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| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | talk to convince |
| Synonyms: | patter, persuasion, sales talk, song and dance, spiel* |
| Notes: | to put up a tent is to pitch it; to take down a tent is to strike it pitch is movement up and down and yaw is movement side to side on a ship, airplane, or other conveyance |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | pretext |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | disguise; alleged reason |
| Synonyms: | affectation, alibi, appearance, bluff, cleanup, cloak, color*, coloring, cop-out, cover, cover story, cover-up, device, excuse, face, feint, fig leaf, front, guise, mask, masquerade, plea, ploy, pretense, red herring, routine, ruse, semblance, show, simulation, song and dance, stall, stratagem, subterfuge, veil* |
| Antonyms: | reality, truth |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | rationale |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | logic for belief, action |
| Synonyms: | account, excuse, explanation, exposition, grounds, hypothesis, justification, motivation, motive, philosophy, principle, raison d'être, rationalization, reason, reasons, song and dance, sour grapes, story*, the big idea, the whole idea, theory, whatfor, why and wherefore, whyfor |
| Notes: | a rationale is given for a future course of action, whereas a rationalization is offered for a past action |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | reason |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | explanation for an action |
| Synonyms: | account, apologia, apology, argument, case, cover, defense, excuse, exposition, ground, idea, justification, notion, proof, rationale, rationalization, song and dance, sour grapes, the whole idea, vindication, whatfor, wherefore, why and wherefore, why*, whyfor |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | spiel |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | patter, sales pitch |
| Synonyms: | chatter, empty talk, jabber, jive, line*, pitch*, sales talk, song and dance |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | yarn |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | story, often long and made-up |
| Synonyms: | adventure, alibi, anecdote, fable, fabrication, fairy tale, lie, line, narrative, potboiler, prose, sea story, song and dance, song*, string, tale, tall story, tall tale |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | bill of goods |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | deceive someone |
| Synonyms: | snow job, song and dance, the business |
| Main Entry: | cock-and-bull story |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | interesting but unbelievable story |
| Synonyms: | fanciful tale, farfetched story, fish story, flight of fancy, song and dance, tall story, tall tale, unbelievable tale |
| Main Entry: | snow job |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | misrepresentation |
| Synonyms: | bill of goods, con, conning, flattery, flimflam, hosing, ripoff, scam, smoke and mirrors, soft sell, soft soap, song and dance, the business |
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.
