In the highest sense, as in a court of justice, "an oath is a reverent[255] appeal to God in corroboration of what one says," Abbott Law Dict.; an affidavit is a sworn statement made in writing in the presence of a competent officer; an adjuration is a solemn appeal to a person in the name of God to speak the truth. An oath is made to man in the name of God; a vow, to God without the intervention, often without the knowledge, of man. In the lower sense, an oath may be mere blasphemy or profane swearing. Anathema, curse, execration, and imprecation are modes of invoking vengeance or retribution from a superhuman power upon the person against whom they are uttered. Anathema is a solemn ecclesiastical condemnation of a person or of a proposition. Curse may be just and authoritative; as, the curse of God; or, it may be wanton and powerless: "so the curse causeless shall not come," Prov. xxvi, 2. Execration expresses most of personal bitterness and hatred; imprecation refers especially to the coming of the desired evil upon the person against whom it is uttered. Malediction is a general wish of evil, a less usual but very expressive word. Compare [TESTIMONY].
Antonyms:
| benediction, | benison, | blessing. |
OBSCURE.
Synonyms:
| abstruse, | darksome, | dusky, | involved, |
| ambiguous, | deep, | enigmatical, | muddy, |
| cloudy, | dense, | hidden, | mysterious, |
| complex, | difficult, | incomprehensible, | profound, |
| complicated, | dim, | indistinct, | turbid, |
| dark, | doubtful, | intricate, | unintelligible. |
That is obscure which the eye or the mind can not clearly discern or see through, whether because of its own want of transparency, its depth or intricacy, or because of mere defect of light. That which is complicated is likely to be obscure, but that may be obscure which is not at all complicated and scarcely complex, as a muddy pool. In that which is abstruse (L. abs, from, and trudo, push) as if removed from the usual course of thought or out of the way of apprehension or discovery, the thought is remote, hidden; in that which is obscure there may be nothing to hide; it is hard to see to the bottom of the profound, because of its depth, but the most shallow turbidness is obscure. Compare [COMPLEX]; [DARK]; [DIFFICULT]; [MYSTERIOUS].
Antonyms:
See synonyms for [CLEAR].