apostatize, change sides, go over, rat; recant, retract; revoke; rescind &c. (abrogate) 756; recall; forswear, unsay; come over, come round to an opinion; crawfish *[U. S.], crawl* [U. S.].
draw in one"s horns, eat one"s words; eat the leek, swallow the leek; swerve, flinch, back out of, retrace one"s steps, think better of it; come back return to one"s first love; turn over a new leaf &c. (repent) 950.
trim, shuffle, play fast and loose, blow hot and cold, coquet, be on the fence, straddle, bold with the hare but run with the hounds; nager entre deux eaux[Fr]; wait to see how the cat jumps, wait to see how the wind blows.
Adj. changeful &c. 149; irresolute &c. 605; ductile, slippery as an eel, tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, ambidextrous, timeserving[obs3]; coquetting &c. v.
revocatory[obs3], reactionary.
Phr. "a change came o"er the spirit of my dream" [Byron].
#608. Caprice. -- N. caprice, fancy, humor; whim, whimsy, whimsey[obs3], whimwham[obs3]; crotchet, capriccio, quirk, freak, maggot, fad, vagary, prank, fit, flimflam, escapade, boutade[Fr], wild-goose chase; capriciousness &c. adj.; kink.
V. be capricious &c. adj.; have a maggot in the brain; take it into one"s head, strain at a gnat and swallow a camel; blow hot and cold; play fast and loose, play fantastic tricks; tourner casaque[Fr].
Adj. capricious; erratic, eccentric, fitful, hysterical; full of whims &c. n.; maggoty; inconsistent, fanciful, fantastic, whimsical, crotchety, kinky [U. S.], particular, humorsome[obs3], freakish, skittish, wanton, wayward; contrary; captious; arbitrary; unconformable &c. 83; penny wise and pound foolish; fickle &c. (irresolute) 605; frivolous, sleeveless, giddy, volatile.
Adv. by fits and starts, without rhyme or reason.
Phr. nil fuit unquain sic inipar sibi[Lat]; the deuce is in him.
#609. Choice. -- N. choice, option; discretion &c. (volition) 600; preoption[obs3]; alternative; dilemma, embarras de choix[Fr]; adoption, cooptation[obs3]; novation[obs3]; decision &c. (judgment) 480.
election; political election (politics) 737a.
selection, excerption, gleaning, eclecticism; excerpta[obs3], gleanings, cuttings, scissors and paste; pick &c. (best) 650.
preference, prelation[obs3], opinion poll, survey; predilection &c.
(desire) 865.
V. offers one"s choice, set before; hold out the alternative, present the alternative, offer the alternative; put to the vote.
use option, use discretion, exercise option, exercise discretion, one"s option; adopt, take up, embrace, espouse; choose, elect, opt for; take one"s choice, make one"s choice; make choice of, fix upon.
vote, poll, hold up one"s hand; divide.
settle; decide &c. (adjudge) 480; list &c. (will) 600; make up one"s mind &c. (resolve) 604.
select; pick and choose; pick out, single out; cull, glean, winnow; sift the chaff from the wheat, separate the chaff from the wheat, winnow the chaff from the wheat; pick up, pitch upon; pick one"s way; indulge one"s fancy.
set apart, mark out for; mark &c. 550.
prefer; have rather, have as lief; fancy &c. (desire) 865; be persuaded &c. 615.
take a decided step, take a decisive step; commit oneself to a course; pa.s.s the Rubicon, cross the Rubicon; cast in one"s lot with; take for better or for worse.
Adj. optional; discretional &c. (voluntary) 600.
eclectic; choosing &c. v.; preferential; chosen &c. v.; choice &c.
(good) 648.
Adv. optionally &c. adj.; at pleasure &c. (will) 600; either the one or the other; or at the option of; whether or not; once and for all; for one"s money.
by choice, by preference; in preference; rather, before.
#609a. Absence of Choice. -- N. no choice, Hobson"s choice; first come first served, random selection; necessity &c. 601; not a pin to choose &c.
(equality) 27; any, the first that comes; that or nothing.
neutrality, indifference; indecision &c. (irresolution) 605; arbitrariness.
coercion (compulsion) 744.
V. be neutral &c. adj.; have no choice, have no election; waive, not vote; abstain from voting, refrain from voting; leave undecided; "make a virtue of necessity" [Two Gentlemen].
Adj. neutral, neuter; indifferent, uninterested; undecided &c.
(irresolute) 605.
Adv. either &c. (choice) 609.
Phr. who cares? what difference does it make? "There"s not a dime"s worth of difference between them." [George Wallace].
#610. Rejection. -- N. rejection, repudiation, exclusion; refusal &c.
764; declination V. reject; set aside, lay aside; give up; decline &c. (refuse) 764; exclude, except; pluck, spin; cast.
repudiate, scout, set at naught; fling to the winds, fling to the dogs, fling overboard, fling away, cast to the winds, cast to the dogs, cast overboard, cast away, throw to the winds, throw to the dogs, throw overboard, throw away, toss to the winds, toss to the dogs, toss overboard, toss away; send to the right about; disclaim &c. (deny) 536; discard &c.
(eject) 297, (have done with) 678.
Adj. rejected &c. v.; reject, rejectaneous, rejectious; not chosen &c. 609, to be thought of, out of the question Adv. neither, neither the one nor the other; no &c 536.
Phr. non haec in faedera[Lat].
#611. Predetermination. -- N. predestination, preordination, premeditation, predeliberation[obs3], predetermination; foregone conclusion, fait accompli[Fr]; parti pris[Fr]; resolve, propendency; intention &c. 620; project &c. 626; fate, foredoom, necessity.
V. predestine, preordain, predetermine, premeditate, resolve, concert; resolve beforehand, predesignate.
Adj. prepense[obs3], premeditated &c. v., predesignated, predesigned[obs3]; advised, studied, designed, calculated; aforethought; intended &c. 620; foregone.
well-laid, well-devised, well-weighed; maturely considered; cunning.
Adv. advisedly &c. adj.; with premeditation, deliberately, all things considered, with eyes open, in cold blood; intentionally &c. 620.
#612. Impulse. -- N. impulse, sudden thought; impromptu, improvisation; inspiration, flash, spurt.
improvisatore[obs3]; creature of impulse.
V. flash on the mind.
say what comes uppermost; improvise, extemporize.
Adj. extemporaneous, impulsive, indeliberate[obs3]; snap; improvised, improvisate[obs3], improvisatory[obs3]; unpremeditated, unmeditated; improvise; unprompted, unguided; natural, unguarded; spontaneous &c.
(voluntary) 600; instinctive &c. 601.
Adv. extempore, extemporaneously; offhand, impromptu, a limproviste[Fr]; improviso[obs3]; on the spur of the moment, on the spur of the occasion.
#613. Habit. [includes commonness due to frequency of occurrence] -- N. habit, habitude; a.s.suetude, a.s.suefaction, wont; run, way.
common state of things, general state of things, natural state of things, ordinary state of things, ordinary course of things, ordinary run of things; matter of course; beaten path, beaten track, beaten ground.
prescription, custom, use, usage, immemorial usage, practice; prevalence, observance; conventionalism, conventionality; mode, fashion, vogue; etiquette &c. (gentility) 852; order of the day, cry; conformity &c.
82; consuetude,.dustoor[obs3].
one"s old way, old school, veteris vestigia flammae[Lat]; laudator temporis acti[Lat].
rule, standing order, precedent, routine; red-tape, red-tapism[obs3]; pipe clay; rut, groove.
cacoethes[Lat]; bad habit, confirmed habit, inveterate habit, intrinsic habit &c.; addiction, trick.
training &c. (education) 537; seasoning, second nature, acclimatization; knack &c.
V. be wont &c. adj.
fall into a rut, fall into a custom &c. (conform to) 82; tread the beaten track, follow the beaten track, tread the beaten path, follow the beaten; stare super antiquas vias[Lat][obs3]; move in a rut, run on in a groove, go round like a horse in a mill, go on in the old jog trot way.
habituate, inure, harden, season, caseharden; accustom, familiarize; naturalize, acclimatize; keep one"s hand in; train &c. (educate) 537.
get into the way, get into the knack of; learn &c. 539; cling to, adhere to; repeat &c. 104; acquire a habit, contract a habit, fall into a habit, acquire a trick, contract a trick, fall into a trick; addict oneself to, take to, get into.
be habitual &c. adj.; prevail; come into use, become a habit, take root; gain upon one, grow upon one.
Adj. habitual; accustomary[obs3]; prescriptive, accustomed &c. v.; of daily occurrence, of everyday occurrence; consuetudinary[obs3]; wonted, usual, general, ordinary, common, frequent, everyday, household, garden variety, jog, trot; well-trodden, well-known; familiar, vernacular, trite, commonplace, conventional, regular, set, stock, established, stereotyped; prevailing, prevalent; current, received, acknowledged, recognized, accredited; of course, admitted, understood.
conformable. &c. 82; according to use, according to custom, according to routine; in vogue, in fashion, in, with it; fashionable &c. (genteel) 852.
wont; used to, given to, addicted to, attuned to, habituated &c. v.; in the habit of; habitue; at home in &c. (skillful) 698; seasoned; imbued with; devoted to, wedded to.
hackneyed, fixed, rooted, deep-rooted, ingrafted[obs3], permanent, inveterate, besetting; naturalized; ingrained &c. (intrinsic) 5.
Adv. habitually &c. adj.; always &c. (uniformly) 16.
as usual, as is one"s wont, as things go, as the world goes, as the sparks fly upwards; more suo, more solito[Lat]; ex more.
as a rule, for the most part; usually, generally, typically &c. adj.; most often, most frequently.
Phr. cela s"entend[Fr]; abeunt studia in mores[Lat]; adeo in teneris consuescere multum est[Lat]; consuetudo quasi altera natura [Lat][Cicero]; hoc erat in more majorum[Lat]; "How use doth breed a habit in a man!" [Two Gentlemen]; magna est vis consuetudinis[Lat]; morent fecerat usus [Lat][Ovid].
#614. Desuetude. -- N. desuetude, disusage[obs3]; obsolescence, disuse &c. 678; want of habit, want of practice; inusitation[obs3]; newness to; new brooms.
infraction of usage &c. (unconformity) 83; nonprevalence[obs3]; "a custom more honored in the breach than the observance" [Hamlet].
V. be -unaccustomed &c. adj.; leave off a habit, cast off a habit, break off a habit, wean oneself of a habit, violate a habit, break through a habit, infringe a habit, leave off a custom, cast off a custom, break off a custom, wean oneself of a custom, violate a custom, break through a custom, infringe a custom, leave off a usage, cast off a usage, break off a usage, wean oneself of a usage, violate a usage, break through a usage, infringe a usage; disuse &c. 678; wear off.
Adj. unaccustomed, unused, unwonted, unseasoned, uninured[obs3], unhabituated[obs3], untrained; new; green &c. (unskilled) 699; unhackneyed.
unusual &c. (unconformable) 83; non.o.bservant[obs3]; disused &c. 678.
-- 2. Causes of Volition --
#615. Motive. -- N. motive, springs of action, wellsprings of action.
reason, ground, call, principle; by end, by purpose; mainspring, primum mobile[Lat], keystone; the why and the wherefore; pro and con, reason why; secret motive, arriere pensee[Fr]; intention &c. 620.
inducement, consideration; attraction; loadstone; magnet, magnetism, magnetic force; allectation, allective; temptation, enticement, agacerie[obs3], allurement, witchery; bewitchment, bewitchery; charm; spell &c. 993; fascination, blandishment, cajolery; seduction, seducement; honeyed words, voice of the tempter, song of the Sirens forbidden fruit, golden apple.