Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

persistence, plodding, patience; sedulity &c. (industry) 682; pertinacy|, pertinacity, pertinaciousness; iteration &c. 104 bottom, game, pluck, stamina, backbone, grit; indefatigability, indefatigableness; bulldog courage. V. persevere, persist; hold on, hold out; die in the last ditch, be in at the death; stick to, cling to, adhere to; stick to one's text, keep on; keep to one's course, keep to one's ground, maintain one's course, maintain one's ground; go all lengths, go through fire and water; bear up, keep up, hold up; plod; stick to work &c. (work) 686; continue &c. 143; follow up; die in harness, die at one's post. Adj. persevering, constant; steady, steadfast; undeviating, unwavering, unfaltering, unswerving, unflinching, unsleeping[obs3], unflagging, undrooping[obs3]; steady as time; unrelenting, unintermitting[obs3], unremitting; plodding; industrious &c. 682; strenuous &c. 686; pertinacious; persisting, persistent. solid, sturdy, staunch, stanch, true to oneself; unchangeable &c. 150; unconquerable &c. (strong) 159; indomitable, game to the last, indefatigable, untiring, unwearied, never tiring. Adv. through evil report and good report, through thick and thin, through fire and water; per fas et nefas[Lat]; without fail, sink or swim, at any price, vogue la galere[Fr].. Phr. never say die; give it the old college try; vestigia nulla retrorsum[Lat]; aut vincer aut mori[Lat]; la garde meurt et ne se rend pas[Fr]; tout vient a temps pour qui sait attendre[Fr]. #605. Irresolution.—N. irresolution, infirmity of purpose, indecision; indetermination, undetermination|!; unsettlement; uncertainty &c. 475; demur, suspense; hesitating &c. v., hesitation, hesitancy; vacillation; changeableness &c. 149; fluctuation; alternation &c. (oscillation) 314; caprice &c. 608. fickleness, levity, legerete[Fr]; pliancy &c. (softness) 324; weakness; timidity &c. 860; cowardice &c. 862; half measures. waverer, ass between two bundles of hay; shuttlecock, butterfly; wimp; doughface [obs3][U. S.]. V. be irresolute &c. adj.; hang in suspense, keep in suspense; leave "ad referendum"; think twice about, pause; dawdle &c. (inactivity) 683; remain neuter; dillydally, hesitate, boggle, hover, dacker[obs3], hum and haw, demur, not know one's own mind; debate, balance; dally with, coquet with; will and will not, chaser-balancer[obs3]; go halfway, compromise, make a compromise; be thrown off one's balance, stagger like a drunken man; be afraid &c. 860; "let 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would'" [Macbeth]; falter, waver vacillate &c. 149; change &c. 140; retract &c. 607; fluctuate; pendulate[obs3]; alternate &c. (oscillate) 314; keep off and on, play fast and loose; blow hot and cold &c. (caprice) 608. shuffle, palter, blink; trim. Adj. irresolute, infirm of purpose, double-minded, half-hearted; undecided, unresolved, undetermined; shilly-shally; fidgety, tremulous; hesitating &c. v.; off one's balance; at a loss &c. (uncertain) 475. vacillating &c. v.; unsteady &c. (changeable) 149; unsteadfast[obs3], fickle, without ballast; capricious &c. 608; volatile, frothy; light, lightsome, light-minded; giddy; fast and loose. weak, feeble-minded, frail; timid, wimpish, wimpy &c. 860; cowardly &c. 862; dough-faced [U.S.]; facile; pliant &c. (soft) 324; unable to say "no", easy-going, revocable, reversible. Adv. irresolutely &c. adj.; irresolved[obs3], irresolvedly[obs3]; in faltering accents; off and on; from pillar to post; seesaw &c. 314. Int. "how happy could I be with either!" [Gay]. #606. Obstinacy.—N. obstinateness &c. adj.; obstinacy, tenacity; cussedness [U. S.]; perseverance &c. 604a; immovability; old school; inflexibility &c. (hardness) 323; obduracy, obduration[obs3]; dogged resolution; resolution &c. 604; ruling passion; blind side. self-will, contumacy, perversity; pervicacy|, pervicacity[obs3]; indocility[obs3]. bigotry, intolerance, dogmatism; opiniatry|, opiniativeness; fixed idea &c. (prejudgment) 481; fanaticism, zealotry, infatuation, monomania; opinionatedness opinionativeness[obs3]. mule; opinionist|, opinionatist[obs3], opiniator|, opinator|; stickler, dogmatist; bigot; zealot, enthusiast, fanatic. V. be obstinate &c. adj.; stickle, take no denial, fly in the face of facts; opinionate, be wedded to an opinion, hug a belief; have one's own way &c. (will) 600; persist &c. (persevere) 604a; have the last word, insist on having the last word. die hard, fight against destiny, not yield an inch, stand out. Adj. obstinate, tenacious, stubborn, obdurate, casehardened; inflexible &c. (hard) 323; balky; immovable, unshakable, not to be moved; inert &c. 172; unchangeable &c. 150; inexorable &c. (determined) 604; mulish, obstinate as a mule, pig-headed. dogged; sullen, sulky; unmoved, uninfluenced, unaffected. willful, self-willed, perverse; resty[obs3], restive, restiff|; pervicacious[obs3], wayward, refractory, unruly; heady, headstrong; entete[Fr]; contumacious; crossgrained[obs3]. arbitrary, dogmatic, positive, bigoted; prejudiced &c. 481; creed- bound; prepossessed, infatuated; stiff-backed, stiff necked, stiff hearted; hard-mouthed, hidebound; unyielding; impervious, impracticable, inpersuasible[obs3]; unpersuadable; intractable, untractable[obs3]; incorrigible, deaf to advice, impervious to reason; crotchety &c. 608. Adv. obstinately &c. adj. Phr. non possumus[Lat]; no surrender; ils n'ont rien appris ne rien oublie[Fr]. #607. Tergiversation.—N. change of mind, change of intention, change of purpose; afterthought. tergiversation, recantation; palinode, palinody[obs3]; renunciation; abjuration,abjurement[obs3]; defection &c. (relinquishment) 624; going over &c. v.; apostasy; retraction, retractation[obs3]; withdrawal; disavowal &c. (negation) 536; revocation, revokement[obs3]; reversal; repentance &c. 950- redintegratio amoris[Lat]. coquetry; vacillation &c. 605; backsliding; volte-face[Fr]. turn coat, turn tippet|; rat, apostate, renegade; convert, pervert; proselyte, deserter; backslider; blackleg, crawfish [U. S.], scab*, mugwump [U. S.], recidivist. time server, time pleaser[obs3]; timist|, Vicar of Bray, trimmer, ambidexter[obs3]; weathercock &c. (changeable) 149; Janus. V. change one's mind, change one's intention, change one's purpose, change one's note; abjure, renounce; withdraw from &c. (relinquish) 624; waver, vacillate; wheel round, turn round, veer round; turn a pirouette; go over from one side to another, pass from one side to another, change from one side to another, skip from one side to another; go to the rightabout; box the compass, shift one's ground, go upon another tack. apostatize, change sides, go over, rat; recant, retract; revoke; rescind &c. (abrogate) 756; recall; forswear, unsay; come over, come round to an opinion; crawfish *[U. S.], crawl* [U. S.]. draw in one's horns, eat one's words; eat the leek, swallow the leek; swerve, flinch, back out of, retrace one's steps, think better of it; come back return to one's first love; turn over a new leaf &c. (repent) 950. trim, shuffle, play fast and loose, blow hot and cold, coquet, be on the fence, straddle, bold with the hare but run with the hounds; nager entre deux eaux[Fr]; wait to see how the cat jumps, wait to see how the wind blows. Adj. changeful &c. 149; irresolute &c. 605; ductile, slippery as an eel, trimming, ambidextrous, timeserving[obs3]; coquetting &c. v. revocatory[obs3], reactionary. Phr. "a change came o'er the spirit of my dream" [Byron]. #608. Caprice.—N. caprice, fancy, humor; whim, whimsy, whimsey[obs3], whimwham[obs3]; crotchet, capriccio, quirk, freak, maggot, fad, vagary, prank, fit, flimflam, escapade, boutade[Fr], wild-goose chase; capriciousness &c. adj.; kink. V. be capricious &c. adj.; have a maggot in the brain; take it into one's head, strain at a gnat and swallow a camel; blow hot and cold; play fast and loose, play fantastic tricks; tourner casaque[Fr]. Adj. capricious; erratic, eccentric, fitful, hysterical; full of whims &c. n.; maggoty; inconsistent, fanciful, fantastic, whimsical, crotchety, kinky [U. S.], particular, humorsome[obs3], freakish, skittish, wanton, wayward; contrary; captious; arbitrary; unconformable &c. 83; penny wise and pound foolish; fickle &c. (irresolute) 605; frivolous, sleeveless, giddy, volatile. Adv. by fits and starts, without rhyme or reason. Phr. nil fuit unquain sic inipar sibi[Lat]; the deuce is in him. #609. Choice.—N. choice, option; discretion &c. (volition) 600; preoption[obs3]; alternative; dilemma, embarras de choix[Fr]; adoption, cooptation[obs3]; novation[obs3]; decision &c. (judgment) 480. election; political election (politics) 737a. selection, excerption, gleaning, eclecticism; excerpta[obs3], gleanings, cuttings, scissors and paste; pick &c. (best) 650. preference, prelation[obs3], opinion poll, survey; predilection &c. (desire) 865. V. offers one's choice, set before; hold out the alternative, present the alternative, offer the alternative; put to the vote. use option, use discretion, exercise option, exercise discretion, one's option; adopt, take up, embrace, espouse; choose, elect, opt for; take one's choice, make one's choice; make choice of, fix upon. vote, poll, hold up one's hand; divide. settle; decide &c. (adjudge) 480; list &c. (will) 600; make up one's mind &c. (resolve) 604. select; pick and choose; pick out, single out; cull, glean, winnow; sift the chaff from the wheat, separate the chaff from the wheat, winnow the chaff from the wheat; pick up, pitch upon; pick one's way; indulge one's fancy. set apart, mark out for; mark &c.