a learned
word never in popular use. A _valedictory_ is a public farewell to a
company or assembly.

Prepositions:

I bade farewell _to_ my comrades, or (without preposition) I bade my
comrades farewell; I took a sad farewell _of_ my friends.

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FEAR.

Synonyms:

affright, dismay, horror, timidity,
apprehension, disquietude, misgiving, trembling,
awe, dread, panic, tremor,
consternation, fright, terror, trepidation.

_Fear_ is the generic term denoting an emotion excited by threatening
evil with a desire to avoid or escape it; _fear_ may be sudden or
lingering, in view of present, of imminent, or of distant and only
possible danger; in the latter sense _dread_ is oftener used. _Horror_
(etymologically a shivering or shuddering) denotes a shuddering _fear_
accompanied with abhorrence or such a shock to the feelings and
sensibilities as may exist without _fear_, as when one suddenly
encounters some ghastly spectacle; we say of a desperate but fettered
criminal, "I looked upon him with _horror_." Where _horror_ includes
_fear_, it is _fear_ mingled with abhorrence. (See ABHOR.) _Affright_,
_fright_, and _terror_ are always sudden, and in actual presence of that
which is terrible. _Fear_ may overwhelm, or may nerve one to desperate
defense; _fright_ and _terror_ render one incapable of defense; _fear_
may be controlled by force of will; _fright_ and _terror_ overwhelm the
will; _terror_ paralyzes, _fright_ may cause one to fly, to scream, or
to swoon. _Fright_ is largely a matter of the nerves; _fear_ of the
intellect and the imagination; _terror_ of all the faculties, bodily and
mental. _Panic_ is a sudden _fear_ or _fright_, affecting numbers at
once; vast armies or crowded audiences are liable to _panic_ upon slight
occasion. In a like sense we speak of a financial _panic_. _Dismay_ is a
helpless sinking of heart in view of some overwhelming peril or sorrow.
_Dismay_ is more reflective, enduring, and despairing than _fright_; a
horse is subject to _fright_ or _terror_, but not to _dismay_. _Awe_ is
a reverential _fear_. Compare ALARM.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for FORTITUDE.

* * * * *

FEMININE.

Synonyms:

effeminate, female, womanish, womanly.

We apply _female_ to the sex, _feminine_ to the qualities, especially
the finer physical or mental qualities that dis