English words and phrases

dictionary, vocabulary, lexicon, glossary; index, concordance; thesaurus; gradus [Lat.], delectus [Lat.].

etymology, derivation; glossology^†, terminology orismology^†; paleology &c (philology) 560 [Obs.].

lexicography; glossographer &c (scholar) 492; lexicologist, verbarian^†.

conjugate [Similarly derived], paronymous^†; derivative.

archaism, black letter, monkish Latin.

corruption, missaying^†, malapropism, antiphrasis^†.

pun, paranomasia^†, play upon words; word play &c (wit) 842; double-entendre &c (ambiguity) 520 [Fr.]; palindrome, paragram^†, anagram, clinch; abuse of language, abuse of terms.

dialect, brogue, idiom, accent, patois; provincialism, regionalism, localism; broken English, lingua franca; Anglicism, Briticism, Gallicism, Scotticism, Hibernicism; Americanism^†; Gypsy lingo, Romany; pidgin, pidgin English, pigeon English; Volapuk, Chinook, Esperanto, Hindustani, kitchen Kaffir.

dog Latin, macaronics^†, gibberish; confusion of tongues, Babel; babu English^†, chi-chi.

figure of speech &c (metaphor) 521; byword.

colloquialism, informal speech, informal language.

substandard language, vernacular.

vulgar language, obscene language, obscenity, vulgarity.

jargon, technical terms, technicality, lingo, slang, cant, argot; St.

Gile's Greek, thieves' Latin, peddler's French, flash tongue, Billingsgate, Wall Street slang.

pseudology^†.

pseudonym &c (misnomer) 565; Mr.

So-and-so; wha d'ye call 'em^†, whatchacallim, what's his name; thingummy^†, thingumbob; je ne sais quoi [Fr.].

neologist^†, coiner of words.

name; appelation^†, appelative^†; designation, title; heading, rubric; caption; denomination; by-name, epithet.

style, proper name; praenomen [Lat.], agnomen^†, cognomen; patronymic, surname; cognomination^†; eponym; compellation^†, description, antonym; empty title, empty name; handle to one's name; namesake.

term, expression, noun; byword; convertible terms &c 522; technical term; cant &c 563.

be called &c v.; take the name of, bean the name of, go by the name of, be known by the name of, go under the name of, pass under the name of, rejoice in the name of.

nuncupatory^†, nuncupative; cognominal^†, titular, nominal, orismological^†.

Malaprop; what d'ye call 'em &c (neologism) 563 [Obs.]; Hoosier.

nickname, sobriquet, by-name; assumed name, assumed title; alias; nom de course, nom de theatre, nom de guerre [Fr.], nom de plume; pseudonym, pseudonymy.

V. misname, miscall, misterm^†; nickname; assume a name.

Adj. misnamed &c v.; pseudonymous; soi-disant [Fr.]; self called, self styled, self christened; so-called.

nameless, anonymous; without a having no name; innominate, unnamed; unacknowledged.

paraphrase &c (synonym) 522; periphrase &c (circumlocution) 573; motto &c (proverb) 496 [Obs.].

phraseology &c 569.

V. express, phrase; word, word it; give words to, give expression to; voice; arrange in words, clothe in words, put into words, express by words; couch in terms; find words to express; speak by the card; call, denominate, designate, dub.

Adj. expressed &c v.; idiomatic.

Adv. in round terms, in set terms, in good set terms, set terms; in set phrases.
567. Grammar -- N. grammar, accidence, syntax, praxis, punctuation; parts of speech; jussive^†; syllabication; inflection, case, declension, conjugation; us et norma loquendi [Lat.]; Lindley Murray &c (schoolbook) 542; correct style, philology &c (language) 560.

V. parse, punctuate, syllabicate^†.
568. Solecism -- N. solecism; bad grammar, false grammar, faulty grammar; slip of the pen, slip of the tongue; lapsus linguae [Lat.]; slipslop^†; bull; barbarism, impropriety.

V. use bad grammar, faulty grammar; solecize^†, commit a solecism; murder the King's English, murder the Queen's English, break Priscian's head.

Adj. ungrammatical; incorrect, inaccurate; faulty; improper, incongruous; solecistic, solecistical^†.
569. Style -- N. style, diction, phraseology, wording; manner, strain; composition; mode of expression, choice of words; mode of speech, literary power, ready pen, pen of a ready writer; command of language &c (eloquence) 582; authorship; la morgue litteraire [Fr.].

V. express by words &c 566; write.

Phr. le style c'est de l'homme [Buffon]; style is the dress of thoughts [Chesterfield].

Various Qualities of Style

Polylogy^†, tautology, battology^†, perissology^†; pleonasm, exuberance, redundancy; thrice-told tale; prolixity; circumlocution, ambages^†; periphrase^†, periphrasis; roundabout phrases; episode; expletive; pennya-lining; richness &c 577.

maunder, prose; harp upon &c (repeat) 104; dwell on, insist upon.

digress, ramble, battre la campagne [Fr.], beat about the bush, perorate, spin a long yarn, protract; spin out, swell out, draw out; battologize^†.

Adj. diffuse, profuse; wordy, verbose, largiloquent^†, copious, exuberant, pleonastic, lengthy; longsome^†, long-winded, longspun^†, long drawn out; spun out, protracted, prolix, prosing, maundering; circumlocutory, periphrastic, ambagious^†, roundabout; digressive; discursive, excursive; loose; rambling episodic; flatulent, frothy.

Adv. diffusely &c adj.; at large, in extenso [Lat.]; about it and about it.
574. Vigor -- N. vigor, power, force; boldness, raciness &c adj.; intellectual, force; spirit, point, antithesis, piquance, piquancy; verve, glow, fire, warmth; strong language; gravity, sententiousness; elevation, loftiness, sublimity.

eloquence; command of words, command of language.

spirited, lively, glowing, sparkling, racy, bold, slashing; pungent, piquant, full of point, pointed, pithy, antithetical; sententious.

lofty, elevated, sublime; eloquent; vehement, petulant, impassioned; poetic.

Adv. in glowing terms, in good set terms, in no measured terms.

Phr. thoughts that breath and words that burn [Gray].
575. Feebleness -- N. feebleness &c adj..

Adj. feeble, bald, tame, meager, jejune, vapid, bland, trashy, lukewarm, cold, frigid, poor, dull, dry, languid; colorless, enervated; proposing, prosy, prosaic; unvaried, monotonous, weak, washy, wishy-washy; sketchy, slight.

careless, slovenly, loose, lax (negligent) 460; slipshod, slipslop^†; inexact; puerile, childish; flatulent; rambling &c (diffuse) 573.

dry, unvaried, monotonous &c 575.

inversion, antithesis, alliteration, paronomasia; figurativeness &c (metaphor) 521.

flourish; flowers of speech, flowers of rhetoric; frills of style, euphuism^†, euphemism.

big-sounding words, high-sounding words; macrology^†, sesquipedalia verba [Lat.], Alexandrine; inflation, pretension; rant, bombast, fustian, prose run mad; fine writing; sesquipedality^†; Minerva press.

phrasemonger; euphuist^†, euphemist.

V. ornament, overlay with ornament, overcharge; smell of the lamp.

Adj. ornament &c v.; beautified &c 847; ornate, florid, rich, flowery; euphuistic^†, euphemistic; sonorous; high-sounding, big-sounding; inflated, swelling, tumid; turgid, turgescent; pedantic, pompous, stilted; orotund; high flown, high flowing; sententious, rhetorical, declamatory; grandiose; grandiloquent, magniloquent, altiloquent^†; sesquipedal^†, sesquipedalian; Johnsonian, mouthy; bombastic; fustian; frothy, flashy, flaming.

antithetical, alliterative; figurative &c 521; artificial &c (inelegant) 579.

well rounded periods, well turned periods, flowing periods; the right word in the right place; antithesis &c 577.

purist [Slang].

V. point an antithesis, round a period.

Adj. elegant, polished, classical, Attic, correct, Ciceronian, artistic; chaste, pure, Saxon, academical^†.

graceful, easy, readable, fluent, flowing, tripping; unaffected, natural, unlabored^†; mellifluous; euphonious, euphemism, euphemistic; numerose^†, rhythmical.

felicitous, happy, neat; well put, neatly put, well expressed, neatly expressed
579. Inelegance -- N. inelegance; stiffness &c adj.; unlettered Muse [Gray]; barbarism; slang &c 563; solecism &c 568; mannerism &c (affectation) 855; euphuism^†; fustian &c 577; cacophony; words that break the teeth, words that dislocate the jaw; marinism^†.

V. be inelegant &c adj..

Adj. inelegant, graceless, ungraceful; harsh, abrupt; dry, stiff, cramped, formal, guinde [Fr.]; forced, labored; artificial, mannered, ponderous; awkward, uncourtly^†, unpolished; turgid &c 577; affected, euphuistic^†; barbarous, uncouth, grotesque, rude, crude, halting; offensive to ears polite.

2. Spoken Language

580. Voice -- N. voice; vocality^†; organ, lungs, bellows; good voice, fine voice, powerful voice &c (loud) 404; musical voice &c 413; intonation; tone of voice &c (sound) 402.

vocalization; cry &c 411; strain, utterance, prolation^†; exclamation, ejaculation, vociferation, ecphonesis^†; enunciation, articulation; articulate sound, distinctness; clearness, of articulation; stage whisper; delivery.

accent, accentuation; emphasis, stress; broad accent, strong accent, pure accent, native accent, foreign accent; pronunciation.

[Word similarly pronounced] homonym.

orthoepy^†; cacoepy^†; euphony &c (melody) 413.

gastriloquism^†, ventriloquism; ventriloquist; polyphonism^†, polyphonist^†.

[Science of voice] phonology &c (sound) 402.

V. utter, breathe; give utterance, give tongue; cry &c (shout) 411; ejaculate, rap out; vocalize, prolate^†, articulate, enunciate, pronounce, accentuate, aspirate, deliver, mouth; whisper in the ear.

Adj. vocal, phonetic, oral; ejaculatory, articulate, distinct, stertorous; euphonious &c (melodious) 413.

Phr. how sweetly sounds the voice of a good woman [Massinger]; the organ of the soul [Longfellow]; thy voice is a celestial melody [Longfellow].
581. Aphony -- N. aphony^†, aphonia^†; dumbness &c adj.; obmutescence^†; absence of voice, want of voice; dysphony^†; cacoepy^†; silence &c (taciturnity) 585; raucity^†; harsh voice &c 410, unmusical voice &c 414; falsetto, childish treble mute; dummy.

V. keep silence &c 585; speak low, speak softly; whisper &c (faintness) 405.

silence; render mute, render silent; muzzle, muffle, suppress, smother, gag, strike dumb, dumfounder; drown the voice, put to silence, stop one's mouth, cut one short.

stick in the throat.

Adj. aphonous^†, dumb, mute; deafmute, deaf and dumb; mum; tongue-tied; breathless, tongueless, voiceless, speechless, wordless; mute as a fish, mute as a stockfish^†, mute as a mackerel; silent &c (taciturn) 585; muzzled; inarticulate, inaudible.

croaking, raucous, hoarse, husky, dry, hollow, sepulchral, hoarse as a raven; rough.

oration, recitation, delivery, say, speech, lecture, harangue, sermon, tirade, formal speech, peroration; speechifying; soliloquy &c 589; allocution &c 586; conversation &c 588; salutatory : screed: valedictory [U.S.].

oratory; elocution, eloquence; rhetoric, declamation; grandiloquence, multiloquence^†; burst of eloquence; facundity^†; flow of words, command of words, command of language; copia verborum [Lat.]; power of speech, gift of the gab; usus loquendi [Lat.].

speaker &c v.; spokesman; prolocutor, interlocutor; mouthpiece, Hermes; orator, oratrix^†, oratress^†; Demosthenes, Cicero; rhetorician; stump orator, platform orator; speechmaker, patterer^†, improvisatore^†.

break silence; open one's lips, open one's mouth; lift one's voice, raise one's voice; give the tongue, wag the tongue; talk, outspeak^†; put in a word or two, hold forth; make a speech, deliver a speech &c n.; speechify, harangue, declaim, stump, flourish, recite, lecture, sermonize, discourse, be on one's legs; have one's say, say one's say; spout, rant, rave, vent one's fury, vent one's rage; expatiate &c (speak at length) 573; speak one's mind, go on the stump, take the stump [U.S.].

soliloquize &c 589; tell &c (inform) 527; speak to &c 586; talk together &c 588.

be eloquent &c adj.; have a tongue in one's head, have the gift of the gab &c n.. pass one's lips, escape one's lips; fall from the lips, fall from the mouth.

Eliot]; to try thy eloquence now 'tis time [Antony and Cleopatra].

brogue &c 563; slip of the tongue, lapsus linouae [Lat.].

mumble, mutter; maud^†, mauder^†; whisper &c 405; mince, lisp; jabber, gibber; sputter, splutter; muffle, mump^†; drawl, mouth; croak; speak thick, speak through the nose; snuffle, clip one's words; murder the language, murder the King's English, murder the Queen's English; mispronounce, missay^†.

jaw; gabble; jabber, chatter; prate, prattle, cackle, clack; twaddle, twattle, rattle; caquet^†, caquetterie [Fr.]; blabber, bavardage^†, bibble-babble^†, gibble-gabble^†; small talk &c (converse) 588.

fluency, flippancy, volubility, flowing, tongue; flow of words; flux de bouche [Fr.], flux de mots [Fr.]; copia verborum [Lat.], cacoethes loquendi [Lat.]; furor loquendi [Lat.]; verbosity &c (diffuseness) 573; gift of the gab &c (eloquence) 582.

talker; chatterer, chatterbox; babbler &c v.; rattle; ranter; sermonizer, proser^†, driveler; blatherskite [U.S.]; gossip &c (converse) 588; magpie, jay, parrot, poll, Babel; moulin a paroles [Fr.].

fluent, voluble, glib, flippant; long tongued, long winded &c (diffuse) 573.

man of few words.

&c 582; say nothing, keep one's counsel; seal the lips, close the lips, button the lips, zipper the lips, put a padlock on the lips, put a padlock on the mouth; put a bridle on one's tongue; bite one's tongue, keep one's tongue between one's teeth; make no sign, not let a word escape one; keep a secret &c 528; not have a word to say; hush up, hush, lay the finger on the lips, place the finger on the lips; render mute &c 581.

stick in one's throat.