disappointing, horrible, mournful, saddening, wretched.
distressing, melancholy,

* * * * *

DELUSION.

Synonyms:

error, fallacy, hallucination, illusion, phantasm.

A _delusion_ is a mistaken conviction, an _illusion_ a mistaken
perception or inference. An _illusion_ may be wholly of the senses; a
_delusion_ always involves some mental error. In an optical _illusion_
the observer sees either what does not exist, or what exists otherwise
than as he sees it, as when in a mirage distant springs and trees appear
close at hand. We speak of the _illusions_ of fancy or of hope, but of
the _delusions_ of the insane. A _hallucination_ is a false image or
belief which has nothing, outside of the disordered mind, to suggest it;
as, the _hallucinations_ of delirium tremens. Compare DECEPTION;
INSANITY.

Antonyms:

actuality, certainty, fact, reality, truth, verity.

* * * * *

DEMOLISH.

Synonyms:

destroy, overthrow, overturn, raze, ruin.

A building, monument, or other structure is _demolished_ when reduced to
a shapeless mass; it is _razed_ when leveled with the ground; it is
_destroyed_ when its structural unity is gone, whether or not its
component parts remain. An edifice is _destroyed_ by fire or earthquake;
it is _demolished_ by bombardment; it is _ruined_ when, by violence or
neglect, it has become unfit for human habitation. Compare ABOLISH;
BREAK.

Antonyms:

build, construct, create, make, repair, restore.

* * * * *

DEMONSTRATION.

Synonyms:

certainty, consequence, evidence, inference,
conclusion, deduction, induction, proof.

_Demonstration_, in the strict and proper sense, is the highest form of
_proof_, and gives the most absolute _certainty_, but can not be applied
outside of pure mathematics or other strictly deductive reasoning; there
can be _proof_ and _certainty_, however, in matters that do not admit of
_demonstration_. A _conclusion_ is the absolute and necessary result of
the admission of certain premises; an _inference_ is a probable
_conclusion_ toward which known facts, statements, or admissions point,
but which they do not absolutely establish; sound premises, together
with their necessary _conclusion_, constitute a _demonstration_.
_Evidence_ is that which tends to show a thing to be true; in the
widest sense, as including sel