uracy; to forget
that they are _similar_, to some extent _equivalent_, and sometimes
_interchangeable_, is destructive of freedom and variety.

* * * * *

SYSTEM.

Synonyms:

manner, method, mode, order, regularity, rule.

_Order_ in this connection denotes the fact or result of proper
arrangement according to the due relation or sequence of the matters
arranged; as, these papers are in _order_; in alphabetical _order_.
_Method_ denotes a process, a general or established way of doing or
proceeding in anything; _rule_, an authoritative requirement or an
established course of things; _system_, not merely a law of action or
procedure, but a comprehensive plan in which all the parts are related
to each other and to the whole; as, a _system_ of theology; a railroad
_system_; the digestive _system_; _manner_ refers to the external
qualities of actions, and to those often as settled and characteristic;
we speak of a _system_ of taxation, a _method_ of collecting taxes, the
_rules_ by which assessments are made; or we say, as a _rule_ the
payments are heaviest at a certain time of year; a just tax may be made
odious by the _manner_ of its collection. _Regularity_ applies to the
even disposition of objects or uniform recurrence of acts in a series.
There may be _regularity_ without _order_, as in the recurrence of
paroxysms of disease or insanity; there may be _order_ without
_regularity_, as in the arrangement of furniture in a room, where the
objects are placed at varying distances. _Order_ commonly implies the
design of an intelligent agent or the appearance or suggestion of such
design; _regularity_ applies to an actual uniform disposition or
recurrence with no suggestion of purpose, and as applied to human
affairs is less intelligent and more mechanical than _order_. The most
perfect _order_ is often secured with least _regularity_, as in a fine
essay or oration. The same may be said of _system_. There is a
_regularity_ of dividing a treatise into topics, paragraphs, and
sentences, that is destructive of true rhetorical _system_. Compare
HABIT; HYPOTHESIS.

Antonyms:

chaos, derangement, disarrangement, disorder, irregularity.
confusion,

* * * * *

TACITURN.

Synonyms:

close, mute, reticent, speechless,
dumb, reserved, silent, uncommunicative.

_Dumb_, _mute_, _silent_ and _speechless_ refer to fact or sta