| adieu, | good-by, | parting salutation, | valedictory. |
| congé, | leave-taking, | valediction, | |
Good-by is the homely and hearty, farewell the formal English word at parting. Adieu, from the French, is still more ceremonious than farewell; congé, also from the French, is commonly contemptuous or supercilious, and equivalent to dismissal. Valediction is a learned word never in popular use. A valedictory is a public farewell to a company or assembly.
Prepositions:
I bade farewell to my comrades, or (without preposition) I bade my comrades farewell; I took a sad farewell of my friends.
FEAR.
Synonyms:
| affright, | dismay, | horror, | timidity, |
| apprehension, | disquietude, | misgiving, | trembling, |
| awe, | dread, | panic, | tremor, |
| consternation, | fright, | terror, | trepidation. |
Fear is the generic term denoting an emotion excited by threatening evil with a desire to avoid or escape it; fear may be sudden or lingering, in view of present, of imminent, or of distant and only possible danger; in the latter sense dread is oftener used. Horror (etymologically a shivering or shuddering) denotes a shuddering fear accompanied with abhorrence or such a shock to the feelings and sensibilities as may exist without fear, as when one suddenly encounters some ghastly spectacle; we say of a desperate but fettered criminal, "I looked upon him with horror." Where horror includes fear, it is fear mingled with abhorrence. (See [ABHOR].) Affright, fright, and terror are always sudden, and in actual presence of that which is terrible. Fear may overwhelm, or may nerve one to desperate defense; fright and terror render one incapable of defense; fear may be controlled by force of[169] will; fright and terror overwhelm the will; terror paralyzes, fright may cause one to fly, to scream, or to swoon. Fright is largely a matter of the nerves; fear of the intellect and the imagination; terror of all the faculties, bodily and mental. Panic is a sudden fear or fright, affecting numbers at once; vast armies or crowded audiences are liable to panic upon slight occasion. In a like sense we speak of a financial panic. Dismay is a helpless sinking of heart in view of some overwhelming peril or sorrow. Dismay is more reflective, enduring, and despairing than fright; a horse is subject to fright or terror, but not to dismay. Awe is a reverential fear. Compare [ALARM].