English words and phrases

recreate, solace, cheer, rejoice; please &c 829; interest; treat, regale.

amuse oneself, game; play a game, play pranks, play tricks; sport, disport, toy, wanton, revel, junket, feast, carouse, banquet, make merry, drown care; drive dull care away; frolic, gambol, frisk, romp; caper; dance &c (leap) 309; keep up the ball; run a rig, sow one's wild oats, have one's fling, take one's pleasure; paint the town red [Slang]; see life; desipere in loco [Lat.], play the fool.

make holiday, keep holiday; go a Maying.

while away the time, beguile the time; kill time, dally.

smile, simper, smirk; grin, grin like a Cheshire cat; mock, laugh in one's sleeve; laugh, laugh outright; giggle, titter, snigger, crow, snicker, chuckle, cackle; burst out, burst into a fit of laughter; shout, split, roar.

shake one's sides, split one's sides, hold both one's sides; roar with laughter, die with laughter.

Adj. amusing, entertaining, diverting &c v.; recreational, recreative, lusory^†; pleasant &c (pleasing) 829; laughable &c (ludicrous) 853; witty &c 842; fun, festive, festal; jovial, jolly, jocund, roguish, rompish^†; playful, playful as a kitten; sportive, ludibrious^†.

funny; very funny, hilarious, uproarious, side-splitting.

amused &c v.; pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw [Pope]; laughing &c v.; risible; ready to burst, ready to split, ready to die with laughter; convulsed with laughter, rolling in the aisles.

Adv. on the light fantastic toe [Milton], at play, in sport.

Int. vive la bagatelle! [Fr.], vogue la galere! [Fr.],

Phr. deus nobis haec otia fecit [Lat.]; dum vivimus vivamus [Lat.]; dulce est desipere in loco [Lat.] [Horace]; (every room) hath blazed with lights and brayed with minstrelsy [Timon of Athens]; misce stullitiam consiliis brevem [Lat.] [Horace].
841. Weariness -- N. weariness, defatigation^†; lassitude &c (fatigue) 688; drowsiness &c 683.

disgust, nausea, loathing, sickness; satiety &c 869; taedium vitae &c (dejection) 837; boredom, ennui.

wearisomeness, tediousness &c adj.; dull work, tedium, monotony, twice-told tale.

bore, buttonholer, proser^†, wet blanket; pill [Slang], stiff [Slang]; heavy hours, the enemy (time).

pall, sicken, nauseate, disgust.

harp on the same string; drag its slow length along, drag its weary length along.

never hear the last of; be tired of, be sick of, be tired with &c adj.; yawn; die with ennui.

disgusting &c v.; unenjoyed^†.

weary, tired &c v.; drowsy &c (sleepy) 683; uninterested, flagging, used up, worn out, blase, life-weary, weary of life; sick of.

Adv. wearily &c adj.; usque ad nauseam [Lat.].

Phr. time hanging heavily on one's hands; toujours perdrix [Fr.]; crambe repetita [Lat.].
842. Wit -- N. wit, humor, wittiness; sense of humor; attic wit, attic salt; atticism^†; salt, esprit, point, fancy, whim, drollery, pleasantry.

farce, buffoonery, fooling, tomfoolery; shenanigan [U.S.], harlequinade &c 599 [Obs.]; broad farce, broad humor; fun, espieglerie [Fr.]; vis comica [Lat.].

jocularity; jocosity, jocoseness^†; facetiousness; waggery, waggishness; whimsicality; comicality &c 853.

banter, badinage, retort, repartee, smartness, ready wit, quid-pro-quo; ridicule &c 856.

jest, joke, jape, jibe; facetiae [Lat.], levity, quips and cranks; capital joke; canorae nugae [Lat.]; standing jest, standing joke, private joke, conceit, quip, quirk, crank, quiddity, concetto^†, plaisanterie [Fr.], brilliant idea; merry thought, bright thought, happy thought; sally; flash of wit, flash of merriment; scintillation; mot [Fr.], mot pour rire [Fr.]; witticism, smart saying, bon-mot, jeu d'esprit [Fr.], epigram; jest book; dry joke, quodlibet, cream of the jest.

word-play, jeu de mots [Fr.]; play of words, play upon words; pun, punning; double entente, double entendre &c (ambiguity) 520 [Fr.]; quibble, verbal quibble; conundrum &c (riddle) 533; anagram, acrostic, double acrostic, trifling, idle conceit, turlupinade^†.

old joke, tired joke, flat joke, Joe Miller^†.

V. joke, jest, crack a joke, make a joke, jape, cut jokes; perpetrate a joke; pun, perpetrate a pun; make fun of, make merry with; kid, kid around, fool around; set the table in a roar &c (amuse) 840.

retort; banter &c (ridicule) 856; ridentem dicere verum [Lat.]; joke at one's expense.

take in jest.

[make a joke which is not funny] bomb, fall flat; go over like a lead balloon.

Adj. witty, attic; quick-witted, nimble-witted; smart; jocular, jocose, humorous; facetious, waggish, whimsical; kidding, joking, puckish; playful &c 840; merry and wise; pleasant, sprightly, light, spirituel^†, sparkling, epigrammatic, full of point, ben trovato [It]; comic &c 853.

zany, madcap.

funny, amusing &c (amusement) 840.

Adv. jokingly, in joke, in jest, in sport, in play.

Phr. adhibenda est in jocando moderatio [Lat.]; gentle dullness ever loves a joke [Pope]; leave this keen encounter of our wits [Richard III]; just joking, just kidding; surely you jest!.
843. Dullness -- N. dullness, heaviness, flatness; infestivity^† &c 837, stupidity &c 499; want of originality; dearth of ideas.

prose, matter of fact; heavy book, conte a dormir debout [Fr.]; platitude.

render dull &c adj.; damp, depress, throw cold water on, lay a wet blanket on; fall flat upon the ear.

no joke, serious matter (importance) 642.

Adj. dull, dull as ditch water; unentertaining, uninteresting, flat, dry as dust; unfunny, unlively^†, logy [U.S.]; unimaginative; insulse^†; dry as dust; prosy, prosing, prosaic; matter of fact, commonplace, pedestrian, pointless; weary stale flat and unprofitable [Hamlet].

stupid, slow, flat, insipid, vapid, humdrum, monotonous; melancholic &c 837; stolid &c 499; plodding.

boring, tiresome, tedious &c 841.

Phr. davus sum non Aedipus^†; deadly dull and boring, DDB.
844. Humorist -- N. humorist, wag, wit, reparteeist^†, epigrammatist, punster; bel esprit, life of the party; wit-snapper, wit-cracker, wit-worm; joker, jester, Joe Miller^†, drole de corps^†, gaillard^†, spark; bon diable [Fr.]; practical joker.

buffoon, farceur [Fr.], merry-andrew, mime, tumbler, acrobat, mountebank, charlatan, posturemaster^†, harlequin, punch, pulcinella^†, scaramouch^†, clown; wearer of the cap and bells, wearer of the motley; motley fool; pantaloon, gypsy; jack-pudding, jack in the green, jack a dandy; wiseacre, wise guy, smartass [Coll.]; fool &c 501.

zany, madcap; pickle-herring, witling^†, caricaturist, grimacier^†; persifleur^†.
2. DISCRIMINATIVE AFFECTIONS
845. Beauty -- N. beauty, the beautiful, to kalon [Gr.], le beau ideal.

[Science of the perception of beauty] aesthetics, callaesthetics^†.

[-beauty of people] pulchritude, form, elegance, grace, beauty unadorned, natural beauty; symmetry &c 242; comeliness, fairness &c adj.; polish, gloss; good effect, good looks; belle tournure^†; trigness^†; bloom, brilliancy, radiance, splendor, gorgeousness, magnificence; sublimity, sublimification^†.

concinnity^†, delicacy, refinement; charm, je ne sais quoi [Fr.], style.

Venus, Aphrodite^†, Hebe, the Graces, Peri, Houri, Cupid, Apollo^†, Hyperion, Adonis^†, Antionous^†, Narcissus.

peacock, butterfly; garden; flower of, pink of; bijou; jewel &c (ornament) 847; work of art.

flower, flow'ret gay^†; [flowers: list] wildflower; rose, lily, anemone, asphodel, buttercup, crane's bill, daffodil, tulip, tiger lily, day lily, begonia, marigold, geranium, lily of the valley, ranunculus, rhododendron, windflower.

pleasurableness &c 829.

beautifying; landscaping, landscape gardening; decoration &c 847; calisthenics^†.

[person who is beautiful] beauty; hunk (of men).

V. be beautiful &c adj.; shine, beam, bloom; become one &c (accord) 23; set off, grace.

render beautiful &c adj.; beautify; polish, burnish; gild &c (decorate) 847; set out.

snatch a grace beyond the reach of art [Pope].

Adj. beautiful, beauteous; handsome; gorgeous; pretty; lovely, graceful, elegant, prepossessing; attractive &c (inviting) 615; delicate, dainty, refined; fair, personable, comely, seemly; bonny [Scot.]; good-looking; well-favored, well-made, well-formed, well-proportioned; proper, shapely; symmetrical &c (regular) 242; harmonious &c (color) 428; sightly.

fit to be seen, passable, not amiss.

goodly, dapper, tight, jimp^†; gimp; janty^†, jaunty; trig, natty, quaint, trim, tidy, neat, spruce, smart, tricksy^†.

bright, bright eyed; rosy cheeked, cherry cheeked; rosy, ruddy; blooming, in full bloom.

brilliant, shining; beamy^†, beaming; sparkling, splendid, resplendent, dazzling, glowing; glossy, sleek.

rich, superb, magnificent, grand, fine, sublime, showy, specious.

artistic, artistical^†; aesthetic; picturesque, pictorial; fait a peindre [Fr.]; well-composed, well grouped, well varied; curious.

enchanting &c (pleasure-giving) 829; becoming &c (accordant) 23; ornamental &c 847.

undeformed, undefaced, unspotted; spotless &c (perfect) 650.

Phr. auxilium non leve vultus habet [Lat.] [Ovid]; beauty born of murmuring sound [Wordsworth]; flowers preach to us if we will hear [C.G.

Rossetti]; gratior ac pulchro veniens in corpore virtus [Lat.] [Vergil]; none but the brave deserve the fair [Dryden]; thou who hast the fatal gift of beauty [Byron].

forbidding countenance, vinegar aspect, hanging look, wry face, spretae injuria formae [Vergil].

render ugly &c adj.; deface; disfigure, defigure^†; distort &c 23; blemish &c (injure) 659; soil &c (render unclean) 653.

misshapen, misproportioned^†; monstrous; gaunt &c (thin) 203; dumpy &c (short) 201; curtailed of its fair proportions; ill-made, ill-shaped, ill-proportioned; crooked &c (distorted) 243; hard featured, hard visaged; ill-favored, hard-favored, evil-favored; ill-looking; unprepossessing, unattractive, uninviting, unpleasing.

graceless, inelegant; ungraceful, ungainly, uncouth, stiff; rugged, rough, gross, rude, awkward, clumsy, slouching, rickety; gawky; lumping, lumpish^†; lumbering; hulky^†, hulking; unwieldy.

squalid, haggard; grim, grim faced, grim visaged; grisly, ghastly; ghost like, death like; cadaverous, grewsome^†, gruesome.

frightful, hideous, odious, uncanny, forbidding; repellant, repulsive, repugnant, grotesque, bizarre; grody [Coll.], grody to the max [Coll.]; horrid, horrible; shocking &c (painful) 830.

foul &c (dirty) 653; dingy &c (colorless) 429; gaudy &c (color) 428; disfigured &c v.; discolored.

wreath, festoon, garland, chaplet, flower, nosegay, bouquet, posy, daisies pied and violets blue, tassel, [Love's Labor's Lost], knot; shoulder knot, apaulette^†, epaulet, aigulet^†, frog; star, rosette, bow; feather, plume, pompom^†, panache, aigrette.

finery, frippery, gewgaw, gimcrack, tinsel, spangle, clinquant^†, pinchbeck, paste; excess of ornament &c (vulgarity) 851; gaud, pride.

[ornamentation of text] illustration, illumination, vignette.

fleuron^†; head piece [Fr.], tail piece [Fr.]; cul-de-lampe [Fr.]; flowers of rhetoric &c 577; work of art.

smarten, furbish, polish, gild, varnish, whitewash, enamel, japan, lacquer, paint, grain.

garnish, trim, dizen^†, bedizen, prink^†, prank; trick out, fig out; deck, bedeck, dight^†, bedight^†, array; begawd^†, titivate^†; dress, dress up; spangle, bespangle, powder; embroider, work; chase, emboss, fret, emblazon; illuminate; illustrate.

become &c (accord with) 23.

smart, gay, trickly^†, flowery, glittering; new gilt, new spangled; fine as a Mayday queen, fine as a fivepence^†, fine as a carrot fresh scraped; pranked out, bedight^†, well-groomed.

in full dress &c (fashion) 852; dressed to kill, dressed to the nines, dressed to advantage; in Sunday best, en grand tenue [Fr.], en grande toilette [Fr.]; in best bib and tucker, endimanche [Fr.].

showy, flashy; gaudy &c (vulgar) 851; garish, gairish^†; gorgeous.

ornamental, decorative; becoming &c (accordant) 23.
847a. [ornaments worn by people on the body] Jewelry -- N. jewel [general],, jewelry, jewellery^†; bijoutry^†; bijou, bijouterie [Fr.]; trinket; fine jewelry; costume jewelry, junk jewelry; gem, gemstone, precious stone.

[forms of jewelry: list] necklace, bracelet, anklet; earring; locket, pendant, charm bracelet; ring, pinky ring; carcanet^†; chain, chatelaine; broach, pin, lapel pin, torque.

[gemstones: list] diamond, brilliant, rock [Coll.]; beryl, emerald; chalcedony, agate, heliotrope; girasol^†, girasole^†; onyx, plasma; sard^†, sardonyx; garnet, lapis lazuli, opal, peridot, tourmaline, chrysolite; sapphire, ruby, synthetic ruby; spinel, spinelle; balais^†; oriental, oriental topaz; turquois^†, turquoise; zircon, cubic zirconia; jacinth, hyacinth, carbuncle, amethyst; alexandrite^†, cat's eye, bloodstone, hematite, jasper, moonstone, sunstone^†.

[jewelry materials derived from living organisms] pearl, cultured pearl, fresh-water pearl; mother of pearl; coral.

[person who sells jewels] jeweler.

[person who studies gemstones] gemologist; minerologist.

[person who cuts gemstones] lapidary, lapidarian.

[study of gemstones] gemology, gemmology; minerology.

V. shine like a diamond.

Adj. bejeweled; diamond &c n. (gemstones).

gemological.

stain, blot; spot, spottiness; speck, speckle, blur.

tarnish, smudge; dirt &c 653.

[blemish on a person's skin: list] freckle, mole, macula [Anat.], patch, blotch, birthmark; blobber lip^†, blubber lip; blain^†, maculation; scar, wem^†; pustule; whelk; excrescence, pimple &c (protuberance) 250.

V. disfigure &c (injure) 659; speckle.

Adj. pitted, freckled, discolored; imperfect &c 651; blobber-lipped, bloodshot; injured &c (deteriorated) 659.
849. Simplicity -- N. simplicity; plainness, homeliness; undress, chastity.

V. be simple &c adj.. render simple &c adj.; simplify, uncomplicate.

Adj. simple, plain; homely, homespun; ordinary, household.

unaffected; ingenuous, sincere (artless) 703; free from affectation, free from ornament; simplex munditiis [Lat.] [Horace]; sans facon [Fr.], en deshabille [Fr.].

chaste, inornate^†, severe.

unadorned, bare, unornamented, undecked^†, ungarnished, unarranged^†, untrimmed, unvarnished.

bald, flat, dull.

Phr. veritatis simplex oratio est [Lat.].
850. [Good taste.] Taste -- N. taste; good taste, refined taste, cultivated taste; delicacy, refinement, fine feeling, gust, gusto, tact, finesse; nicety &c (discrimination) 465; to prepon [Gr.]; polish, elegance, grace.

judgment, discernment &c 465.

dilettantism, dilettanteism; virtu; fine art; culture, cultivation.

[Science of taste] aesthetics.

man of taste &c; connoisseur, judge, critic, conoscente, virtuoso, amateur, dilettante, Aristarchus^†, Corinthian, arbiter elegantiarum [Lat.], stagirite^†, euphemist.

caviare to the general [Hamlet].

V. appreciate, judge, criticise, discriminate &c 465

Adj. in good taste, cute, tasteful, tasty; unaffected, pure, chaste, classical, attic; cultivated, refined; dainty; esthetic, aesthetic, artistic; elegant &c 578; euphemistic.

to one's taste, to one's mind; after one's fancy; comme il faut [Fr.]; tire a quatre epingles [Fr.].

courseness &c adj.^†; indecorum, misbehavior.

lowness, homeliness; low life, mauvais ton [Fr.], rusticity; boorishness &c adj.; brutality; rowdyism, blackguardism^†; ribaldry; slang &c (neology) 563.

bad joke, mauvais plaisanterie [Fr.].

rough diamond, tomboy, hoyden, cub, unlicked cub^†; clown &c (commonalty) 876; Goth, Vandal, Boeotian; snob, cad, gent; parvenu &c 876; frump, dowdy; slattern &c 653.

coarse, indecorous, ribald, gross; unseemly, unbeseeming^†, unpresentable^†; contra bonos mores [Lat.]; ungraceful &c (ugly) 846.

dowdy; slovenly &c (dirty) 653; ungenteel, shabby genteel; low, common, hoi polloi [Gr.], &c (plebeian) 876; uncourtly^†; uncivil &c (discourteous) 895; ill bred, ill mannered; underbred; ungentlemanly, ungentlemanlike; unladylike, unfeminine; wild, wild as an unbacked colt.

untutored, unschooled (ignorant) 491.

unkempt.

uncombed, untamed, unlicked^†, unpolished, uncouth; plebeian; incondite^†; heavy, rude, awkward; homely, homespun, home bred; provincial, countrified, rustic; boorish, clownish; savage, brutish, blackguard, rowdy, snobbish; barbarous, barbaric; Gothic, unclassical^†, doggerel, heathenish, tramontane, outlandish; uncultivated; Bohemian.

obsolete &c (antiquated) 124; unfashionable; newfangled &c (unfamiliar) 83; odd &c (ridiculous) 853.

particular; affected &c 855; meretricious; extravagant, monstrous, horrid; shocking &c (painful) 830.

gaudy, tawdry, overornamented, baroque, rococo; bedizened, tricked out, gingerbread; obtrusive.