Putnam's Word Book
Chapter 14 : backbite, v. defame (clandestinely), malign, traduce, vilify, calumniate, scandalize.ba

backbite, v. defame (clandestinely), malign, traduce, vilify, calumniate, scandalize.

backbiter, n. defamer, detractor, maligner, vilifier, slanderer, calumniator.

backbiting, n. defamation, vilification, traducement, calumny, slander (secret).

backbone, n. spine, spinal column, rachis, chine. a.s.sociated Words: vertebrae, Vertebrata, vertebra, vertebral spinal. See spine.

backbone, n. moral principle, steadfastness, stability, firmness, stamina.

backboned, a. vertebrate, vertebrated. Antonyms: invertebrate, invertebrated.

backdown, n. surrender, recession, withdrawal.

backhouse, n. outhouse, privy, necessary, water-closet, jakes, latrine (in camp or hospital).

backing, n. support, cooperation, seconding, a.s.sistance, subsidy.

backing out. withdrawal, retreat, recession, retirement.

back out. (Colloq.) withdraw, retreat, resile, recede, retire.

backset, n. discouragement, setback, check, repulse, rebuff.

backslide, v. break faith, apostatize, retrograde, relapse, desert, fall away.

backslider, n. apostate, renegade, deserter, recreant, pervert.

backsliding, n. apostasy, defection, relapse, recidivism, recreancy, retrogradation.

backsliding, a. apostate, renegade, retrogressive, recidivous, recreant, unfaithful.

backward, a. retrograde, retrogressive, reverse, regressive; retrospective; reluctant, averse, loath, disinclined, unwilling; dull, inapt; late, tardy, delayed; undeveloped.

backwardness, n. reluctance, averseness, unwillingness, disinclination, hesitancy; inaptness, dullness; lateness, tardiness; undevelopment.

bacon, n. a.s.sociated Words: lardoon, bard, flitch, gammon, lard.

bad, a. evil, wicked, immoral, iniquitous, arrant, corrupt, depraved, sinful, base, demoralized, sinister, licentious, unprincipled, abandoned, graceless, vicious, incorrigible, unscrupulous, miscreant, reprobate, disreputable, rascal, scoundrel, profligate, knavish, naughty, malevolent, malicious, unrighteous, degrading, dissolute, libertine, hardened, wanton; injurious, prejudicial, pernicious, detrimental, baneful, unwholesome, baleful, deleterious, mischievous, noisome, malign, malignant, noxious, unpropitious, disadvantageous; offensive, serious, grave, severe, mortal; defective, imperfect, incompetent, inferior; untoward, depressing, unwelcome, adverse, grievous, unfavorable, inauspicious; infertile, inarable; barren, unproductive, worthless; hard, heavy, serious, irreparable, egregious; nefarious, felonious, infamous, villainous, heinous, flagrant, atrocious, flagitious.

badge, n. device, cognizance, emblem, ensign, bra.s.sard, cordon, star, insignia.

badinage, n. raillery (innocent), banter, persiflage, asteism.

badly, adv. poorly, unskillfully, wretchedly, grievously, imperfectly; very much; greatly.

badness, n. depravity, improbity, unscrupulousness, iniquity, immorality, turpitude, knavishness, villainy, peccancy, baseness, profligacy, venality, licentiousness, obliquity, pravity, degeneracy, viciousness, wantonness, criminality, libertinism, malevolence, incorrigibility, rascality, malignity, noxiousness, infamy, mischief.

baffle, v. foil, balk, checkmate, disconcert, frustrate, thwart, circ.u.mvent, nonplus.

bafflement, n. frustration, foiling, thwarting, circ.u.mvention, defeat, disconcertion.

baffling, a. disconcerting, frustrating, confusing, perplexing.

bag, n. sack, pouch, wallet, reticule, knapsack, pocket, cul-de-sac, haversack, portmanteau, poke, scrip, satchel, suitcase, quiver, valise, sporran, gunny sack; udder; cyst, vesicle, saccule, utricle, bladder.

bag, v. capture, entrap, catch.

baggage, n. luggage, traps.

baggage truck. lorrie, lorry.

baggy, a. unshapely, flabby.

bagpipe, n. doodlesack.

bail, n. security, surety, vadium.

bait, n. lure, enticement, inducement, temptation, decoy, allurement; kibblings.

balance, v. poise, librate; equal, counterpoise, counteract, counterbalance, countervail; adjust, equalize, square. Antonyms: unbalance, derange, preponderate.

balance, n. scales; equipoise, equilibrium, steadiness; surplus, excess, remainder, overplus; poise, equipoise; weighing, estimate.

Antonyms: preponderance, deficit, deficiency.

balcony, n. gallery, terrace.

bald, a. hairless, polled; tonsured; unadorned, literal, undisguised, unvarnished, unqualified; uncorroborated, unsupported, glaring, mere.

balderdash, n. flummery, nonsense, jargon, fustian, moons.h.i.+ne, twaddle, fudge.

baldness, n. alopecia. a.s.sociated Word: alopecist.

balk, v. frustrate, baffle, foil, thwart, disappoint; jib.

balky, a. refractory, perverse, recalcitrant, contrary, stubborn.

ball, n. sphere, globe, orb, pellet; pome, pommel; base-ball, football, lacrosse, basket-ball, tether-ball; bullet, projectile, dejectile, missile; glomeration, conglobation; fandango (Mexico).

ballarag, v. (Slang) bully, threaten, browbeat, overbear, intimidate.

ballast, n. steadiness, self-control, equipoise, stability, judgment.

ballet, n. a.s.sociated Words: ch.o.r.eograph, ch.o.r.eographer.

ballet-dancer, n. _danseuse_, _coryphee_, _figurante_.

balloon, n. aerostat.