New answers tagged synonyms
0
votes
Accepted
Is there a better word for the sound of a mechanical "whirr"?
I’ve certainly heard hum used in at least moderately technical contexts.
Collins gives:
Hum
INTRANSITIVE VERB If something hums, it makes a low continuous noise.
-1
votes
Was there a word for cleavage, decolleté, or decolletage in the 17th century?
I'm particularly interested in finding a word used in the 17th century that was more specific than bosom. I could find no use of cleavage before the 20th century or decolleté before 1778.
You will ...
-2
votes
Was there a word for cleavage, decolleté, or decolletage in the 17th century?
From Wikipedia:
Women started squeezing the breasts and applying make up to make their cleavage more attractive;[39] cleavage was termed the "smile of the bustline" by contemporaneous ...
3
votes
Was there a word for cleavage, decolleté, or decolletage in the 17th century?
Poetic: Globes
pre-1705:
BREASTS
With what rich Globes did her soft Bosom swell?
Plump as ripe Clusters rose each glowing Breast,
Courting the Hand, and suing to be press'd.
The yielding Marble of ...
4
votes
Was there a word for cleavage, decolleté, or decolletage in the 17th century?
Etymonline suggests the term decoloured (Cut low at the neck, décolleté.)
Décolleté
Middle English had an equivalent and partially nativized adjective, decoloured (mid-15c.).
0
votes
What is a word for bringing together fragmented pieces of a whole?
Reassemble. I realize this word has already been submitted, but I strongly feel as if it succinctly conveys the intended meaning.
2
votes
What is a word for bringing together fragmented pieces of a whole?
Coalesce is a concise and somewhat poetic word for this. It is used frequently to describe smaller bits joining up with each other to produce a larger whole, often spontaneously, though that's not ...
2
votes
What is a word for bringing together fragmented pieces of a whole?
Therer exists a family of words that applies generally enough to this idea.
(SOED) conflate v.t.
2 Put together; compose; bring about
(3 Combine, blend (two things, esp. two variant texts, etc.) ...
1
vote
What is a word for bringing together fragmented pieces of a whole?
There are actually a vast number of words, phases, and metaphors for this, with different connotations. It would probably foolish to try to list them all.
All quoted definitions from Merriam-Webster. ...
2
votes
What is a word for bringing together fragmented pieces of a whole?
Defragment.
to reorganize separated fragments of related data on (a computer disk) into a contiguous arrangement -M-W
Usually used for data "on a computer disk" as in the above definition, ...
2
votes
What is a word for bringing together fragmented pieces of a whole?
Compilation works for both process and result:
compilation [noun]
the action or process of producing something, especially a list or book, by assembling information collected from other sources.
...
0
votes
Word to describe someone doing something even though told not to
For a noun, you could describe the person as a line-stepper, indicating someone who ignores established boundaries to do something thy are not supposed to - they are one who figuratively steps "...
0
votes
Word to describe someone doing something even though told not to
pigheaded (adj.)
Willfully or perversely unyielding : obstinate
He was too pigheaded to listen to my suggestion.
the kind of pigheaded person who seems to believe that facts only confuse an issue
M-W
...
1
vote
Accepted
What is a word meaning something you do only as a required action to meet a formal requirement?
Yosef Baskin gave you a great answer, albeit in a comment. From Merriam-Webster:
pro forma (adj., sense 1): made or carried out in a perfunctory manner or as a formality.
Although the definition ...
0
votes
Is a 'synonym' exact?
If you will forgive me for being brutally frank,
one may also say that '5' is a synonym of '2+3'.
is arrant nonsense – one may not say that as it simply is not true. “2+3” is one definition of “5”. ...
1
vote
What is a word meaning something you do only as a required action to meet a formal requirement?
Something you do only as a required action to meet a formal requirement is a...
formality (noun - OED definition 8)
A ceremony; a formal act or observance; a legal, authorized, or customary ...
0
votes
Word to describe someone doing something even though told not to
A contrarian, perhaps? Do as you please. You’re going to anyway!
From Wiktionary:
A person who likes or tends to express a contradicting viewpoint, especially one who denounces the majority ...
5
votes
Can “spooky” and “sketchy” be considered synonyms?
You've both got a point.
Both something spooky, and something sketchy can provoke uneasiness. But they're not synonyms, and it's a different sort of uneasiness. The former is the spine-tingling ...
4
votes
Can “spooky” and “sketchy” be considered synonyms?
Tetsujin's answer is correct, but it occurs to me that perhaps your daughter was thinking of the term 'spooked' when she said 'spooky'. It's completely understandable that these terms could be ...
6
votes
Can “spooky” and “sketchy” be considered synonyms?
These words as used are from two different subcultural usages.
sketchy comes from the concept of a plan not being explained to the speaker completely. The speaker implicitly assumes that because they ...
29
votes
Accepted
Can “spooky” and “sketchy” be considered synonyms?
Sketchy* means [in this respect] dishonest or disreputable, rather than its usual 'not highly detailed'.
Spooky doesn't really cover it in either usage, 'scary' or 'easily scared', but 'fishy' [...
0
votes
Is there a noun for an estranged adult child?
Forums that deal with such matters generally have no other term except the abbreviations EC, ED, and ES -- that is, estranged child, estranged daughter, estranged son.
However, even those are limited ...
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