The Project Gutenberg EBook of Putnam's Word Book, by Louis A. Flemming

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Title: Putnam's Word Book

Author: Louis A. Flemming

Release Date: August 15, 2004 [EBook #13188]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Putnam's Word Book

A Practical Aid in Expressing Ideas through the Use of an Exact and
Varied Vocabulary

By

Louis A. Flemming

Copyright, 1913
By
G. P. Putnam's Sons

(Under the title _Synonyms, Antonyms, and Associated Words_)

Preface

The purpose of this book, as conceived by the author, is not to attempt to
create or to influence usage by pointing out which words should or should
not be used, nor to explain the meaning of terms, but simply to provide in
a form convenient for reference and study the words that can be used,
leaving it to those who consult its pages to determine for themselves,
with the aid of a dictionary if necessary, which words supply the
information they are looking for or express most accurately the thoughts
in their minds. The questions, therefore, that were constantly in the
author's mind while he was preparing the manuscript were not, _is_ this
word used? nor _should_ it be used? but is it a word that some one may
want to know as a matter of information or to use in giving expression to
some thought? When the word in question seemed to be one that would be of
service it was given a place in the collection to which it belongs.
Believing the book would be consulted by students and workers in special
fields, the author incorporated into it many words, including some
technical terms, that might, in the case of a work of more restricted
usefulness, have been omitted.

It happens frequently that the word which one thinks of first does not
express the exact shade of thought one desires to express and some other
word of similar meaning is necessary. For this reason there is, for those
who want to write and speak with precision and effectiveness, an important
use for collections of synonyms. Throughout this book synonyms means words
that are similar in meaning or which expr