Synonyms and Antonyms List

REF	LEVEL	SYN./ANT.	MEANING	EXAMPLE
ADJECTIVE SYNONYMS/OPPOSITES
SA01	=	prudent = cautious	avoiding unnecessary risks	A prudent builder should forecast how long the stuff is likely to last.
SA01	=	fearless = intrepid	extremely brave and showing no fear	Super heroes are intrepid in their struggle for truth and justice.
SA01	=	disastrous = calamitous	causing great damage or suffering	The building collapsed in the storm, with calamitous results.
SA01	=	changeable = unpredictable	likely to change, often changing	We have very changeable weather here, especially in the winter.
SA01	=	ordinary = mundane	not interesting or exciting	The film is about the mundane existence of factory workers.
SA01	=	merciful = lenient	not strict in the way you punish sb	Many people felt that the punishment was too lenient.
SA01	=	widespread = prevalent	exists or happens over a large area	Flu is most prevalent during the winter months.
SA01	=	irreversible = irrevocable	that cannot be changed	New technology has brought about irreversible changes in society.
SA01	=	endless = interminable	continuing for a long time	They were blackened with soot deposited by the interminable smog.
SA01	=	laborious = arduous	needing a lot of time and effort	Keeping the garden tidy all year round can be a laborious task.
SA02
SA02	=	terrible = atrocious	extremely bad	They are compiling an atrocious record in recent cup competitions.
SA02	=	pleasant = congenial	suitable or appropriate	The town is a congenial place for raising children.
SA02	=	greedy = mercenary	only interested in making money	She had some mercenary scheme to marry a wealthy widower.
SA02	=	frightening = harrowing	extremely worrying, upsetting	They escaped after several harrowing encounters with the enemy.
SA02	=	insecure = precarious	not safe, strong, or steady	They looked rather comical as they crawled up precarious ladders.
SA02	=	crucial = pivotal	extremely important or necessary	The Court of Appeal has a pivotal role in the English legal system.
SA02	=	shrewd = astute	showing sharp powers of judgement	He made some astute observations about the film industry.
SA02	=	unfashionable = dowdy	not attractive or fashionable	I get so sick of women in dowdy old clothes and perpetual crepes.
SA02	=	eager = zealous	extremely enthusiastic	The detective was zealous in her pursuit of the kidnappers.
SA02	=	worried = apprehensive	afraid that something bad may happen	Nina was deeply apprehensive that something might go wrong.
SA03
SA03		candid	truthful and straightforward, frank	To be candid with you, I think you're making a dreadful mistake.
SA03		courageous	having or showing courage	The courageous boy saved her baby sister from a house fire.
SA03		shrewd	clever at making judgements	Malcolm's a shrewd businessman who's popular with his staff.
SA03		fervent	displaying a passionate intensity	At that time he was a fervent believer in the civil service system.
SA03		perilous	full of danger or risk	How do you expect us to proceed on such a perilous expedition?
SA03		boisterous	noisy, energetic, and rough	He had been boisterous and sharp, a humorous woman.
SA03		affluent	having plenty of money	The Strand is one of London's busiest and most affluent streets.
SA03		copious	abundant in supply or quantity	They sat in the front row and took copious notes during the lecture.
SA03		destitute	without money, food or possessions	When her father died, her family was left completely destitute.
SA03		immense	extremely large, great in size or degree	The city takes immense pride in recent achievements.
SA04
SA04	≠	crude ≠ sophisticated	simple and not skilfully done or made	They rigged up a simple and crude shelter for the children.
SA04	≠	profound ≠ superficial	existing at or on the surface	The 75-year-old clergyman escaped with superficial wounds.
SA04	≠	sensitive ≠ callous	being hardened and thickened	I was shocked at the callous disregard for human life.
SA04	≠	effortless ≠ grueling	extremely tiring and demanding	The cast took a break from their gruelling schedule.
SA04	≠	unlikely ≠ plausible	likely to be true or successful	Sometimes very contrasting hypotheses can seem equally plausible.
SA04	≠	incurious ≠ inquisitive	not eager to know something	Mark is remarkably incurious about the natural world.
SA04	≠	unenthusiastic ≠ zealous	enthusiastic and eager	The zealous missionaries were determined to convert the villagers.
SA04	≠	imperfect ≠ impeccable	free from fault or blame, flawless	He's German but he speaks with an impeccable English accent.
SA04	≠	fortunate ≠ calamitous	having good luck, lucky	The youth was fortunate in having understanding parents.
SA05
SA05	≠	lively ≠ dreary	causing unhappiness or sad feelings	She found herself being drawn into another dreary argument.
SA05	≠	foolish ≠ sagacious	wise or shrewd	A sagacious businesswoman seldom fails in her business.
SA05	≠	abundant ≠ scarce	more than enough	Latin America has an abundant labour force and natural resources.
SA05	≠	poor ≠ opulent	very comfortable and expensive	Most of the cash went on supporting her opulent lifestyle.
SA05	≠	robust ≠ decrepit	old and in bad condition or poor health	The decrepit building was badly in need of repair.
SA05	≠	incapable ≠ resourceful	able to meet situations	His son is resourceful enough to mix well with all kinds of people.
SA05	≠	distant ≠ imminent	likely to happen very soon	The guard blew his whistle to warn of the train's imminent departure.
SA05	≠	dull ≠ luminous	giving off light, bright or shining	He wore a vest top and a pair of luminous shorts to the beach party.
SA05	≠	large ≠ diminutive	very short or small	We thought her diminutive figure could not suffer that work.
SA06
SA06		charitable	kind in your attitude to other people	They were rather less than charitable towards the referee.
SA06		hesitant	unsure, or slow in acting or speaking	Paul is hesitant to draw conclusions until the study is over.
SA06		diffuse	spread out over a large area	The building was filled with a soft, diffuse light.
SA06		intermittent	not happening regularly or continuously	After two days of intermittent fighting, order was finally restored.
SA06		unintelligible	impossible to understand	Martin muttered something unintelligible and lapsed into silence.
SA06		timid	lacking in courage or self-confidence	Kate was quiet, appeared timid but had an immensely strong will.
SA06		concealed	kept out of sight or hidden from view	Drug use is often concealed even from close friends.
SA06		insipid	lacking flavour, weak or tasteless	He said he was a good cook, but the food he cooked was insipid.
VERB SYNONYMS/OPPOSITES
SA07	=	ease = alleviate	make easier to endure, lessen	You can't cure a common cold, but you can alleviate the symptoms.
SA07	=	necessitate = entail	involve sth that cannot be avoided	I didn't want to take on a job that would entail a lot of travelling.
SA07	=	hinder = hamper	slow the movement, progress, or action	Her career was hampered by injury, most noticeably a broken leg.
SA07	=	attempt = endeavour	seriously or continually try to do sth	In an endeavour to improve the service, they introduced free parking.
SA07	=	reveal = divulge	make something secret known	Michael refused to divulge the name of his informant.
SA07	=	indicate = denote	represent or mean something	A very high temperature often denotes a serious illness.
SA07	=	aggravate = exacerbate	make more violent, bitter, or severe	Her comments have exacerbated tensions in the negotiation process.
SA07	=	endanger = jeopardise	risk harming or destroying sth or sb	She would never do anything to endanger the lives of his children.
SA07	=	hide = harbour	hide and protect someone	Police believe someone must be harbouring the escaped prisoner.
SA07	=	excuse = condone	accept behaviour that is wrong	The college cannot condone any behaviour that involves illicit drugs.
SA08
SA08	=	scatter = disperse	distribute or spread over a wide area	Police fired shots and used teargas to disperse the demonstrators.
SA08	=	pass = elapse	if time elapses, it goes past	More than eleven years have elapsed since the kidnapping.
SA08	=	improve = refine	improve sth by making changes to it	He would constantly refine his designs until they were almost perfect.
SA08	=	restrict = constrain	limit somebody or something	There are many factors that constrain agricultural development.
SA08	=	exceed = surpass	do or be better than sb or sth	The novel's success has surpassed everyone's expectations.
SA08	=	misappropriate = embezzle	secretly take money that is in your care	One former manager embezzled £9 million in company funds.
SA08	=	flourish = prosper	be financially successful	With the advent of the new chairman, the company began to prosper.
SA08	=	obtain = elicit	obtain something, esp. information	The questionnaire was intended to elicit information on eating habits.
SA08	=	consider = deem	judge something in a particular way	The story was deemed too controversial and so they spiked it.
SA08	=	confuse = baffle	totally bewilder or perplex	I don't know what to make of it. Even the police seem baffled.
SA09
SA09		covet	want something very much	Catholics are supposed to abstain from meat on Good Friday.
SA09		abstain	decide not to do or have something	She had long coveted the chance to work with a famous musician.
SA09		rebuke	criticize sharply, reprimand	Members of the jury were rebuked for speaking with the press.
SA09		attain	accomplish or achieve something	There will be an objective for him to attain before the game is won.
SA09		bewilder	confuse someone	I am totally bewildered by the clues to this crossword puzzle.
SA09		renounce	give up or put aside voluntarily	Mary decided to renounce the world and entered a convent.
SA09		fathom	discover the meaning of something	I really couldn't fathom what Stephen was talking about.
SA09		flourish	be very successful, to do very well	No new business can flourish in the present economic climate.
SA09		infer	form an opinion from evidence	From the evidence we can infer that the victim knew her killer.
SA09		scrutinize	examine or inspect thoroughly	The statement was carefully scrutinized before publication.
SA10
SA10	≠	advance ≠ retreat	an act of moving back or withdrawing	The army was forced to retreat after suffering heavy losses.
SA10	≠	improve ≠ deteriorate	become progressively worse	The weather gradually deteriorated as the day went on.
SA10	≠	extinguish ≠ ignite	catch fire or cause to catch fire	Something caused the fuel to ignite with devastating consequences.
SA10	≠	dissuade ≠ persuade	persuade someone not to do something	The police managed to dissuade her from jumping off the building.
SA10	≠	conquer ≠ succumb	not be able to fight an attack	The small town succumbed after only a short siege.
SA10	≠	accept ≠ reject	refuse to admit, believe, or receive	Her application for membership of the organisation was rejected.
SA10	≠	expand ≠ contract	decrease in size, number, or range	The economy has now contracted by 10.5% since last year.
SA10	≠	fabricate ≠ dismantle	take a machine or structure to pieces	The equipment was sold for scrap, and the line was dismantled.
SA10	≠	persist ≠ falter	continue to do something	If symptoms persist for more than a few days, see a doctor.
SA11
SA11	≠	establish ≠ abolish	make something start to exist	She found it difficult to establish a new routine after retirement.
SA11	≠	comply ≠ infringe	break a rule, law, etc.	A backup copy of a computer program does not infringe copyright.
SA11	≠	aggravate ≠ alleviate	make a bad situation worse	Cutting down the old forests may aggravate global warming.
SA11	≠	evade ≠ confront	avoid or escape from sb or sth	Tom is trying to evade all responsibility for his behaviour.
SA11	≠	boast ≠ belittle	make sb or sth seem unimportant	Don't belittle his guitar playing just because you're jealous.
SA11	≠	despise ≠ revere	have great respect for sb or sth	The professor was revered by his fellow countrymen.
SA11	≠	clarify ≠ obscure	make sth difficult to understand	The main theme of the book is obscured by frequent digressions.
SA11	≠	soar ≠ plummet	quickly increase to a high level	Retail sales soared by 20% in the twelve months to December.
SA11	≠	converge ≠ diverge	become the same or very similar	The borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma all converge at this point.
SA11	≠	mourn ≠ rejoice	feel or show great joy or delight	When the war ended, people finally had cause to rejoice.