Phr. "the artillery of words" [Swift].
#563. Neologism. -- N. neology, neologism; newfangled expression, nonce expression; back-formation; caconym[obs3]; barbarism.
archaism, black letter, monkish Latin.
corruption, missaying[obs3], malapropism, antiphrasis[obs3].
pun, paranomasia[obs3], play upon words; word play &c. (wit) 842; double-entendre &c. (ambiguity) 520[Fr]; palindrome, paragram[obs3], anagram, clinch; abuse of language, abuse of terms.
dialect, brogue, idiom, accent, patois; provincialism, regionalism, localism; broken English, lingua franca; Anglicism, Briticism, Gallicism, Scotticism, Hibernicism; Americanism[obs3]; Gypsy lingo, Romany; pidgin, pidgin English, pigeon English; Volapuk, Chinook, Esperanto, Hindustani, kitchen Kaffir.
dog Latin, macaronics[obs3], gibberish; confusion of tongues, Babel; babu English[obs3], chi-chi.
figure of speech &c. (metaphor) 521; byword.
colloquialism, informal speech, informal language.
substandard language, vernacular.
vulgar language, obscene language, obscenity, vulgarity.
jargon, technical terms, technicality, lingo, slang, cant, argot; St.
Gile"s Greek, thieves" Latin, peddler"s French, flash tongue, Billingsgate, Wall Street slang.
pseudology[obs3].
pseudonym &c. (misnomer) 565; Mr. So-and-so; wha d"ye call "em[obs3], whatchacallim, what"s his name; thingummy[obs3], thingumbob; je ne sais quoi[Fr].
neologist[obs3], coiner of words.
V. coin words, coin a term; backform; Americanize, Anglicize.
Adj. neologic[obs3], neological[obs3]; archaic; obsolete &c. (old) 124; colloquial; Anglice[obs3].
#564. Nomenclature. -- N. nomenclature; naming &c. v.; nuncupation, nomination, baptism; orismology[obs3]; onomatopoeia; antonomasia[obs3].
name; appelation[obs3], appelative[obs3]; designation, t.i.tle; heading, rubric; caption; denomination; by-name, epithet.
style, proper name; praenomen[Lat], agnomen[obs3], cognomen; patronymic, surname; cognomination[obs3]; eponym; compellation[obs3], description, antonym; empty t.i.tle, empty name; handle to one"s name; namesake.
term, expression, noun; byword; convertible terms &c. 522; technical term; cant &c. 563.
V. name, call, term, denominate designate, style, ent.i.tle, clepe[obs3], dub, christen, baptize, characterize, specify, define, distinguish by the name of; label &c. (mark) 550.
be -called &c v.; take the name of, bean the name of, go by the name of, be known by the name of, go under the name of, pa.s.s under the name of, rejoice in the name of.
Adj. named &c. v.; hight[obs3], ycleped, known as; what one may well, call fairly, call properly, call fitly.
nuncupatory[obs3], nuncupative; cognominal[obs3], t.i.tular, nominal, orismological[obs3].
Phr. "beggar"d all description" [Antony and Cleopatra].
#565. Misnomer. -- N. misnomer; lucus a non lucendo[Lat]; Mrs.
Malaprop; what d"ye call "em &c. (neologism) 563[obs3]; Hoosier.
nickname, sobriquet, by-name; a.s.sumed name, a.s.sumed t.i.tle; alias; nom de course, nom de theatre, nom de guerre[Fr], nom de plume; pseudonym, pseudonymy.
V. misname, miscall, misterm[obs3]; nickname; a.s.sume a name.
Adj. misnamed &c. v.; pseudonymous; soi-disant[Fr]; self called, self styled, self christened; so-called.
nameless, anonymous; without a having no name; innominate, unnamed; unacknowledged.
Adv. in no sense.
#566. Phrase. -- N. phrase, expression, set phrase; sentence, paragraph; figure of speech &c. 521; idiom, idiotism[obs3]; turn of expression; style.
paraphrase &c. (synonym) 522; periphrase &c. (circ.u.mlocution) 573 motto &c. (proverb) 496[obs3].
phraseology &c. 569.
V. express, phrase; word, word it; give words to, give expression to; voice; arrange in words, clothe in words, put into words, express by words; couch in terms; find words to express; speak by the card; call, denominate, designate, dub.
Adj. expressed &c. v.; idiomatic.
Adv. in round terms, in set terms, in good set terms, set terms; in set phrases.
#567. Grammar. -- N. grammar, accidence, syntax, praxis, punctuation; parts of speech; jussive[obs3]; syllabication; inflection, case, declension, conjugation; us et norma loquendi[Lat]; Lindley Murray &c.
(schoolbook) 542; correct style, philology &c. (language) 560.
V. pa.r.s.e, punctuate, syllabicate[obs3].
#568. Solecism. -- N. solecism; bad grammar, false grammar, faulty grammar; slip of the pen, slip of the tongue; lapsus linguae[Lat]; slipslop[obs3]; bull; barbarism, impropriety.
V. use bad grammar, faulty grammar; solecize[obs3], commit a solecism; murder the King"s English, murder the Queen"s English, break Priscian"s head.
Adj. ungrammatical; incorrect, inaccurate; faulty; improper, incongruous; solecistic, solecistical[obs3].
#569. Style. -- N. style, diction, phraseology, wording; manner, strain; composition; mode of expression, choice of words; mode of speech, literary power, ready pen, pen of a ready writer; command of language &c.
(eloquence) 582; authorship; la morgue litteraire[Fr]..
V. express by words &c. 566; write.
Phr. le style c"est de l"homme [Fr][Buffon]; "style is the dress of thoughts" [Chesterfield].
Various Qualities of Style
#570. Perspicuity. -- N. perspicuity, perspicuousness &c.
(intelligibility) 518; plain speaking &c. (manifestation) 525; definiteness, definition; exactness &c. 494; explicitness, lucidness.
Adj. lucid &c. (intelligible) 518; explicit &c. (manifest) 525; exact &c. 494.
#571. Obscurity. -- N. obscurity &c. (unintelligibility) 519; involution; hard words; ambiguity &c. 520; unintelligibleness; vagueness &c. 475, inexactness &c. 495; what d"ye call "em &c. (neologism) 563[obs3]; darkness of meaning.
Adj. obscure &c. n.; crabbed, involved, confused.
#572. Conciseness. -- N. conciseness &c. adj.; brevity, "the soul of wit", laconism[obs3]; Tacitus; ellipsis; syncope; abridgment &c.
(shortening) 201; compression &c. 195; epitome &c. 596; monostich[obs3]; brunch word, portmanteau word.
V. be concise &c. adj.; condense &c. 195; abridge &c. 201; abstract &c. 596; come to the point.
Adj. concise, brief, short, terse,close; to the point, exact; neat, compact; compressed, condensed, pointed; laconic, curt, pithy, trenchant, summary; pregnant; compendious &c. (compendium) 596; succinct; elliptical, epigrammatic, quaint, crisp; sententious.
Adv. concisely &c. adj.; briefly, summarily; in brief, in short, in a word, in a few words; for shortness sake; to come to the point, to make a long story short, to cut the matter short, to be brief; it comes to this, the long and the short of it is.
Phr. brevis esse laboro obscurus fio [Lat][Horace].
#573. Diffuseness. -- N. diffuseness &c. adj.; amplification &c. v.; dilating &c. v.; verbosity, verbiage, cloud of words, copia verborum[Lat]; flow of words &c. (loquacity) 584; looseness.
Polylogy[obs3], tautology, battology[obs3], perissology; pleonasm, exuberance, redundancy; thrice-told tale; prolixity; circ.u.mlocution, ambages [obs3]; periphrase[obs3], periphrasis; roundabout phrases; episode; expletive; pennya-lining; richness &c. 577.
V. be diffuse &c. adj.; run out on, descant, expatiate, enlarge, dilate, amplify, expand, inflate; launch out, branch out; rant.
maunder, prose; harp upon &c. (repeat) 104; dwell on, insist upon.
digress, ramble, battre la campagne[Fr][obs3], beat about the bush, perorate, spin a long yarn, protract; spin out, swell out, draw out; battologize[obs3].
Adj. diffuse, profuse; wordy, verbose, largiloquent, copious, exuberant, pleonastic, lengthy; longsome[obs3], long-winded, longspun[obs3], long drawn out; spun out, protracted, prolix, prosing, maundering; circ.u.mlocutory, periphrastic, ambagious[obs3], roundabout; digressive; discursive, excursive; loose; rambling episodic; flatulent, frothy.
Adv. diffusely &c. adj.; at large, in extenso[Lat]; about it and about it.
#574. Vigor. -- N. vigor, power, force; boldness, raciness &c. adj.; intellectual, force; spirit, point, ant.i.thesis, piquance, piquancy; verve, glow, fire, warmth; strong language; gravity, sententiousness; elevation, loftiness, sublimity.
eloquence; command of words, command of language.
Adj. vigorous, nervous, powerful, forcible, trenchant, incisive, impressive; sensational.
spirited, lively, glowing, sparkling, racy, bold, slashing; pungent, piquant, full of point, pointed, pithy, ant.i.thetical; sententious.
lofty, elevated, sublime; eloquent; vehement, petulant, impa.s.sioned; poetic.
Adv. in glowing terms, in good set terms, in no measured terms.
Phr. "thoughts that breath and words that burn" [Gray].
#575. Feebleness. -- N. feebleness &c. adj.
Adj. feeble, bald, tame, meager, jejune, vapid, bland, trashy, lukewarm, cold, frigid, poor, dull, dry, languid; colorless, enervated; proposing, prosy, prosaic; unvaried, monotonous, weak, washy, wishy-washy; sketchy, slight.
careless, slovenly, loose, lax (negligent) 460; slipshod, slipslop[obs3]; inexact; puerile, childish; flatulent; rambling &c.
(diffuse) 573.