The Choice of Words: A Book of Synonyms with Explanations (Dust Jacket Missing)

THE purpose of this book is to throw light on contemporary English usage by giving as concisely as possible explanations of the distinction in meaning, often slight, of a number of selected synonyms, especially words whose meanings are most commonly confused. The words given are generally dealt with only in relation to their synonyms. Occasionally, however, when a word is used in more than one sense, it has been thought desirable, after dealing with its synonymous use, to mention briefly one or more other meanings.

Synonyms in the narrowest sense are words whose meaning is so identical that one can always be substituted for the other without change in the effect of the sentence in which it is done. W. H. Fowler says that whether any such perfect synonyms exist is doubtful, and that at any rate they are extremely rare. Thus he cites gorse and furze, and points out that, if it is a fact that one is more often used than the other, or is prevalent in different geographical regions or social circles, the exchange between them can alter the effect on hearers or readers, and synonymity is not perfect. For practical purposes, however, this consideration can generally be ignored, and in a wider sense synonyms can be taken to mean two or more words that in one or other of their acceptations are usually able to be substituted for each other without affecting the meaning of the sentence. Misapprehensions of the degree in which words are synonymous is responsible for much bad speaking and writing, an and to appreciate the difference between words that are not properly synonymous at all, or between those that are only partially synonymous, is of the utmost importance for a clear, precise, and vigorous style.