English words and phrases

miss, miss one's aim, miss the mark, miss one's footing, miss stays; slip, trip, stumble; make a slip &c n.. blunder &c 495, make a mess of, make a botch of; bitch it^†, miscarry, abort, go up like a rocket and come down like the stick, come down in flames, get shot down, reckon without one's host; get the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong sow by the ear &c (blunder), )mismanage) 699.

limp, halt, hobble, titubate^†; fall, tumble; lose one's balance; fall to the ground, fall between two stools; flounder, falter, stick in the mud, run aground, split upon a rock; beat one's head against a stone wall, run one's head against a stone wall, knock one's head against a stone wall, dash one's head against a stone wall; break one's back; break down, sink, drown, founder, have the ground cut from under one; get into trouble, get into a mess, get into a scrape; come to grief &c (adversity) 735; go to the wall, go to the dogs, go to pot; lick the dust, bite the dust; be defeated &c 731; have the worst of it, lose the day, come off second best, lose; fall a prey to; succumb &c (submit) 725; not have a leg to stand on.

come to nothing, end in smoke; flat out^†; fall to the ground, fall through, fall dead, fall stillborn, fall flat; slip through one's fingers; hang fire, miss fire; flash in the pan, collapse; topple down &c (descent) 305; go to wrack and ruin &c (destruction) 162.

go amiss, go wrong, go cross, go hard with, go on a wrong tack; go on ill, come off ill, turn out ill, work ill; take a wrong term, take an ugly term; take an ugly turn, take a turn for the worse.

be all over with, be all up with; explode; dash one's hopes &c (disappoint) 509; defeat the purpose; sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, go from the frying pan into the fire.

abortive, addle, stillborn; fruitless, bootless; ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory; inefficient &c (impotent) 158; insufficient &c 640; unavailing &c (useless) 645; of no effect.

aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited^†; foiled; defeated &c 731; struck down, borne down, broken down; downtrodden; overborne, overwhelmed; all up with; ploughed, plowed, plucked.

lost, undone, ruined, broken; bankrupt &c (not paying) 808; played out; done up, done for; dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe^†, knocked on the head; destroyed &c 162.

frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed; thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends^†; unhorsed, in a sorry plight; hard hit.

stultified, befooled^†, dished, hoist on one's own petard; victimized, sacrificed.

wide of the mark &c (error) 495; out of one's reckoning &c (inexpectation) 508 [Obs.]; left in the lurch; thrown away &c (wasted) 638; unattained; uncompleted &c 730.

Adv. unsuccessfully &c adj.; to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta [Lat.].

Phr. the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up [Cymbeline]; all is lost; the devil to pay; parturiunt montes &c (disappointment) 509 [Lat.]; dies infaustus [Lat.]; tout est perdu hors l'honneur [Fr.].
733. Trophy -- N. trophy; medal, prize, palm, award; laurel, laurels; bays, crown, chaplet, wreath, civic crown; insignia &c 550; feather in one's cap &c (honor) 873; decoration &c 877; garland, triumphal arch, Victoria Cross, Iron Cross.

triumph &c (celebration) 883; flying colors &c (show) 882.

monumentum aere perennius [Horace].

Phr. for valor
734. Prosperity -- N. prosperity, welfare, well-being; affluence &c (wealth) 803; success &c 731; thrift, roaring trade; good fortune, smiles of fortune; blessings, godsend.

luck; good luck, run of luck; sunshine; fair weather, fair wind; palmy days, bright days, halcyon days; piping times, tide, flood, high tide.

Saturnia regna [Lat.], Saturnian age; golden time, golden age; bed of roses, fat city [Coll.]; fat of the land, milk and honey, loaves and fishes.

made man, lucky dog, enfant gate [Fr.], spoiled child of fortune.

upstart, parvenu, skipjack^†, mushroom.

V. prosper, thrive, flourish; be prosperous &c adj.; drive a roaring trade, do a booming business; go on well, go on smoothly, go on swimmingly; sail before the wind, swim with the tide; run smooth, run smoothly, run on all fours.

rise in the world, get on in the world; work one's way, make one's way; look up; lift one's head, raise one's head, make one's fortune, feather one's nest, make one's pile.

flower, blow, blossom, bloom, fructify, bear fruit, fatten.

keep oneself afloat; keep one's head above water, hold one's head above water; land on one's feet, light on one's feet, light on one's legs, fall on one's legs, fall on one's feet; drop into a good thing; bear a charmed life; bask in the sunshine; have a good time of it, have a fine time of it; have a run of luck; have the good fortune &c n.. to; take a favorable turn; live on the fat of the land, live off the fat of the land, live in clover.

auspicious, propitious, providential.

palmy, halcyon; agreeable &c 829; couleur de rose [Fr.].

Adv. prosperously &c adj.; swimmingly; as good luck would have it; beyond all hope.

Phr. one's star in the ascendant, all for the best, one's course runs smooth.

chacun est l'artisan de sa fortune [Fr.]; donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos [Lat.] [Ovid]; felicitas multos habet amicos [Lat.]; felix se nescit amari [Lat.] [Lucan]; good luck go with thee [Henry V]; nulli est homini perpetuum bonum [Lat.] [Plautus].

trouble, hardship, curse, blight, blast, load, pressure.

pressure of the times, iron age, evil day, time out of joint; hard times, bad times, sad times; rainy day, cloud, dark cloud, gathering clouds, ill wind; visitation, infliction; affliction &c (painfulness) 830; bitter pill; care, trial; the sport of fortune.

mishap, mischance, misadventure, misfortune; disaster, calamity, catastrophe; accident, casualty, cross, reverse, check, contretemps, rub; backset^†, comedown, setback [U.S.].

losing game; falling &c v.; fall, downfall; ruination, ruinousness; undoing; extremity; ruin &c (destruction) 162.

V. be ill off &c adj.; go hard with; fall on evil, fall on evil days; go on ill; not prosper &c 734.

go downhill, go to rack and ruin &c (destruction) 162, go to the dogs; fall, fall from one's high estate; decay, sink, decline, go down in the world; have seen better days; bring down one's gray hairs with sorrow to the grave; come to grief; be all over, be up with; bring a wasp's nest about one's ears, bring a hornet's nest about one's ears.

planet-struck, devoted; born under an evil star, born with a wooden ladle in one's mouth; ill-fated, ill-starred, ill-omened.

adverse, untoward; disastrous, calamitous, ruinous, dire, deplorable.
736. Mediocrity -- N. moderate circumstances, average circumstances; respectability; middle classes; mediocrity; golden mean &c (mid-course) 628, (moderation) 174.

V. jog on; go fairly, go quietly, go peaceably, go tolerably, go respectably, get on fairly, get on quietly, get on peaceably, get on tolerably, get on respectably.

DIVISION II

INTERSOCIAL VOLITION
SECTION I.

GENERAL INTERSOCIAL VOLITION

divine right, dynastic rights, authoritativeness; absoluteness, absolutism; despotism; jus nocendi [Lat.]; jus divinum [Lat.].

mastery, mastership, masterdom^†; dictation, control.

hold, grasp; grip, gripe; reach; iron sway &c (severity) 739; fangs, clutches, talons; rod of empire &c (scepter) 747.

be at the head of &c adj.; hold office, be in office, fill an office; hold master, occupy master, a post master, be master &c 745.

have the upper hand, get the upper hand, have the whip, get the whip; gain a hold upon, preponderate, dominate, rule the roost; boss [U.S.]; override, overrule, overawe; lord it over, hold in hand, keep under, make a puppet of, lead by the nose, turn round one's little finger, bend to one's will, hold one's own, wear the breeches; have the ball at one's feet, have it all one's own way, have the game in one's own hand, have on the hip, have under one's thumb; be master of the situation; take the lead, play first fiddle, set the fashion; give the law to; carry with a high hand; lay down the law; ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm [Addison]; rule with a rod of iron &c (severity) 739.

Adj. at the head, dominant, paramount, supreme, predominant, preponderant, in the ascendant, influential; arbitrary; compulsory &c 744; stringent.

at one's command; in one's power, in one's grasp; under control.

at one's pleasure; by a dash if the pen, by a stroke of the pen; ex mero motu [Lat.]; ex cathedra [Lat.], from the chair.

780,
737a. Government -- N. government, legal authority, soveriegn, sovereign authority; authority &c 737; master &c 745; direction &c 693.

command, empire, sway, rule; dominion, domination; sovereignty, supremacy, suzerainty; lordship, headship^†; chiefdom^†; seigniory, seigniority^†.

rule, sway, command, control, administer; govern &c (direct) 693; lead, preside over, reign, possess the throne, be seated on the throne, occupy the throne; sway the scepter, wield the scepter; wear the crown.

state, realm, body politic, posse comitatus [Lat.].

reign, regime, dynasty; directorship, dictatorship; protectorate, protectorship; caliphate, pashalic^†, electorate; presidency, presidentship^†; administration; proconsul, consulship; prefecture; seneschalship; magistrature^†, magistracy.

monarchy; kinghood^†, kingship; royalty, regality; aristarchy^†, aristocracy; oligarchy, democracy, theocracy, demagogy; commonwealth; dominion; heteronomy; republic, republicanism; socialism; collectivism; mob law, mobocracy^†, ochlocracy^†; vox populi, imperium in imperio [Lat.]; bureaucracy; beadledom^†, bumbledom^†; stratocracy; military power, military government, junta; feodality^†, feudal system, feudalism.

thearchy^†, theocracy, dinarchy^†; duarchy^†, triarchy, heterarchy^†; duumvirate; triumvirate; autocracy, autonomy; limited monarchy; constitutional government, constitutional monarchy; home rule; representative government; monocracy^†, pantisocracy^†.

gynarchy^†, gynocracy^†, gynaeocracy^†; petticoat government.

[government functions] legislature, judiciary, administration.

[Government agencies and institutions] office of the president, office of the prime minister, cabinet; senate, house of representatives, parliament; council &c 696; courts, supreme court; [U.S. national government departments], state, interior, labor, health and human services, defense, education, agriculture, justice, commerce, treasury; Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI; Central Intelligence Agency, CIA; National Institutes of Health, NIH; Postal Service, Post Office; Federal Aviation Administration, FAA.

[national government officials] president, vice president, cabinet member, prime minister, minister; senator, representatative, president pro tem [Lat.], speaker of the house; department head, section head, section chief; federal judge, justice, justice of the supreme court, chief justice; treasurer, secretary of the treasury; director of the FBI.

[state government officials] governor, state cabinet member; state senator, assemblyman, assemblywoman.

V. govern, rule, have authority, hold authority, possess authority, exercise authority, exert authority, wield authority &c n.; reign, be sovereign.

[acquire authority] ascend the throne, mount the throne; take the reins, take the reins into one's hand; assume authority &c n., assume the reins of government; take command, assume command.

[contend for authority] politics &c 737.1.

be governed by, be in the power of, be a subject of, be a citizen of.

ruling &c v.; regnant, gubernatorial; imperious; authoritative, executive, administrative, clothed with authority, official, departmental, ex officio, imperative, peremptory, overruling, absolute; hegemonic, hegemonical^†; authorized &c (due) 924.

election, poll, ballot, vote, referendum, recall, initiative, voice, suffrage, plumper, cumulative vote, plebiscitum [Lat.], plebiscite, vox populi; electioneering; voting &c v.; elective franchise; straight ticket [U.S.]; opinion poll, popularity poll.

issue; opinion, stand, position; program, platform; party line.

[ideologies] democracy, republicanism; communism, statism, state socialism; socialism; conservatism, toryism; liberalism, whigism; theocracy; constitutional monarchy.

[political parties] party &c 712; [U.S: Political parties list], Democratic Party, Republican Party, Socialist Party; Communist Party; [U.S. defunct parties: list], Federalist Party, Bull Moose Party, Abolitionist Party; [Germany: list], Christian Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party; National Socialist Worker's Party; [Germany, 1930-1945], Nazi Party; [Great Britain:list], Liberal Party, Labor Party, Conservative Party.

ticket, slate.

political contribution, campaign contribution; political action committee, PAC.

political district, electoral division, electoral district, bailiwick.

electorate, constituents.

get-out-the-vote campaign, political education.

negative campaigning, dirty politics, smear campaign.

anarchy, interregnum; relaxation; loosening &c v.; remission; dead letter, brutum fulmen [Lat.], misrule; license, licentiousness; insubordination &c (disobedience) 742; lynch law &c (illegality) 964; nihilism, reign of violence.

go beyond the length of one's tether; have one's swing, have one's fling; act without instructions, act without authority, act outside of one's authority; act on one's own responsibility, usurp authority.

dethrone, depose; abdicate.

Adj. lax, loose; slack; remiss &c (careless) 460; weak.

relaxed; licensed; reinless^†, unbridled; anarchical; unauthorized &c (unwarranted) 925; adespotic^†.

arbitrary power; absolutism, despotism; dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering, oppression; assumption, usurpation; inquisition, reign of terror, martial law; iron heel, iron rule, iron hand, iron sway; tight grasp; brute force, brute strength; coercion &c 744; strong hand, tight hand.

hard lines, hard measure; tender mercies [Iron.]; sharp practice; pipe-clay, officialism.

tyrant, disciplinarian, precisian^†, martinet, stickler, bashaw^†, despot, hard master, Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture; accipitres^†, birds of prey, raptorials^†, raptors^†.

at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet.

indulge, allow one to have his own way, spoil.

despatch, dispatch; message, direction, injunction, charge, instructions; appointment, fixture.

demand, exaction, imposition, requisition, claim, reclamation, revendication^†; ultimatum &c (terms) 770; request &c 765; requirement.

dictation; dictate, mandate; caveat, decree, senatus consultum [Lat.]; precept; prescript, rescript; writ, ordination, bull, ex cathedra pronouncement [Lat.], edict, decretal^†, dispensation, prescription, brevet, placit^†, ukase, ukaz [Rus.], firman, hatti-sherif^†, warrant, passport, mittimus, mandamus, summons, subpoena, nisi prius [Lat.], interpellation, citation; word, word of command; mot d'ordre [Fr.]; bugle call, trumpet call; beat of drum, tattoo; order of the day; enactment &c (law) 963; plebiscite &c (choice) 609.