PPARENT.
Antonyms:
doubtful, improbable, questionable, unreasonable.
dubious, incredible, unlikely,
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LISTEN.
Synonyms:
attend, hark, harken, hear, heed, list.
Between _listen_ and _hear_ is a difference like that between the words
look and see. (Compare synonyms for LOOK.) To _hear_ is simply to
become conscious of sound, to _listen_ is to make a conscious effort or
endeavor to _hear_. We may _hear_ without _listening_, as words suddenly
uttered in an adjoining room; or we may _listen_ without _hearing_, as
to a distant speaker. In _listening_ the ear is intent upon the sound;
in _attending_ the mind is intent upon the thought, tho _listening_
implies some attention to the meaning or import of the sound. To _heed_
is not only to _attend_, but to remember and observe. _Harken_ is nearly
obsolete.
Antonyms:
be deaf to, ignore, neglect, scorn, slight.
Prepositions:
We listen _for_ what we expect or desire to hear; we listen _to_ what we
actually do hear; listen _for_ a step, a signal, a train; listen _to_
the debate.
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LITERATURE.
Synonyms:
belles-lettres, literary productions, publications,
books, literary works, writings.
_Literature_ is collective, including in the most general sense all the
written or printed productions of the human mind in all lands and ages,
or in a more limited sense, referring to all that has been published in
some land or age, or in some department of human knowledge; as, the
_literature_ of Greece; the _literature_ of the Augustan age; the
_literature_ of politics or of art. _Literature_, used absolutely,
denotes what has been called "polite _literature_" or _belles-lettres_,
_i. e._, the works collectively that embody taste, feeling, loftiness of
thought, and purity and beauty of style, as poetry, history, fiction,
and dramatic compositions, including also much of philosophical writing,
as the "Republic" of Plato, and oratorical productions, as the orations
of Demosthenes. In the broad sense, we can speak of the _literature_ of
science; in the narrower sense, we speak of _literature_ and science as
distinct departments of knowledge. _Literature_ is also used to signify
literary pursuits or occupations; as, to devote one's life to
_literature_. Compare KNOWLEDGE; SCIENCE.
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LOAD, _n._
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