's time

• watch

• foresee

• prepare for

• forestall

• count upon

• think likely

• lead one to expect

• have in store for

• 152

• prick up one's ears

• hold one's breath

• Adj. expectant

• expecting

• in expectation

• on the watch

• open-eyed

• open-mouthed

• in wide-eyed anticipation;

• agape

• gaping

• all agog

• on tenterhooks

• on tiptoe

• on the tiptoe of

• expectation

• ready

• curious

• looking forward to

• expected

• long expected

• foreseen

• in prospect

• prospective

• in one's eye

• in one's view

• in the horizon

• on the horizon

• just over the horizon

• just around the corner

• around the corner

• impending

• Adv. on the watch

• with breathless expectation

• with

• bated breath

• with rapt anticipation

• arrectis auribus[Lat]

• Phr. we shall see

• "expectation whirls me round"

• [Troilus and Cressida]

• the light at the end of the tunnel

• non-expectation

• false

• expectation

• miscalculation

• surprise

• sudden burst

• thunderclap

• blow

• shock

• start

• bolt out of

• the blue

• wonder

• eye opener

• unpleasant surprise

• pleasant surprise

• V. not expect

• be taken by surprise

• start

• miscalculate

• not bargain for

• come upon

• fall upon

• be unexpected

• come unawares

• turn up

• pop

• drop

• from the clouds

• come upon one

• burst upon one

• flash upon one

• bounce upon

• one

• steal upon one

• creep upon one

• come like a thunder clap

• burst like a

• thunderclap

• thunder bolt

• take by surprise

• catch by surprise

• catch

• unawares

• catch napping

• pounce upon

• spring a mine upon

• surprise

• startle

• take aback

• electrify

• stun

• stagger

• take away

• one's breath

• throw off one's guard

• astonish

• dumbfound

• wonder) 870

• surprised

• unwarned

• unaware

• off

• one's guard

• inattentive 458

• unexpected

• unanticipated

• unlooked for

• unforeseen

• unhoped for

• dropped from the clouds

• beyond expectation

• contrary to expectation

• against expectation

• against all expectation

• out

• of one's reckoning

• unheard of

• startling

• surprising;

• sudden

• unpredictable

• unforeseeable (unknowable) 519

• Adv. abruptly

• unexpectedly

• surprisingly

• plump

• pop

• a

• unawares

• without notice

• without warning

• without a "by

• your leave"

• like a thief in the night

• like a thunderbolt

• in an unguarded

• moment

• suddenly

• Phr. little did one think

• little did one expect

• nobody would ever

• suppose

• nobody would ever think

• nobody would ever expect

• who would have

• thought? it beats the Dutch|!

#509. [Failure of expectation.] Disappointment.-- N. disappointment;

• blighted hope

• balk

• blow

• anticlimax

• slip 'twixt cup and lip;

• nonfulfillment of one's hopes

• sad disappointment

• bitter disappointment;

• trick of fortune

• afterclap

• false expectation

• vain expectation;

• miscalculation

• fool's paradise

• much cry and little wool

• V. be disappointed

• look blank

• look blue

• look aghast

• stand aghast

• find to one's cost

• laugh on the wrong side of one's

• mouth

• find one a false prophet

• not realize one's hope

• not realize one's expectation

• [cause to be disappointed] disappoint

• frustrate

• discomfit

• crush

• defeat (failure)

• crush one's hope

• dash one's hope

• balk one's hope

• disappoint one's hope

• blight one's hope

• falsify one's hope

• defeat one's

• hope

• discourage

• balk

• jilt

• bilk

• play one false

• play a trick

• dash the

• cup from the lips

• tantalize

• dumfound

• dumbfound

• dumbfounder

• dumfounder

• (astonish) 870

• Adj. disappointed

• disconcerted

• aghast

• disgruntled

• out of

• one's reckoning

• Phr. the mountain labored and brought forth a mouse

• parturiunt

• montes[Lat]

• nascitur ridiculus mus [Lat][Horace]

• diis aliter

• the bubble burst

• one's countenance falling

#510. Foresight. -- N. foresight

• prevision

• long-

• sightedness

• anticipation

• providence

• forethought

• forecast

• foregone conclusion

• prudence

• foreknowledge

• prognosis

• precognition

• prescience

• presentiment

• second sight

• sagacity

• prospect

• foretaste

• prospectus

• V. foresee

• look forwards to

• look ahead

• look beyond

• scent from

• afar

• look into the future

• pry into the future

• peer into the future

• see one's way

• see how the land lies

• get the lay of the land

• see how

• the wind blows

• test the waters

• see how the cat jumps

• anticipate

• expect

• be beforehand

• predict

• 5

• foreknow

• forejudge

• forecast

• have an eye to the

• future

• have an eye to the main chance

• respicere finem[Lat]

• keep a sharp

• lookout

• forewarn

• Adj. foreseeing

• prescient

• farseeing

• farsighted

• sagacious

• provident

• prospective

• Adv. against the time when

• Phr. cernit omnia Deus vindex[Lat]

• mihi cura futuri[Lat]

• run it up

• the flagpole and see who salutes

#511. Prediction.-- N. prediction

• announcement

• program

• programme

• premonition

• prognosis

• prophecy

• vaticination

• prognostication

• premonstration|

• augury

• auguration|

• ariolation|

• hariolation|

• foreboding

• omniation|

• auspices

• forecast

• omen

• horoscope

• nativity

• soothsaying;

• fortune telling

• crystal gazing

• divination

• necromancy

• judicial

• prefigurement

• prototype

• type

• [person who predicts] oracle

• V. predict

• prognosticate

• prophesy

• vaticinate

• divine

• foretell

• soothsay

• tell fortunes

• cast a horoscope

• cast a nativity;

• advise

• forewarn

• presage

• augur

• bode

• abode

• forebode

• foretoken

• betoken

• prefigure

• portend

• foreshadow

• shadow forth

• typify

• signify

• point to

• usher in

• herald

• premise

• announce

• lower

• hold out expectation

• raise expectation

• excite expectation

• excite

• hope

• bid fair

• promise

• lead one to expect

• be the precursor

• [predict by mathematical or statistical means from past experience]

• extrapolate

• project

• Adj. predicting

• predictive

• prophetic

• vaticinal

• oracular

• haruspical

• Sibylline

• ominous

• portentous

• augurial

• augural;

• auspicious

• monitory

• premonitory

• significant of

• pregnant with

• bit with the fate of

• Phr. "coming events cast their shadows before" [Campbell]

• dicamus

• bona verba[Lat]

• "there buds the promise of celestial worth" [Young]

• [1] The following terms

• expressive of different forms of divination

• have been collected from various sources

• and are here given as a curious

• illustration of bygone superstitions:-

• Divination by oracles

• by the Bible

• Bibliomancy

• by

• ghosts

• by crystal gazing

• by

• shadows or manes

• Sciomancy

• by appearances in the air

• by the stars at birth

• Genethliacs

• by meteors

• by winds

• by sacrificial

• appearances

• by the entrails of animals sacrificed

• by the entrails of a human sacrifice

• by the entrails of fishes

• by

• sacrificial fire

• by red-hot iron

• by

• smoke from the altar

• by mice

• by birds

• by a cock picking up grains

• by fishes

• by

• herbs

• by water

• by fountains

• by a wand

• Rhabdomancy

• by dough of cakes

• by meal

• by salt

• by dice

• by arrows

• by

• a balanced hatchet

• by a balanced sieve

• by a suspended ring

• by dots made

• at random on paper

• by precious stones

• by pebbles

• by pebbles drawn from a heap

• by mirrors

• by writings in ashes

• by dreams

• by the hand

• Palmistry

• Chiromancy

• by nails reflecting the sun's rays

• by

• finger rings

• by numbers

• by drawing

• lots

• by passages in books

• by the

• letters forming the name of the person

• Nomancy

• by the

• features

• by the mode of laughing

• by

• ventriloquism

• by walking in a circle

• by dropping melted wax into water

• by currents

• Bletonism;

• by the color and peculiarities of wine

#512. Omen.-- N. omen

• portent

• presage

• prognostic

• augury

• auspice;

• sign

• harbinger

• yule candle|!

• bird of ill omen

• signs of the times

• gathering clouds

• warning

• 668

• prefigurement

• Adj. ill-boding

#513. Oracle.-- N. oracle

• prophet

• prophesier

• seer

• soothsayer

• augur

• fortune teller

• witch

• haruspex

• astrologer

• star

• Sibyl

• Python

• Pythia

• Pythian oracle

• Delphian oracle

• Monitor

• Sphinx

• Tiresias

• Sibylline

• leaves

• Zadkiel

• Old Moore

• sorcerer

• interpreter

• [person who predicts by non-mystical (natural) means] predictor

• prognosticator

• forecaster

• weather forecaster

• weatherman

• Phr. a prophet is without honor in his own country

• "you don't need a

• weatherman to know which way the wind blows" [Bob Dylan]

#514. Supposition.-- N. supposition

• assumption

• assumed position

• postulation

• condition

• presupposition

• hypothesis

• blue sky hypothesis

• postulate

• postulatum[Lat]

• theory

• thesis

• theorem

• data

• proposition

• position

• proposal

• presumption

• divination

• conjecture

• guess

• guesswork

• speculation

• rough guess

• shot

• shot in

• the dark [coll.]

• surmise

• suspicion

• sneaking

• suspicion

• estimate

• approximation (nearness) 197

• inkling

• suggestion

• hint

• intimation

• notion

• impression

• bare

• supposition

• vague supposition

• loose supposition

• loose suggestion

• association of ideas

• (analogy) 514a

• metonym[Gram]

• metonymy[Gram]

• simile (metaphor) 521

• conceit

• idea

• thought

• original idea

• invention (imagination) 515

• V. suppose

• conjecture

• surmise

• suspect

• guess

• divine

• theorize;

• presume

• presuppose

• assume

• fancy

• take it;

• give a guess

• speculate

• believe

• dare say

• take it into one's head

• take

• for granted

• imagine

• put forth

• propound

• propose

• start

• put a case

• submit

• move

• make a

• motion

• hazard out

• throw out a suggestion

• put forward a suggestion

• put

• forward conjecture

• allude to

• suggest

• hint

• put it into one's head

• suggest itself

• run in the head

• marvel if

• wonder if

• wonder whether

• Adj. supposing

• given

• mooted

• assumed

• v

• supposititious

• suppositious

• gratuitous

• speculative

• conjectural

• hypothetical

• theoretical

• academic

• supposable

• presumptive

• putative

• suppositional

• suggestive

• allusive

• Adv. if

• if so be

• an

• on the supposition

• in

• the case

• in the event of

• quasi

• as if

• provided

• perhaps

• possibility) 470

• for aught one knows

#514a. Analogy -- N. analogy

• association

• association of ideas

• metaphor

• analogical thinking

• free association

• train of thought

• Adj. analogical

#515. Imagination. -- N. imagination

• originality

• invention

• fancy;

• inspiration

• verve

• warm imagination

• heated imagination

• excited imagination

• sanguine

• imagination

• ardent imagination

• fiery imagination

• boiling imagination

• wild imagination

• bold imagination

• daring imagination

• playful

• imagination

• lively imagination

• fertile imagination

• fancy

• "mind's eye"

• "such stuff as dreams are made of" [Tempest]

• ideality

• idealism

• romanticism

• utopianism

• castle-building

• dreaming

• frenzy

• ecstasy

• calenture

• reverie

• trance

• day dream

• golden dream;

• somnambulism

• conception

• Vorstellung[Ger]

• "a fine frenzy";

• dreamland

• flight of fancy

• fumes of fancy

• "thick coming

• fancies" [Macbeth]

• creation of the brain

• coinage of the brain

• imagery

• conceit

• maggot

• figment

• myth

• dream

• vision

• shadow

• chimera;

• phantasm

• phantasy

• fantasy

• fancy

• whim

• whimsy

• vagary

• rhapsody

• romance

• extravaganza

• air drawn dagger

• bugbear

• nightmare

• flying Dutchman

• great sea serpent

• man in the moon

• castle in the

• air

• pipe dream

• pie-in-the-sky

• Utopia

• happy valley

• millennium

• fairyland

• land of Prester John

• kingdom of Micomicon

• work of fiction

• Arabian

• dream of Alnashar

• illusion

• phantom

• Fata

• Morgana

• vapor

• stretch of the

• imagination

• idealist

• romanticist

• visionary

• romancer

• dreamer;

• somnambulist

• rhapsodist

• castle-buildier

• fanciful

• projector

• V. imagine

• fancy

• conceive

• idealize

• realize

• dream

• dream of

• dream

• up

• "give to airy nothing a local habitation and a name" [Midsummer Night's

• Dream]

• create

• originate

• devise

• invent

• coin

• fabricate

• improvise

• strike

• out something new

• set one's wits to work

• strain one's invention

• crack one's invention;

• rack one's brains

• ransack one's brains

• cudgel one's brains;

• brainstorm

• give play

• give the reins

• give a loose to the imagination

• give

• fancy

• indulge in reverie

• visualize

• envision

• conjure up a vision

• fancy oneself

• represent

• oneself

• picture

• picture-oneself

• figure to oneself

• vorstellen[Ger]

• float in the mind

• suggest itself

• Adj. imagined

• ben trovato[It]

• air drawn

• imagining

• imaginative

• original

• inventive

• creative

• fertile

• romantic

• high flown

• flighty

• extravagant

• fanatic

• enthusiastic

• unrealistic

• Utopian

• Quixotic

• ideal

• unreal

• in the clouds

• in nubibus[Lat]

• illusory

• fabulous

• legendary

• mythical

• mythic

• mythological

• chimerical;

• imaginary

• visionary

• notional

• fancy

• fanciful

• fantastic

• whimsical

• fairy

• fairy-like

• Phr. "a change came o'er the spirit of my dream" [Byron]

• aegri somnia

• dolphinum appingit sylvis in fluctibus aprum

• "fancy light from fancy caught" [Tennyson];

• "imagination rules the world" [Napoleon]

• le

• musaeo contingens cuncta lepore

• [Latin][Lucretius]

• Wahrheil und

• Dichtung[German]

• DIVISION (II) COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS

#516. [Idea to be conveyed.] Meaning. [Thing signified.] -- N

• meaning

• signification

• significance

• sense

• expression

• import

• purport;

• force

• drift

• tenor

• spirit

• bearing

• coloring

• scope

• [important part of the meaning] substance

• gist

• essence

• marrow

• spirit

• matter

• subject

• subject matter

• argument

• text

• sum and substance

• general meaning

• broad meaning

• substantial meaning

• colloquial

• meaning

• literal meaning

• plain meaning

• simple meaning

• natural meaning

• unstrained meaning

• true

• honest

• prima facie

• letter of the law

• literally

• after acceptation

• synonym

• implication

• allusion

• suggestion

• (information) 5

• figure of speech

• acceptation

• (interpretation) 522

• V. mean

• signify

• express

• import

• purport

• convey

• imply

• breathe

• indicate

• bespeak

• bear a sense

• tell of

• speak of

• touch on

• point to

• allude to

• drive at

• involve

• declare

• understand by

• Adj. meaning

• expressive

• suggestive

• allusive

• significant

• pithy

• full of meaning

• pregnant

• with meaning

• declaratory

• intelligible

• literal

• synonymous;

• tantamount

• implied

• explicit

• Adv. to that effect

• that is to say

#517. [Absence of meaning.] Unmeaningness. -- N. meaninglessness

• unmeaningness

• scrabble

• empty sound

• dead letter

• vox et praeterea nihil[Lat]

• "a tale told by

• an idiot

• full of sound and fury

• signifying nothing"

• "sounding brass and

• a tinkling cymbal."

• nonsense

• utter nonsense

• gibberish

• jargon

• jabber

• mere words

• hocus-pocus

• fustian

• rant

• bombast

• balderdash

• palaver

• flummery

• verbiage

• babble

• baverdage

• platitude

• inanity

• flap-doodle

• rigmarole

• rodomontade

• truism

• nugae canorae[Lat];

• twaddle

• twattle

• fudge

• trash

• garbage

• humbug

• poppy-cock [U.S.]

• stuff

• stuff and nonsense

• bosh

• rubbish

• moonshine

• wish-wash

• fiddle-faddle;

• absurdity

• vagueness

• [routine or reflexive statements without substantive thought

• esp

• legal] boilerplate

• V. mean nothing

• be unmeaning

• twaddle

• quibble

• scrabble

• Adj. unmeaning

• meaningless

• senseless

• nonsensical

• void of sense

• 516

• inexpressive

• unexpressive

• vacant

• not significant

• insignificant

• trashy

• washy

• trumpery

• trivial

• fiddle-faddle

• twaddling

• quibbling

• unmeant

• not expressed

• tacit

• inexpressible

• undefinable

• incommunicable

#518. Intelligibility. -- N. intelligibility

• clearness

• explicitness

• lucidity

• comprehensibility

• perspicuity

• legibility

• plain

• speaking

• precision

•  

• synetoisy/gr>[Grk][Grk]

• a word to the wise

• V. be intelligible

• speak for itself

• speak volumes

• tell its

• own tale

• lie on the surface

• render intelligible

• popularize

• simplify

• clear up;

• elucidate

• understand

• comprehend

• take

• take in

• catch

• grasp

• follow

• collect

• master

• make out

• see with half an eye

• see daylight

• see one's way

• enter

• into the ideas of

• come to an understanding

• Adj. intelligible

• clear

• clear as day

• clear as noonday

• lucid;

• perspicuous

• luminous

• transparent

• easily understood

• easy to understand

• for the million

• intelligible

• to the meanest capacity

• popularized

• plain

• distinct

• explicit

• positive

• definite

• graphic

• expressive

• illustrative

• 522

• unambiguous

• unequivocal

• unmistakable

• unconfused;

• legible

• recognizable

• obvious

• Adv. in plain terms

• in plain words

• in plain English

• Phr. he that runs may read

#519. Unintelligibility.-- N. unintelligibility

• incomprehensibility

• inconceivableness

• vagueness

• obscurity;

• ambiguity

• doubtful meaning

• uncertainty

• perplexity

• (confusion) 5

• obscurum per obscurius[Lat]

• mystification

• latency

• transcendentalism

• paradox

• oxymoron

• riddle

• enigma

• puzzle

• diagnus

• vindice nodus[Lat]

• sealed book

• freemasonry

• pons asinorum[Lat]

• asses' bridge

• high Dutch

• Greek

• Hebrew

• jargon

• V. be unintelligible

• require explanation

• have a

• doubtful meaning

• pass comprehension

• render unintelligible

• conceal

• darken

• confuse

• perplex

• 475

• not understand

• lose

• lose the clue

• miss

• not know what to

• make of

• be able to make nothing of

• give it up

• not be able to account

• for

• not be able to make either head or tail of

• be at sea

• wonder

• see through a glass darkly

• not understand one another

• play at cross purposes

• 523

• Adj. unintelligible

• unaccountable

• undecipherable

• undiscoverable

• unknowable

• unfathomable

• inexplicable

• inscrutable;

• incomprehensible

• insoluble;

• impenetrable

• illegible

• as Greek to one

• unexplained

• paradoxical

• enigmatic

• enigmatical

• puzzling (secret) 5

• indecipherable

• obscure

• dark

• muddy

• clear as mud

• seen through a mist

• dim

• nebulous

• shrouded in mystery

• opaque

• dense

• undiscernible

• misty

• hidden

• latent

• 526

• indefinite

• garbled

• perplexed

• undetermined

• vague

• loose

• ambiguous

• mysterious

• mystic

• mystical;

• metempirical

• transcendental

• occult

• recondite

• abstruse

• crabbed

• inconceivable

• above

• comprehension

• beyond comprehension

• past comprehension

• beyond one's

• depth

• unconceived

• inexpressible

• undefinable

• incommunicable

• unpredictable

• unforeseeable

• Phr. it's Greek to me