| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | meaning, intent |
| Synonyms: | aim, body, burden, core, course, course of thought, current, direction, drift, evolution, gist, inclination, meat, mood, path, pith, purport, purpose, run, sense, stuff, substance, tendency, theme, tone, trend, way |
| Main Entry: | body |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | bulk; central portion |
| Synonyms: | assembly, basis, bed, box, chassis, core, corpus, crux, essence, frame, fuselage, gist, gravamen, groundwork, hull, main part, majority, mass, material, matter, pith, skeleton, staple, substance, substructure, sum, tenor, total, trunk, whole |
| Antonyms: | nothing, nothingness |
| Main Entry: | degree |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | unit of measurement |
| Synonyms: | amount, amplitude, caliber, dimension, division, expanse, extent, gauge, gradation, grade, height, intensity, interval, length, limit, line, link, mark, notch, period, plane, point, proportion, quality, quantity, range, rate, ratio, reach, rung, scale, scope, severity, shade, size, space, stage, stair, standard, step, stint, strength, tenor, term, tier |
| Main Entry: | disposition |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | personal temperament |
| Synonyms: | bag*, being, bent, bias, cast, character, complexion, constitution, cup of tea, druthers, emotions, flash, frame of mind, groove*, habit, humor, identity, inclination, individualism, individuality, leaning, make-up, mind-set, mood, nature, penchant, personality, predilection, predisposition, proclivity, proneness, propensity, readiness, spirit, stamp, temper, tendency, tenor, thing*, tone, type, vein |
| Main Entry: | drift |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | meaning, significance of communication |
| Synonyms: | aim, design, direction, end, gist, implication, import, intention, object, progress, progression, purport, scope, significance, tendency, tenor |
| Main Entry: | effect |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | impact, impression |
| Synonyms: | action, clout, drift, effectiveness, efficacy, efficiency, enforcement, essence, execution, fact, force, implementation, import, imprint, influence, mark, meaning, power, purport, purpose, reality, sense, significance, strength, tenor, use, validity, vigor, weight |
| Notes: | as a noun, affect means 'a feeling or emotion,' whereas effect means 'the result or consequence of some action or process'; as a verb, to affect means 'to exert an influence upon,' and implies the action of a stimulus that can produce a response or reaction, whereas to effect means 'to bring about as a result' effect is a noun referring to a thing, but if you mean an action, that is affect; if you want the verb meaning 'achieve, bring about,' that is effect |
| Main Entry: | gist |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | meaning, essence |
| Synonyms: | basis, bearing, bottom line, burden, core, drift, force, heart, idea, import, kernel, keynote, marrow, matter, meat*, name of the game, nature of the beast, nitty gritty, nuts and bolts, pith, point, punch line, quintessence, score, sense, short, significance, soul, spirit, stuff*, subject, substance, summary, tenor, theme, thrust, topic, upshot |
| Main Entry: | importance |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | significance, weight |
| Synonyms: | accent, attention, bearing, caliber, concern, concernment, consequence, denotation, distinction, drift*, effect, emphasis, force, gist*, gravity, import, influence, interest, materiality, moment, momentousness, notability, paramountcy, point, precedence, preponderance, preponderancy, priority, purport, relevance, sense, seriousness, signification, standing, stress, substance, tenor, usefulness, value, weightiness |
| Antonyms: | insignificance |
| Main Entry: | manner |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | method, approach |
| Synonyms: | consuetude, custom, fashion, form, genre, habit, habitude, line, means, mode, modus, practice, procedure, process, routine, style, system, tack, technique, tenor, tone, trick, usage, use, vein, way, wise, wont |
| Notes: | manner means a way of acting or behaving or how something is done; manners is socially correct behavior; a manor is the landed estate of a lord |