eed; _contest_ ordinarily involves some form of
action. _Contest_ is often used in a good sense, _contention_ and
_strife_ very rarely so. _Controversy_ is commonly in words; _strife_
extends from verbal _controversy_ to the _contests_ of armies. _Affray_,
_brawl_, and _broil_, like _quarrel_, are words of inferior dignity. An
_affray_ or _broil_ may arise at a street corner; the _affray_ always
involves physical force; the _brawl_ or _broil_ may be confined to
violent language.

* * * * *

FICTION.

Synonyms:

allegory, fabrication, invention, myth, romance,
apologue, falsehood, legend, novel, story.
fable, figment,

_Fiction_ is now chiefly used of a prose work in narrative form in which
the characters are partly or wholly imaginary, and which is designed to
portray human life, with or without a practical lesson; a _romance_
portrays what is picturesque or striking, as a mere _fiction_ may not
do; _novel_ is a general name for any continuous fictitious narrative,
especially a love-story; _fiction_ and _novel_ are used with little
difference of meaning, except that _novel_ characterizes a work in which
the emotional element is especially prominent. The moral of the _fable_
is expressed formally; the lesson of the _fiction_, if any, is
inwrought. A _fiction_ is studied; a _myth_ grows up without intent. A
_legend_ may be true, but can not be historically verified; a _myth_ has
been received as true at some time, but is now known to be false. A
_fabrication_ is designed to deceive; it is a less odious word than
_falsehood_, but is really stronger, as a _falsehood_ may be a sudden
unpremeditated statement, while a _fabrication_ is a series of
statements carefully studied and fitted together in order to deceive;
the _falsehood_ is all false; the _fabrication_ may mingle the true with
the false. A _figment_ is something imaginary which the one who utters
it may or may not believe to be true; we say, "That statement is a
_figment_ of his imagination." The _story_ may be either true or false,
and covers the various senses of all the words in the group. _Apologue_,
a word simply transferred from Greek into English, is the same as
_fable_. Compare ALLEGORY.

Antonyms:

certainty, fact, history, literalness, reality, truth, verity.

* * * * *

FIERCE.

Synonyms:

ferocious, furious, raging, uncultivated, violent