s, as in
"The Pilgrim's Progress." A _fable_ is generally briefer, representing
animals as the speakers and actors, and commonly conveying some lesson
of practical wisdom or shrewdness, as "The _Fables_ of AEsop." A
_parable_ is exclusively moral or religious, briefer and less adorned
than an _allegory_, with its lesson more immediately discernible, given,
as it were, at a stroke. Any comparison, analogy, instance, example,
tale, anecdote, or the like which serves to let in light upon a subject
may be called an _illustration_, this word in its widest use including
all the rest. Compare FICTION; STORY.

Antonyms:

chronicle, fact, history, narrative, record.

* * * * *

ALLEVIATE.

Synonyms:

abate, lighten, reduce, remove,
assuage, mitigate, relieve, soften.
lessen, moderate,

Etymologically, to _alleviate_ is to lift a burden toward oneself, and
so _lighten_ it for the bearer; to _relieve_ is to lift it back from the
bearer, nearly or quite away; to _remove_ is to take it away altogether.
_Alleviate_ is thus less than _relieve_; _relieve_, ordinarily, less
than _remove_. We _alleviate_, _relieve_ or _remove_ the trouble; we
_relieve_, not _alleviate_, the sufferer. _Assuage_ is, by derivation,
to sweeten; _mitigate_, to make mild; _moderate_, to bring within
measure; _abate_, to beat down, and so make less. We _abate_ a fever;
_lessen_ anxiety; _moderate_ passions or desires; _lighten_ burdens;
_mitigate_ or _alleviate_ pain; _reduce_ inflammation; _soften_,
_assuage_, or _moderate_ grief; we _lighten_ or _mitigate_ punishments;
we _relieve_ any suffering of body or mind that admits of help, comfort,
or remedy. _Alleviate_ has been often confused with _allay_. Compare
ALLAY.

Antonyms:

aggravate, embitter, heighten, intensify, make worse.
augment, enhance, increase, magnify,

* * * * *

ALLIANCE.

Synonyms:

coalition, confederation, fusion, partnership,
compact, federation, league, union.
confederacy,

_Alliance_ is in its most common use a connection formed by treaty
between sovereign states as for mutual aid in war. _Partnership_ is a
mercantile word; _alliance_ chiefly political or matrimonial.
_Coalition_ is oftenest used of political parties; _fusion_ is now the
more common word in this sense. In an _alliance_ between nations there
is no surrender of sovereignty, and no _