SYNONYMS
A DEFINITION OF SYNONYMS:
synonym a word or phrase which has the same or nearly the same meaning as another
word or phrase in the same language: big/large, strong/heavy, small/little are
synonyms.
There are always differences between synonyms in meaning or in usage. E.g., we say
a strong wind, non a heavy wind, but heavy rain, not strong rain. This is a difference
in usage.
Small refers to size and is the usual opposite of 'big' or 'large:' Could I have a
hamburger and a small Coke please? Our house is quite small. Little too may refer
to size but also expresses the speaker's feelings. For example, it can suggest that the
speaker likes or dislikes something. They live in a beautiful little village. Rats are
horrible little animals. These are differences in meaning.
Find all the synonyms for ‘poor’ in the following passage.*
I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn’t
poor, I was needy.Then they told me it was selfdefeating to think of myself as needy. I was deprived.
(Oh, not deprived but rather underprivileged.) Then
they told me that underprivileged was overused. I was
disadvantaged. I still don’t have a dime. But I have a
great vocabulary.
Jules Feiffer
Jules Ralph Feiffer (b. January 26, 1929)[1] is an American cartoonist, most notable for his long-run comic strip titled
Feiffer. He has created more than 35 books, plays and screenplays. In 1986, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his editorial
cartooning in The Village Voice
* Answer: Poor, needy, deprived, underprivileged, disadvantaged.
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A DICTIONARY OF SYNONYMS IN BOOK FORM
Use this entry from Gabrielli’s Dictionary of Italian Synonyms to provide a translation of the synonyms
in the passage by Feiffer.
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AN ON-LINE DICTIONARY OF SYNONYMS
Look at this list of synonyms for POOR from an on-line dictionary of synonyms (http://dico.isc.cnrs.fr/dico/en/search). Do you have all
the words for “poor” that you found in the passage by Feiffer?*
ailing
arid
bad
badly
badly-off
bankrupt
bare
barren
base
beggarly
below par
broke
cheap
deficient
deprived
destitute
distressed
exiguous
faulty
flimsy
fruitless
hapless
hard up
hardscrabble
humble
impecunious
impoverished
inadequate
indigent
inferior
infertile
insubstantial
insufficient
lacking
lame
lousily
lousy
low
low-grade
lowly
luckless
meager
meagre
mean
mediocre
menial
miserable
misfortunate
needy
paltry
pathetic
penniless
penurious
piteous
pitiable
pitiful
poorly
povertystricken
rotten
rottenly
scanty
second-rate
shabby
shoddy
short
sick
sickly
slender
slim
sparse
star-crossed
sterile
substandard
underprivile
ged
unfortunate
unlucky
unproductive
weak
worthless
wretched
* Answer: ‘disadvantaged’ is missing.
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