Synonyms:

desperation, despondency, discouragement, hopelessness.

_Discouragement_ is the result of so much repulse or failure as wears out courage. _Discouragements_ too frequent and long continued may produce a settled _hopelessness_. _Hopelessness_ is negative, and may result from simple apathy; _despondency_ and _despair_ are more emphatic and decided. _Despondency_ is an incapacity for the present exercise of hope; _despair_ is the utter abandonment of hope. _Despondency_ relaxes energy and effort and is always attended with sadness or distress; _despair_ may produce a stony calmness, or it may lead to _desperation_.

_Desperation_ is energized _despair_, vigorous in action, reckless of consequences.

Antonyms:

antic.i.p.ation, confidence, encouragement, expectation, hopefulness, a.s.surance, courage, expectancy, hope, trust.

cheer, elation,

DEXTERITY.

Synonyms:

adroitness, apt.i.tude, cleverness, expertness, readiness, skill.

_Adroitness_ (F. _a_, to, and _droit_, right) and _dexterity_ (L.

_dexter_, right, right-hand) might each be rendered "right-handedness;"

but _adroitness_ carries more of the idea of eluding, parrying, or checking some hostile movement, or taking advantage of another in controversy; _dexterity_ conveys the idea of doing, accomplishing something readily and well, without reference to any action of others.

We speak of _adroitness_ in fencing, boxing, or debate; of _dexterity_ in horsemanship, in the use of tools, weapons, etc. _Apt.i.tude_ (L.

_aptus_, fit, fitted) is a natural _readiness_, which by practise may be developed into _dexterity_. _Skill_ is more exact to line, rule, and method than _dexterity_. _Dexterity_ can not be communicated, and, oftentimes can not even be explained by its possessor; _skill_ to a very great extent can be imparted; "_skilled_ workmen" in various trades are numbered by thousands. Compare ADDRESS; CLEVER; POWER; SKILFUL.

Prepositions:

Dexterity _of_ hand, _of_ movement, _of_ management; _with_ the pen; _in_ action, _in_ manipulating men; _at_ cards.

DICTION.

Synonyms:

expression, phrase, style, vocabulary, language, phraseology, verbiage, wording.

An author's _diction_ is strictly his choice and use of words, with no special reference to thought; _expression_ regards the words simply as the vehicle of the thought. _Phrase_ and _phraseology_ apply to words or combinations of words which are somewhat technical; as, in legal _phraseology_; in military _phrase_. _Diction_ is general; _wording_ is limited; we speak of the _diction_ of an author or of a work, the _wording_ of a proposition, of a resolution, etc. _Verbiage_ never bears this sense (see CIRc.u.mLOCUTION.) The _language_ of a writer or speaker may be the national speech he employs; as, the English or French _language_; or the word may denote his use of that _language_; as, the author's _language_ is well (or ill) chosen. _Style_ includes _diction_, _expression_, rhetorical figures such as metaphor and simile, the effect of an author's prevailing tone of thought, of his personal traits--in short, all that makes up the clothing of thought in words; thus, we speak of a figurative _style_, a frigid or an argumentative _style_, etc., or of the _style_ of Macaulay, Prescott, or others. An author's _vocabulary_ is the range of words which he brings into his use. Compare LANGUAGE.

DIE.

Synonyms:

cease, decline, expire, perish, decease, depart, fade, wither.

_Die_, to go out of life, become dest.i.tute of vital power and action, is figuratively applied to anything which has the appearance of life.

Where the _dying_ night-lamp flickers.

TENNYSON _Locksley Hall_ st. 40.

An echo, a strain of music, a tempest, a topic, an issue, _dies_.

_Expire_ (literally, to breathe out) is a softer word for _die_; it is used figuratively of things that _cease_ to exist by reaching a natural limit; as, a lease _expires_; the time has _expired_. To _perish_ (literally, in Latin, to go through, as in English we say, "the fire goes out") is oftenest used of death by privation or exposure; as, "I _perish_ with hunger," _Luke_ xv, 17; sometimes, of death by violence.

Knowledge and fame, art and empires, may be said to _perish_; the word denotes utter destruction and decay.

Antonyms:

be born, come into being, flourish, rise again, begin, come to life, grow, rise from the dead, be immortal, exist, live, survive.

Prepositions:

To die _of_ fever; _by_ violence; rarely, _with_ the sword, famine, etc.

(_Ezek._ vii, 15); to die _for_ one's country; to die _at_ sea; _in_ one's bed; _in_ agony; die _to_ the world.

DIFFERENCE.

Synonyms:

contrariety, discrimination, distinction, inequality, contrast, disparity, divergence, unlikeness, disagreement, dissimilarity, diversity, variation, discrepancy, dissimilitude, inconsistency, variety.

_Difference_ is the state or quality of being unlike or the amount of such unlikeness. A _difference_ is in the things compared; a _discrimination_ is in our judgment of them; a _distinction_ is in our definition or description or mental image of them. Careful _discrimination_ of real _differences_ results in clear _distinctions_.

_Disparity_ is stronger than _inequality_, implying that one thing falls far below another; as, the _disparity_ of our achievements when compared with our ideals. _Dissimilarity_ is between things sharply contrasted; there may be a _difference_ between those almost alike. There is a _discrepancy_ in accounts that fail to balance. _Variety_ involves more than two objects; so, in general, does _diversity_; _variation_ is a _difference_ in the condition or action of the same object at different times. _Disagreement_ is not merely the lack, but the opposite, of agreement; it is a mild word for opposition and conflict; _difference_ is sometimes used in the same sense.

Antonyms:

agreement, harmony, likeness, sameness, uniformity, consonance, ident.i.ty, resemblance, similarity, unity.

Prepositions:

Difference _between_ the old and the new; differences _among_ men; a difference _in_ character; _of_ action; _of_ style; (less frequently) a difference (controversy) _with_ a person; a difference _of_ one thing _from_ (incorrectly _to_) another.

DIFFICULT.