| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | principal source; person who originates |
| Synonyms: | administrator, architect, author, builder, creator, father, fount, fountain, generator, initiator, leader, maker, mother, originator, spring, wellspring |
| Main Entry: | birth |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | beginning |
| Synonyms: | commencement, dawn, dawning, emergence, fountainhead, genesis, onset, opening, origin, outset, rise, source, start |
| Antonyms: | conclusion, death, end, ending, finish |
| Main Entry: | cradle |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | early childhood; origins |
| Synonyms: | babyhood, beginning, birthplace, fount, fountain, fountainhead, infancy, nativity, nursery, origin, source, spring, ultimate cause, wellspring |
| Main Entry: | head |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | front, beginning |
| Synonyms: | commencement, first place, fore, forefront, fountainhead, origin, rise, source, start, van, vanguard |
| Antonyms: | conclusion, end, ending, finish |
| Main Entry: | parent |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | person, source of product |
| Synonyms: | ancestor, architect, author, begetter, cause, center, creator, father, folks, forerunner, fountainhead, guardian, mother, origin, originator, procreator, progenitor, prototype, root, source, wellspring |
| Antonyms: | child |
| Main Entry: | root |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | base, core |
| Synonyms: | basis, bedrock, beginnings, bottom, cause, center, crux, derivation, essence, essentiality, footing, foundation, fountain, fountainhead, fundamental, germ, ground, groundwork, heart, inception, infrastructure, mainspring, marrow, motive, nub, nucleus, occasion, origin, pith, provenance, provenience, quick, quintessence, radicle, radix, reason, rhizome, rock bottom, seat, seed, soul, source, starting point, stem, stuff, substance, substratum, tuber, underpinning, well |
| Notes: | a rout is a disorderly crowd of people or an overwhelming defeat; a root is the usually underground organ of a plant that lacks buds or leaves or nodes and absorbs water and mineral salts - or the form of a word after all affixes are removed; a route is an established line of travel or access - or a road, course, or way for travel from one place to another |
| Antonyms: | derivation, derivative, sprout |
| Main Entry: | source |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | beginning; point of supply |
| Synonyms: | antecedent, author, authority, authorship, begetter, birthplace, cause, commencement, connection, dawn, dawning, derivation, determinant, expert, father, fount, fountain, fountainhead, horse's mouth, inception, informant, maternity, mother, onset, opening, origin, origination, originator, parent, paternity, provenance, provenience, rise, rising, root, specialist, spring, start, starting point, wellspring |
| Antonyms: | effect, end, result |
| Main Entry: | spring |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | origin |
| Synonyms: | beginning, cause, consideration, fount, fountain, fountainhead, impetus, motive, root, source, stimulus, well, wellspring, whence |
| Antonyms: | end, result |
| Main Entry: | well |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | water hole |
| Synonyms: | abyss, bore, chasm, depression, derivation, fount, fountain, fountainhead, geyser, hole, inception, mine, mouth, origin, pit, pool, repository, reservoir, root, shaft, source, spa, spout, spring, springs, watering place, wellspring |
| Notes: | using good as an adverb in place of well ("she dances real good," "he did good") is nonstandard usage - so, it would be best to say "she dances very well," "he did well" well is an adverb to describe an activity; good is an adjective to describe a condition or state |