Putnam's Word Book
Chapter 3 : Antonyms: inaction, stagnation, inactivity, inertia.active, a. brisk, nimble, agile, spr

Antonyms: inaction, stagnation, inactivity, inertia.

active, a. brisk, nimble, agile, sprightly, spirited; strenuous, diligent, enterprising; operative, efficacious, drastic; effective; transitive. Antonyms: inactive, pa.s.sive, latent, quiescent, sedentary.

activity, n. operation, action; liveliness, briskness, agility, sprightliness, strenuousness. Antonyms: inactivity, pa.s.siveness, quiescence.

actor, n. doer, partic.i.p.ant, performer; comedian; tragedian; thespian; impersonator, personator, mime, mimic; pantomimist; barnstormer; hamfatter; supernumerary.

actress, n. tragedienne; comedienne; ingenue, soubrette, understudy; star.

actual, a. real, veritable. Antonyms: potential, nominal, hypothetical.

actuality, n. reality, veritableness.

actuate, v. instigate, impel, incite.

actuation, n. instigation, incitement, animation.

ac.u.men, n. astuteness, shrewdness, discernment, sharpness.

Antonyms: dullness, stupidity, short-sightedness.

adage, n. See saying.

Adam, n. a.s.sociated Words: Adamic, adamite, preadamic, preadamite, preadamitic.

adapt, v. adjust, conform.

adaptable, a. conformable, adjustable.

adaptation, n. adjustment, conformability.

add, v. sum up, foot up; append, supplement, subjoin, affix, adjoin, superadd, annex. Antonyms: subtract, deduct, detract, remove.

addict, v. habituate, accustom.

addition, n. annexation, annex, appendage, supplement, appendix, postscript, wing, augmentation, adjunct, rider. Antonyms: subtraction, deduction, detraction.

additional, a. supplemental, adscit.i.tious, supplementary.

addle, v. muddle, confuse; spoil, rot.

address, n. discourse, speech, lecture, oration, allocution; direction, superscription, delivery. a.s.sociated Word: vocative.

address, v. accost, speak to; direct, superscribe.

adept, n. See expert.

adequacy, n. sufficiency. Antonyms: inadequacy, insufficiency.

adequate, a. sufficient, commensurate, equal, proportionate.

Antonyms: inadequate, insufficient.

adjacent, a. adjoining, contiguous.

adjoining, a. contiguous, adjacent, neighboring.

adjustment, n. adaptation, regulation, settlement.

admissible, a. allowable, permissible. Antonym: inadmissible.

admit, v. acknowledge, confess, concede; allow, permit. Antonyms: repulse, reject, refuse.

admittance, n. admission.

ado, n. fuss, bustle, stir, excitement, pother.

adolescence, n. nonage, juniority, minority, youth.

adopt, v. father, affiliate; espouse, support, maintain.

adoption, n. affiliation, fathering; espousal.

adorn, v. decorate, beautify, embellish, deck, ornament, grace, garnish, bedizen, bedeck, bestud, beset, emblazon. Antonyms: disfigure, mar, deform.

adornment, n. ornamentation, decoration. Antonyms: disfigurement, defacement.

adrift, a. and adv. drifting, derelict, lost.

adulterate, v. sophisticate.

adulterated, a. adulterate, impure, sophisticated.

adulteration, n. sophistication.

adultery, n. infidelity, criminal conversation.

advance, n. progress, progression, march, advancement, promotion, preferment, elevation, appreciation, enhancement; overture, tender, proposal, proffer, offer. Antonyms: retreat, retrogression, decline, retrogradation, deterioration.

advance, v. progress, increase; promote, elevate; enhance, augment.

Antonyms: retreat, retrograde, decline, deteriorate.

advance guard. vanguard, van.

advancement, n. progress, progression; promotion, preferment, exaltation, aggrandizement, furtherance.

advantage, n. vantage-ground; superiority, mastery, ascendency; benefit, avail, profit. Antonym: disadvantage.

adventurous, a. adventuresome, temerarious, venturous.

adversary, n. enemy, foe, antagonist, opponent.