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| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | difficult to understand |
| Synonyms: | Byzantine, Daedalean, Gordian, abstruse, bewildering, circuitous, complicated, confused, convoluted, crabbed, cryptic, discursive, disordered, disturbing, enigmatic, entangled, excursive, hidden, impenetrable, inscrutable, interwoven, intricate, involved, jumbled, knotted, knotty, labyrinthine, mazy, meandering, mingled, mixed, muddled, obscure, paradoxical, perplexing, puzzling, rambling, recondite, round-about, sinuous, snarled, sophisticated, tangled, tortuous, undecipherable, unfathomable, winding |
| Notes: | something complex may be well-organized and logically constructed as well as subtle and intricate, while a thing that is complicated will have something irregular, perverse, asymmetrical in addition to fundamental intricacy; complex is more formal and technical (a problem in mathematics is complex) while something like personal life can be complicated |
| Antonyms: | apparent, clear, direct, discernible, easy, evident, obvious, plain |
| Main Entry: | contradictory |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | antagonistic |
| Synonyms: | adverse, against, agin, anti, antipodal, antipodean, antithetic, antithetical, con, conflicting, contrary, converse, counter, counteractive, diametric, discrepant, incompatible, incongruous, inconsistent, irreconcilable, negating, no go, nullifying, opposing, opposite, ornery*, paradoxical, polar, repugnant, reverse |
| Antonyms: | agreeing, confirming, consistent, reconcilable, reconciled, vouching |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | contrary |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | antagonistic; opposite |
| Synonyms: | adverse, anti, antipathetic, antipodal, antipodean, antithetical, balky, clashing, conflicting, contradictory, contrariant, contumacious, converse, counter, diametric, discordant, dissentient, dissident, froward, headstrong, hostile, inconsistent, inimical, insubordinate, intractable, negative, nonconforming, nonconformist, obstinate, opposed, ornery*, paradoxical, perverse, rebellious, recalcitrant, recusant, refractory, restive, reverse, stubborn, unruly, wayward, wrongheaded |
| Notes: | contrary describes something that contradicts a proposition, converse is used when the elements of a proposition are reversed, opposite pertains to that which is diametrically opposed to a proposition, and reverse can mean each of those |
| Antonyms: | accommodating, agreeing, alike, concordant, correspondent, harmonious, homogeneous, like, obliging, similar |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | difficult |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | complicated; hard to comprehend |
| Synonyms: | abstract, abstruse, baffling, bewildering, complex, confounding, confusing, dark, deep, delicate, enigmatic, enigmatical, entangled, esoteric, formidable, hard to explain, hard to solve, hidden, inexplicable, intricate, involved, knotty, labyrinthine, loose, meandering, mysterious, mystical, mystifying, nice, obscure, obstinate, paradoxical, perplexing, problematical, profound, puzzling, rambling, subtle, tangled, thorny, ticklish, troublesome, unclear, unfathomable, unintelligible, vexing |
| Antonyms: | easy, simple, straightforward, uncomplicated |
| Main Entry: | ironic/ironical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | sarcastic |
| Synonyms: | acrid, alert, arrogant, backbiting, biting, bitter, burlesque, caustic, chaffing, clever, contemptuous, contradictory, critical, cutting, cynical, defiant, derisive, disparaging, double-edged, exaggerated, implausible, incisive, incongruous, jibing, keen, mocking, mordant, paradoxical, pungent, quick-witted, ridiculous, sardonic, satiric, satirical, scathing, scoffing, sharp, sneering, spicy, trenchant, twisted, uncomplimentary, witty, wry |
| Antonyms: | considerate, deferential |
| Main Entry: | opposite |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unlike, conflicting; completely different |
| Synonyms: | adverse, antagonistic, antipodal, antipodean, antithetical, contradictory, contrapositive, contrary, contrasted, corresponding, counter, crosswise, diametric, diametrically opposed, different, differing, dissimilar, diverse, facing, flip-side, fronting, hostile, inconsistent, independent, inimical, inverse, irreconcilable, obverse, opposed, ornery*, paradoxical, polar, repugnant, retrograde, reverse, reversed, separate, unalike, unconnected, unrelated, unsimilar, violative, vis-á-vis |
| Notes: | contrary describes something that contradicts a proposition, converse is used when the elements of a proposition are reversed, opposite pertains to that which is diametrically opposed to a proposition, and reverse can mean each of those |
| Antonyms: | compatible, like, similar |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | perplexing |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | difficult to understand |
| Synonyms: | baffling, beyond one, complicated, confusing, convoluted, disconcerting, impenetrable, intricate, involved, knotty, mind-bending, mysterious, mystifying, paradoxical, puzzling, taxing, thorny, worrying |
| Main Entry: | questionable |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | doubtful, uncertain |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, apocryphal, arguable, contingent, controversial, controvertible, cryptic, debatable, disputable, dubious, dubitable, enigmatic, equivocal, fishy, hard to believe, hypothetical, iffy, indecisive, indefinite, indeterminate, moot, mysterious, obscure, occult, open to doubt, open to question, oracular, paradoxical, problematic, problematical, provisional, shady, suspect, suspicious, unconfirmed, undefined, under advisement, under examination, unproven, unreliable, unsettled, vague |
| Notes: | questionable means open to doubt, disagreement, or challenge - or of dubious morality, honesty, or respectability; questioning (adjective) means showing curiosity or inquiring about - or (noun) an inquiry or interrogation |
| Antonyms: | certain, definite, indisputable, proven, sure, undoubted, unquestionable |
| Main Entry: | satirical/satiric |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | mocking |
| Synonyms: | abusive, bantering, biting, bitter, burlesque, caustic, censorious, chaffing, cutting, cynical, farcical, incisive, ironical, lampooning, mordant, paradoxical, parodying, pungent, ridiculing, sarcastic, sardonic, spoofing, taunting |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
