English words and phrases

CREATIVE THOUGHT

conjecture; guess, guesswork, speculation; rough guess, shot, shot in the dark [Coll.]; conjecturality^†; 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) 514.1; metonym [Gramm.], metonymy [Gramm.], simile (metaphor) 521.

conceit, idea, thought; original idea, invention (imagination) 515.

V. suppose, conjecture, surmise, suspect, guess, divine; theorize; presume, presurmise^†, presuppose; assume, fancy, wis^†, take it; give a guess, speculate, believe, dare say, take it into one's head, take for granted; imagine &c 515.

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 &c (thought) 451; run in the head &c (memory) 505; marvel if, wonder if, wonder whether.

suggestive, allusive.

metaphor &c 521.

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; phrensy^†, frenzy; ecstasy, extasy^†; calenture &c (delirium) 503 [Obs.]; reverie, trance; day dream, golden dream; somnambulism.

conception, Vorstellung [G.], excogitation^†, a fine frenzy; cloudland^†, 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, whimsey^†, whimsy; vagary, rhapsody, romance, gest^†, geste^†, 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, chateau en Espagne [Fr.]; Utopia, Atlantis^†, happy valley, millennium, fairyland; land of Prester John, kindgom of Micomicon; work of fiction &c (novel) 594; Arabian nights^†; le pot au lait [Fr.]; dream of Alnashar &c (hope) 858 [Obs.].

illusion &c (error) 495; phantom &c (fallacy of vision) 443; Fata Morgana &c (ignis fatuus) 423 [Lat.]; vapor &c (cloud) 353; stretch of the imagination &c (exaggeration) 549; mythogenesis^†.

idealist, romanticist, visionary; mopus^†; romancer, dreamer; somnambulist; rhapsodist &c (fanatic) 504; castle-buildier, fanciful projector.

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; excogitate^†; 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 [G.].

float in the mind; suggest itself &c (thought) 451.

imagining &c v., imaginative; original, inventive, creative, fertile.

romantic, high flown, flighty, extravagant, fanatic, enthusiastic, unrealistic, Utopian, Quixotic.

ideal, unreal; in the clouds, in nubibus [Lat.]; unsubsantial^† &c 4; illusory &c (fallacious) 495.

fabulous, legendary; mythical, mythic, mythological; chimerical; imaginary, visionary; notional; fancy, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical^†; whimsical; fairy, fairy-like; gestic^†.

Phr. a change came o'er the spirit of my dream [Byron]; aegri somnia vana [Lat.]; dolphinum appingit sylvis in fluctibus aprum [Horace]; fancy light from fancy caught [Tennyson]; imagination rules the world [Napoleon]; l'imagination gallope [Fr.], le jugement ne va que le pas [Fr.]; musaeo contingens cuncta lepore [Lat.] [Lucretius]; tous songes sont mensonges [Fr.]; Wahrheil und Dichtung [G.].

DIVISION II

COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS
SECTION I.

NATURE OF IDEAS COMMUNICATED

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 meaning, &c (exact) 494 honest meaning, &c 543 prima facie meaning [Lat.]; &c (manifest) 525.

letter of the law.

literally; after acceptation.

synonym; implication, allusion &c (latency) 526; suggestion &c (information) 527; figure of speech &c 521; acceptation &c (interpretation) 522.

understand by &c (interpret) 522.

declaratory &c 535; intelligible &c 518; literal; synonymous; tantamount &c (equivalent) 27; implied &c (latent) 526; explicit &c 525.

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, baragouin^†, platitude, niaiserie^†; 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 &c 497; vagueness &c (unintelligibility) 519.

[routine or reflexive statements without substantive thought, esp. legal] boilerplate, clich¦¨.

V. mean nothing; be unmeaning &c adj.; twaddle, quibble, scrabble.

Adj. unmeaning; meaningless, senseless; nonsensical; void of sense &c 516.

inexpressive, unexpressive; vacant; not significant &c 516; insignificant.

trashy, washy, trumpery, trivial, fiddle-faddle, twaddling, quibbling.

unmeant, not expressed; tacit &c (latent) 526.

inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable.
518. Intelligibility -- N. intelligibility; clearness, explicitness &c adj.; lucidity, comprehensibility, perspicuity; legibility, plain speaking &c (manifestation) 525; precision &c 494; phonanta synetoisy [Gr.]; a word to the wise.

V. be intelligible &c adj.; speak for itself, speak volumes; tell its own tale, lie on the surface.

render intelligible &c adj.; popularize, simplify, clear up; elucidate &c (explain) 522.

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, transpicuous^†; luminous, transparent.

easily understood, easy to understand, for the million, intelligible to the meanest capacity, popularized.

plain, distinct, explicit; positive; definite &c (precise) 494.

graphic; expressive &c (meaning) 516; illustrative &c (explanatory) 522.

unambiguous, unequivocal, unmistakable &c (manifest) 525; unconfused; legible, recognizable; obvious &c 525.

Adv. in plain terms, in plain words, in plain English.

Phr. he that runs may read &c (manifest) 525.
519. Unintelligibility -- N. unintelligibility; incomprehensibility, imperspicuity^†; inconceivableness, vagueness &c adj.; obscurity; ambiguity &c 520; doubtful meaning; uncertainty &c 475; perplexity &c (confusion) 59; spinosity^†; obscurum per obscurius [Lat.]; mystification &c (concealment) 528; latency &c 526; transcendentalism.

paradox, oxymoron; riddle, enigma, puzzle &c (secret) 533; diagnus vindice nodus [Lat.]; sealed book; steganography^†, freemasonry.

pons asinorum [Lat.], asses' bridge; high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew; jargon &c (unmeaning) 517.

V. be unintelligible &c adj.; require explanation &c 522; have a doubtful meaning, pass comprehension.

render unintelligible &c adj.; conceal &c 528; darken &c 421; confuse &c (derange) 61; perplex &c (bewilder) 475.

not understand &c 518; 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 &c (uncertain) 475; wonder &c 870; see through a glass darkly &c (ignorance) 491.

not understand one another; play at cross purposes &c (misinterpret) 523.

illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical; enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret) 533; indecipherable.

obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery; opaque, dense; undiscernible &c (invisible) 447 [Obs.]; misty &c (opaque) 426; hidden &c 528; latent &c 526.

indefinite, garbled &c (indistinct) 447; perplexed &c (confused) 59; undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous; mysterious; mystic, mystical; acroamatic^†, acroamatical^†; metempirical; transcendental; occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed.

inconceivable, inconceptible^†; searchless^†; above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension; beyond one's depth; unconceived.

inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable.

unpredictable, unforeseeable.

Phr. it's Greek to me.
520. [Having a double sense] Equivocalness -- N. equivocalness &c adj.; double meaning &c 516; ambiguity, double entente, double entendre [Fr.], pun, paragram^†, calembour^†, quibble, equivoque [Fr.], anagram; conundrum &c (riddle) 533; play on words, word play &c (wit) 842; homonym, homonymy [Gramm.]; amphiboly^†, amphibology^†; ambilogy^†, ambiloquy^†.

Sphinx, Delphic oracle.

equivocation &c (duplicity) 544; white lie, mental reservation &c (concealment) 528; paltering.

V. be equivocal &c adj.; have two meanings &c 516; equivocate &c (alter) 544.

Adj. equivocal, ambiguous, amphibolous^†, homonymous^†; double-tongued &c (lying) 544; enigmatical, indeterminate.

Phr. on the one hand, on the other hand.
521. Metaphor -- N. figure of speech; facon de parler [Fr.], way of speaking, colloquialism.

phrase &c 566; figure, trope, metaphor, enallage^†, catachresis^†; metonymy [Gramm.], synecdoche [Sem.]; autonomasia^†, irony, figurativeness &c adj.; image, imagery; metalepsis^†, type, anagoge^†, simile, personification, prosopopoeia^†, allegory, apologue^†, parable, fable; allusion, adumbration; application.

exaggeration, hyperbole &c 549.

association, association of ideas (analogy) 514.1

translation; rendering, rendition; redition^†; literal translation, free translation; key; secret; clew &c (indication) 550; clavis^†, crib, pony, trot [U.S.].

exegesis; expounding, exposition; hermeneutics; comment, commentary; inference &c (deduction) 480; illustration, exemplification; gloss, annotation, scholium^†, note; elucidation, dilucidation^†; eclaircissement [Fr.], mot d'enigme [Fr.].

[methods of interpreting - list] symptomatology [Med.], semiology, semeiology^†, semiotics; metoposcopy^†, physiognomy; paleography &c (philology) 560; oneirology acception^†, acceptation, acceptance; light, reading, lection, construction, version.

equivalent, equivalent meaning &c 516; synonym; paraphrase, metaphrase^†; convertible terms, apposition; dictionary &c 562; polyglot.

find out &c 480.1 the meaning of, &c 516 read; spell out, make out; decipher, unravel, disentangle; find the key of, enucleate, resolve, solve; read between the lines.

account for; find the cause, tell the cause of &c 153; throw light upon, shed light upon, shed new light upon, shed fresh light upon; clear up, clarify, elucidate.

illustrate, exemplify; unfold, expound, comment upon, annotate; popularize &c (render intelligible) 518.

take in a particular sense, understand in a particular sense, receive in a particular sense, accept in a particular sense; understand by, put a construction on, be given to understand.

Adj. explanatory, expository; explicative, explicatory; exegetical^†; construable.

polyglot; literal; paraphrastic, metaphrastic^†; consignificative^†, synonymous; equivalent &c 27.

literally, strictly speaking; in plain, in plainer terms, in plainer words, in plainer English; more simply.

misrepresentation, perversion, exaggeration &c 549; false coloring, false construction; abuse of terms; parody, travesty; falsification &c (lying) 544.

misrepresent, pervert; explain wrongly, misstate; garble &c (falsify) 544; distort, detort^†; travesty, play upon words; stretch the sense, strain the sense, stretch the meaning, strain the meaning, wrest the sense, wrest the meaning; explain away; put a bad construction on, put a false construction on; give a false coloring.

be at cross purposes, play at cross purposes.

Adj. misinterpreted &c v.; untranslated, untranslatable.
524. Interpreter -- N. interpreter; expositor, expounder, exponent, explainer; demonstrator.

scholiast, commentator, annotator; metaphrast^†, paraphrast^†; glossarist^†, prolocutor.

spokesman, speaker, mouthpiece.

dragoman, courier, valet de place, cicerone, showman; oneirocritic^†; (Edipus; oracle) &c 513

MODES OF COMMUNICATION

526} manifestation; plainness &c adj.; plain speaking; expression; showing &c v.; exposition, demonstration; exhibition, production; display, show; showing off; premonstration^†.

exhibit [Thing shown].

indication &c (calling attention to) 457.

publicity &c 531; disclosure &c 529; openness &c (honesty) 543, (artlessness) 703; panchement.

evidence &c 467.

indicate &c (direct attention to) 457; disclose &c 529; elicit &c 480.1.

be manifest &c adj.; appear &c (be visible) 446; transpire &c (be disclosed) 529; speak for itself, stand to reason; stare one in the face, rear its head; give token, give sign, give indication of; tell its own tale &c (intelligible) 518.

Adj. manifest, apparent; salient, striking, demonstrative, prominent, in the foreground, notable, pronounced.

flagrant; notorious &c (public) 531; arrant; stark staring; unshaded, glaring.

defined, definite.

distinct, conspicuous &c (visible) 446; obvious, evident, unmistakable, indubitable, not to be mistaken, palpable, self-evident, autoptical^†; intelligible &c 518.

plain, clear, clear as day, clear as daylight, clear as noonday; plain as a pike staff, plain as the sun at noon-day, plain as the nose on one's face, plain as the way to parish church.

explicit, overt, patent, express; ostensible; open, open as day; naked, bare, literal, downright, undisguised, exoteric.

unreserved, frank, plain-spoken &c (artless) 703; candid (veracious) 543; barefaced.

manifested &c v.; disclosed &c 529; capable of being shown, producible; inconcealable^†, unconcealable; no secret.

525} latency, inexpression^†; hidden meaning, occult meaning; occultness, mystery, cabala^†, anagoge^†; silence &c (taciturnity) 585; concealment &c 528; more than meets the eye, more than meets the ear; Delphic oracle; le dessous des cartes [Fr.], undercurrent.

implication, logical implication; logical consequence; entailment.

allusion, insinuation; innuendo &c 527; adumbration; something rotten in the state of Denmark [Hamlet].

snake in the grass &c (pitfall) 667; secret &c 533.

darkness, invisibility, imperceptibility.

laugh in one's sleeve; keep back &c (conceal) 528.

involve, imply, understand, allude to, infer, leave an inference; entail; whisper &c (conceal) 528.

[understand the implication] read between the lines.

Adj. latent; lurking &c v.; secret &c 528; occult; implied &c v.; dormant; abeyant.

unapparent, unknown, unseen &c 441; in the background; invisible &c 447; indiscoverable^†, dark; impenetrable &c (unintelligible) 519; unspied^†, unsuspected.

unsaid, unwritten, unpublished, unbreathed^†, untalked of^†, untold &c 527, unsung, unexposed, unproclaimed^†, undisclosed &c 529, unexpressed; not expressed, tacit.

undeveloped, solved, unexplained, untraced^†, undiscovered &c 480.1, untracked, unexplored, uninvented^†.

indirect, crooked, inferential; by inference, by implication; implicit; constructive; allusive, covert, muffled; steganographic^†; understood, underhand, underground; delitescent^†, concealed &c 528.