Ease in the sense here considered denotes freedom from conscious or apparent effort, tax, or strain. Ease may be either of condition or of action; facility is always of action; readiness is of action or of expected action. One lives at ease who has no pressing cares; one stands at ease, moves or speaks with ease, when wholly without constraint. Facility is always active; readiness may be active or passive; the speaker has facility of expression, readiness of wit; any appliance is in readiness for use. Ease of action may imply merely the possession of ample power; facility always implies practise and skill; any one can press down the keys of a typewriter with ease; only the skilled operator works the machine with facility. Readiness in the active sense includes much of the meaning of ease with the added idea of promptness or alertness. Easiness applies to the thing done, rather than to the doer. Expertness applies to the more mechanical processes of body and mind; we speak of the readiness of an orator, but of the expertness of a gymnast. Compare [COMFORTABLE]; [DEXTERITY]; [POWER].
Antonyms:
| annoyance, | constraint, | discomfort, | irritation, | trouble, | vexation, |
| awkwardness, | difficulty, | disquiet, | perplexity, | uneasiness, | worry. |
EDUCATION.
Synonyms:
| breeding, | discipline, | learning, | study, |
| cultivation, | information, | nurture, | teaching, |
| culture, | instruction, | reading, | training, |
| development, | knowledge, | schooling, | tuition. |
Education (L. educere, to lead or draw out) is the systematic development and cultivation of the mind and other natural powers. "Education is the harmonious development of all our faculties. It begins in the nursery, and goes on at school, but does not end there. It continues through life, whether we will or not.... 'Every person,' says Gibbon, 'has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one more important, which he gives himself.'" John Lubbock The Use of Life ch. vii, p. 111. [Macm. '94.] Instruction, the impartation of knowledge by others (L. instruere, to build in or into) is but a part of education, often the smallest part. Teaching is the more familiar and less formal word for instruction. Training refers not merely to the[144] impartation of knowledge, but to the exercising of one in actions with the design to form habits. Discipline is systematic and rigorous training, with the idea of subjection to authority and perhaps of punishment. Tuition is the technical term for teaching as the business of an instructor or as in the routine of a school; tuition is narrower than teaching, not, like the latter word, including training. Study is emphatically what one does for himself. We speak of the teaching, training, or discipline, but not of the education or tuition of a dog or a horse. Breeding and nurture include teaching and training, especially as directed by and dependent upon home life and personal association; breeding having reference largely to manners with such qualities as are deemed distinctively characteristic of high birth; nurture (literally nourishing) having more direct reference to moral qualities, not overlooking the physical and mental. Knowledge and learning tell nothing of mental development apart from the capacity to acquire and remember, and nothing whatever of that moral development which is included in education in its fullest and noblest sense; learning, too, may be acquired by one's unaided industry, but any full education must be the result in great part of instruction, training, and personal association. Study is emphatically what one does for himself, and in which instruction and tuition can only point the way, encourage the student to advance, and remove obstacles; vigorous, persevering study is one of the best elements of training. Study is also used in the sense of the thing studied, a subject to be mastered by study, a studious pursuit. Compare [KNOWLEDGE]; [REFINEMENT]; [WISDOM].
Antonyms: