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PPARENT. Antonyms: doubtful, improbable, questionable, unreasonable. dubious, incredible, unlikely, * * * * * 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. * * * * * 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. * * * * * LOAD, _n._
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