Each entry gives a list of synonyms, followed by a paragraph that briefly explains or exemplifies the subtle distinctions between the listed words. The entries sometimes close with a few words on the prepositions that follow selected synonyms, but more often with a list of antonyms. By "synonyms" we usually understand words that coincide or nearly coincide in some part of their meaning, & may hence within certain limits be used interchangeably, while outside of those limits they may differ very greatly in meaning & use. It's the office of a work on synonyms to point out these correspondences & differences, that language may have the flexibility that comes from freedom of selection within the common limits, with the perspicuity & precision that result from exact choice of the fittest words to express each shade of meaning outside of the common limits.

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