Synonyms:
| allegory, | fabrication, | invention, | myth, | romance, |
| apologue, | falsehood, | legend, | novel, | story. |
| fable, | figment, |
Fiction is now chiefly used of a prose work in narrative form in which the characters are partly or wholly imaginary, and which is designed to portray human life, with or without a practical lesson; a romance portrays what is picturesque or striking, as a mere fiction may not do; novel is a general name for any continuous fictitious narrative, especially a love-story; fiction and novel are used with little difference of meaning, except that novel characterizes a work in which the emotional element is especially[171] prominent. The moral of the fable is expressed formally; the lesson of the fiction, if any, is inwrought. A fiction is studied; a myth grows up without intent. A legend may be true, but can not be historically verified; a myth has been received as true at some time, but is now known to be false. A fabrication is designed to deceive; it is a less odious word than falsehood, but is really stronger, as a falsehood may be a sudden unpremeditated statement, while a fabrication is a series of statements carefully studied and fitted together in order to deceive; the falsehood is all false; the fabrication may mingle the true with the false. A figment is something imaginary which the one who utters it may or may not believe to be true; we say, "That statement is a figment of his imagination." The story may be either true or false, and covers the various senses of all the words in the group. Apologue, a word simply transferred from Greek into English, is the same as fable. Compare [ALLEGORY].
Antonyms:
| certainty, | fact, | history, | literalness, | reality, | truth, | verity. |
FIERCE.
Synonyms:
| ferocious, | furious, | raging, | uncultivated, | violent, |
| fiery, | impetuous, | savage, | untrained, | wild. |
Fierce signifies having a furious and cruel nature, or being in a furious and cruel mood, more commonly the latter. It applies to that which is now intensely excited, or liable to intense and sudden excitement. Ferocious refers to a state or disposition; that which is fierce flashes or blazes; that which is ferocious steadily burns; we speak of a ferocious animal, a fierce passion. A fiery spirit with a good disposition is quickly excitable in a good cause, but may not be fierce or ferocious. Savage signifies untrained, uncultivated. Ferocious always denotes a tendency to violence; it is more distinctly bloodthirsty than the other words; a person may be deeply, intensely cruel, and not at all ferocious; a ferocious countenance expresses habitual ferocity; a fierce countenance may express habitual fierceness, or only the sudden anger of the moment. That which is wild is simply unrestrained; the word may imply no anger or harshness; as, wild delight, wild alarm.