#576. Plainness. -- N. plainness &c. adj.; simplicity, severity; plain terms, plain English; Saxon English; household words V. call a spade "a spade"; plunge in medias res; come to the point.

Adj. plain, simple; unornamented, unadorned, unvarnished; homely, homespun; neat; severe, chaste, pure, Saxon; commonplace, matter-of-fact, natural, prosaic.

dry, unvaried,monotonous &c. 575.

Adv. in plain terms, in plain words, in plain English, in plain common parlance; point-blank.

#577. Ornament. -- N. ornament; floridness c[obs3]. adj. turgidity, turgescence[obs3]; altiloquence &c. adj[obs3].; declamation, teratology

!; well-rounded periods; elegance &c. 578; orotundity.

inversion, ant.i.thesis, alliteration, paronomasia; figurativeness &c.

(metaphor) 521.

flourish; flowers of speech, flowers of rhetoric; frills of style, euphuism[obs3], euphemism.

big-sounding words, high-sounding words; macrology[obs3], sesquipedalia verba[Lat], Alexandrine; inflation, pretension; rant, bombast, fustian, prose run mad; fine writing; sesquipedality[obs3]; Minerva press.

phrasemonger; euphuist[obs3], euphemist.

V. ornament, overlay with ornament, overcharge; smell of the lamp.

Adj. ornament &c. v.; beautified &c. 847; ornate, florid, rich, flowery; euphuistic[obs3], euphemistic; sonorous; high-sounding, big- sounding; inflated, swelling, tumid; turgid, turgescent; pedantic, pompous, stilted; orotund; high flown, high flowing; sententious, rhetorical, declamatory; grandiose; grandiloquent, magniloquent, altiloquent[obs3]; sesquipedal[obs3], sesquipedalian; Johnsonian, mouthy; bombastic; fustian; frothy, flashy, flaming.

ant.i.thetical, alliterative; figurative &c. 521; artificial &c.

(inelegant) 579.

Adv. ore rutundo[Lat].

#578. Elegance. -- N. elegance, purity, grace, ease; gracefulness, readiness &c. adj.; concinnity[obs3], euphony, numerosity[obs3]; Atticism[obs3], cla.s.sicalism[obs3], cla.s.sicism.

well rounded periods, well turned periods, flowing periods; the right word in the right place; ant.i.thesis &c. 577.

*purist.

V. point an ant.i.thesis, round a period.

Adj. elegant, polished, cla.s.sical, Attic, correct, Ciceronian, artistic; chaste, pure, Saxon, academical[obs3].

graceful, easy, readable, fluent, flowing, tripping; unaffected, natural, unlabored[obs3]; mellifluous; euphonious, euphemism, euphemistic; numerose

, rhythmical.

felicitous, happy, neat; well put, neatly put, well expressed, neatly expressed

#579. Inelegance. -- N. inelegance; stiffness &c. adj.; "unlettered Muse" [Gray]; barbarism; slang &c. 563; solecism &c. 568; mannerism &c.

(affectation) 855; euphuism[obs3]; fustian &c. 577; cacophony; words that break the teeth, words that dislocate the jaw; marinism[obs3].

V. be inelegant &c. adj.

Adj. inelegant, graceless, ungraceful; harsh, abrupt; dry, stiff, cramped, formal, guinde[Fr]; forced, labored; artificial, mannered, ponderous; awkward, uncourtly[obs3], unpolished; turgid &c. 577; affected, euphuistic[obs3]; barbarous, uncouth, grotesque, rude, crude, halting; offensive to ears polite.

-- Spoken Language --

#580. Voice. -- N. voice; vocality[obs3]; organ, lungs, bellows; good voice, fine voice, powerful voice &c. (loud) 404; musical voice &c. 413; intonation; tone of voice &c. (sound) 402.

vocalization; cry &c. 411; strain, utterance, prolation[obs3]; exclamation, e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, vociferation, ecphonesis[obs3]; enunciation, articulation; articulate sound, distinctness; clearness, of articulation; stage whisper; delivery.

accent, accentuation; emphasis, stress; broad accent, strong accent, pure accent, native accent, foreign accent; p.r.o.nunciation.

[Word similarly p.r.o.nounced] h.o.m.onym.

orthoepy[obs3]; cacoepy[obs3]; euphony &c. (melody) 413.

gastriloquism[obs3], ventriloquism; ventriloquist; polyphonism[obs3], polyphonist[obs3].

[Science of voice] phonology &c. (sound) 402.

V. utter, breathe; give utterance, give tongue; cry &c. (shout) 411; e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e, rap out; vocalize, prolate

, articulate, enunciate, p.r.o.nounce, accentuate, aspirate, deliver, mouth; whisper in the ear.

Adj. vocal, phonetic, oral; ejaculatory, articulate, distinct, stertorous; euphonious &c. (melodious) 413.

Phr. "how sweetly sounds the voice of a good woman" [Ma.s.singer]; "the organ of the soul" [Longfellow]; "thy voice is a celestial melody"

[Longfellow].

#581. Aphony. -- N. aphony[obs3], aphonia[obs3]; dumbness &c. adj.; obmutescence[obs3]; absence of voice, want of voice; dysphony[obs3]; cacoepy[obs3]; silence &c. (taciturnity) 585; raucity[obs3]; harsh voice &c. 410, unmusical voice &c. 414; falsetto, "childish treble mute"; dummy.

V. keep silence &c. 585; speak low, speak softly; whisper &c.

(faintness) 405.

silence; render mute, render silent; muzzle, m.u.f.fle, suppress, smother, gag, strike dumb, dumfounder; drown the voice, put to silence, stop one's mouth, cut one short.

stick in the throat.

Adj. aphonous[obs3], dumb, mute; deafmute, deaf and dumb; mum; tongue- tied; breathless, tongueless, voiceless, speechless, wordless; mute as a fish, mute as a stockfish[obs3], mute as a mackerel; silent &c. (taciturn) 585; muzzled; inarticulate, inaudible.

croaking, raucous, hoa.r.s.e, husky, dry, hollow, sepulchral, hoa.r.s.e as a raven; rough.

Adv. with bated breath, with the finger on the lips; sotto voce[Lat]; in a low tone, in a cracked voice, in a broken voice.

Phr. vox faucibus haesit [Lat][Vergil].

#582. Speech. -- N. speech, faculty of speech; locution, talk, parlance, verbal intercourse, prolation[obs3], oral communication, word of mouth, parole, palaver, prattle; effusion.

oration, recitation, delivery, say, speech, lecture, harangue, sermon, tirade, formal speech, peroration; speechifying; soliloquy &c. 589; allocution &c. 586; conversation &c. 588; salutatory; screed; valedictory [U.S.][U.S.].

oratory; elocution, eloquence; rhetoric, declamation; grandiloquence, multiloquence[obs3]; burst of eloquence; facundity[obs3]; flow of words, command of words, command of language; copia verborum[Lat]; power of speech, gift of the gab; usus loquendi[Lat].

speaker &c. v.; spokesman; prolocutor, interlocutor; mouthpiece, Hermes; orator, oratrix[obs3], oratress[obs3]; Demosthenes, Cicero; rhetorician; stump orator, platform orator; speechmaker, patterer[obs3], improvisatore[obs3].

V. speak of; say, utter, p.r.o.nounce, deliver, give utterance to; utter forth, pour forth; breathe, let fall, come out with; rap out, blurt out have on one's lips; have at the end of one's tongue, have at the tip of one's tongue.

break silence; open one's lips, open one's mouth; lift one's voice, raise one's voice; give the tongue, wag the tongue; talk, outspeak[obs3]; put in a word or two.

hold forth; make a speech,.deliver a speech &c. n.; speechify, harangue, declaim, stump, flourish, recite, lecture, sermonize, discourse, be on one's legs; have one's say, say one's say; spout, rant, rave, vent one's fury, vent one's rage; expatiate &c. (speak at length) 573; speak one's mind, go on the stump, take the stump [U. S.].

soliloquize &c. 589; tell &c. (inform) 527; speak to &c. 586; talk together &c. 588.

be eloquent &c. adj; have a tongue in one's head, have the gift of the gab &c. n.

pa.s.s one's lips, escape one's lips; fall from the lips, fall from the mouth.

Adj. speaking &c., spoken &c. v.; oral, lingual, phonetic, not written, unwritten, outspoken; eloquent, elocutionary; oratorical, rhetorical; declamatory; grandiloquent &c. 577; talkative &c. 584; Ciceronian, nuncupative, Tullian.

Adv. orally &c. adj.; by word of mouth, viva voce, from the lips of.

Phr. quoth he, said he &c.; "action is eloquence" [Coriola.n.u.s]; "pour the full tide of eloquence along" [Pope]; "she speaks poignards and every word stabs" [Much Ado About Nothing]; "speech is but broken light upon the depth of the unspoken [G. Eliot]; "to try thy eloquence now 'tis time [Antony and Cleopatra].

#583. [Imperfect Speech.] Stammering. -- N. inarticulateness; stammering &c. v.; hesitation &c. v.; impediment in one's speech; t.i.tubancy[obs3], traulism

; whisper &c. (faint sound) 405; lisp, drawl, tardiloquence[obs3]; nasal tone, nasal accent; tw.a.n.g; falsetto &c. (want of voice) 581; broken voice, broken accents, broken sentences.

brogue &c. 563; slip of the tongue, lapsus linouae [Lat].

V. stammer, stutter, hesitate, falter, hammer; balbutiate

, balbucinate

, haw, hum and haw, be unable to put two words together.

mumble, mutter; maud

, mauder[obs3]; whisper &c. 405; mince, lisp; jabber, gibber; sputter, splutter; m.u.f.fle, mump[obs3]; drawl, mouth; croak; speak thick, speak through the nose; snuffle, clip one's words; murder the language, murder the King's English, murder the Queen's English; misp.r.o.nounce, missay[obs3].

Adj. stammering &c. v.; inarticulate, guttural, nasal; tremulous; affected.

Adv. sotto voce &c. (faintly) 405[Lat].

#584. Loquacity. -- N. loquacity, loquaciousness; talkativeness &c.

adj.; garrulity; multiloquence[obs3], much speaking.

jaw; gabble; jabber, chatter; prate, prattle, cackle, clack; twaddle, t.w.a.ttle, rattle; caquet[obs3], caquetterie[Fr]; blabber, bavardage[obs3], bibble-babble[obs3], gibble-gabble[obs3]; small talk &c. (converse) 588.

fluency, flippancy, volubility, flowing, tongue; flow of words; flux de bouche[Fr], flux de mots[Fr]; copia verborum[Lat], cacoethes loquendi[Lat]; furor loquendi[Lat]; verbosity &c. (diffuseness) 573; gift of the gab &c. (eloquence) 582.

talker; chatterer, chatterbox; babbler &c. v.; rattle; ranter; sermonizer, proser[obs3], driveler; blatherskite [U. S.]; gossip &c.

(converse) 588; magpie, jay, parrot, poll, Babel; moulin a paroles[Fr]..

V. be loquacious &c. adj.; talk glibly, pour forth, patter; prate, palaver, prose, chatter, prattle, clack, jabber, jaw; blather, blatter[obs3], blether[obs3]; rattle, rattle on; twaddle, t.w.a.ttle; babble, gabble; outtalk; talk oneself out of breath, talk oneself hoa.r.s.e; expatiate &c. (speak at length) 573; gossip &c. (converse) 588; din in the ears &c.

(repeat) 104; talk at random, talk nonsense &c. 497; be hoa.r.s.e with talking.

Adj. loquacious, talkative, garrulous, linguacious

, multiloquous[obs3]; largiloquent

; chattering &c. v.; chatty &c. (sociable) 892; declamatory &c. 582; open-mouthed.

fluent, voluble, glib, flippant; long tongued, long winded &c.

(diffuse) 573.

Adv. trippingly on the tongue; glibly &c. adj.; off the reel.

Phr. the tongue running fast, the tongue running loose, the tongue running on wheels; all talk and no cider; "foul whisperings are abroad"

[Macbeth]; "what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!" [Tempest].

#585. Taciturnity. -- N. silence, muteness, obmutescence[obs3]; taciturnity, pauciloquy[obs3], costiveness

, curtness; reserve, reticence &c. (concealment) 528.

man of few words.

V. be silent &c. adj.; keep silence, keep mum; hold one's tongue, hold one's peace, hold one's jaw; not speak. &c. 582; say nothing, keep one's counsel; seal the lips, close the lips, b.u.t.ton the lips, zipper the lips, put a padlock on the lips, put a padlock on the mouth; put a bridle on one's tongue; bite one's tongue, keep one's tongue between one's teeth; make no sign, not let a word escape one; keep a secret &c. 528; not have a word to say; hush up, hush, lay the finger on the lips, place the finger on the lips; render mute &c. 581.