Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

to make of, be able to make nothing of, give it up; not be able to account for, not be able to make either head or tail of; be at sea &c. (uncertain) 475; wonder &c. 870; see through a glass darkly &c. (ignorance) 491. not understand one another; play at cross purposes &c. (misinterpret) 523. Adj. unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable; incognizable[obs3], inexplicable, inscrutable; inapprehensible[obs3], incomprehensible; insolvable[obs3], insoluble; impenetrable. illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical; enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret) 533; indecipherable. obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery; opaque, dense; undiscernible &c. (invisible) 447[obs3]; misty &c. (opaque) 426; hidden &c 528; latent &c 526. indefinite, garbled &c (indistinct) 447; perplexed &c. (confused) 59; undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous; mysterious; mystic, mystical; acroamatic[obs3], acroamatical[obs3]; metempirical; transcendental; occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed. inconceivable, inconceptible[obs3]; searchless[obs3]; above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension; beyond one's depth; unconceived. inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable. unpredictable, unforeseeable. Phr. it's Greek to me. #520. [Having a double sense] Equivocalness.—N. equivocalness &c adj.; double meaning &c. 516; ambiguity, double entente, double entendre[Fr], pun, paragram[obs3], calembour[obs3], quibble, equivoque[Fr], anagram; conundrum &c (riddle) 533; play on words, word play &c. (wit) 842; homonym, homonymy[Gram]; amphiboly[obs3], amphibology[obs3]; ambilogy[obs3], ambiloquy|. Sphinx, Delphic oracle. equivocation &c. (duplicity) 544; white lie, mental reservation &c. (concealment) 528; paltering. V. be -equivocal &c. adj.; have two meanings &c. 516; equivocate &c. (alter) 544. Adj. equivocal, ambiguous, amphibolous[obs3], homonymous[obs3]; double-tongued &c. (lying) 544; enigmatical, indeterminate. Phr. on the one hand, on the other hand. #521. Metaphor.—N. figure of speech; facon de parler [French], way # of speaking, colloquialism. phrase &c. 566; figure, trope, metaphor, enallage[obs3], catachresis[obs3]; metonymy[Gram], synecdoche[Semant]; autonomasia|!, irony, figurativeness &c. adj.; image, imagery; metalepsis[obs3], type, anagoge[obs3], simile, personification, prosopopoeia[obs3], allegory, apologue[obs3], parable, fable; allusion, adumbration; application. exaggeration, hyperbole &c. 549. association, association of ideas (analogy) 514a V. employ -metaphor &c. n.; personify, allegorize, adumbrate, shadow forth, apply, allude to. Adj. metaphorical, figurative, catachrestical[obs3], typical, tralatitious[obs3], parabolic, allegorical, allusive, anagogical[obs3]; ironical; colloquial; tropical. Adv. so to speak, so to say, so to express oneself; as it were. Phr. mutato nomine de te fabula narratur [Lat][Horace]. #522. Interpretation.—N. interpretation, definition; explanation, explication; solution, answer; rationale; plain interpretation, simple interpretation, strict interpretation; meaning &c. 516. translation; rendering, rendition; redition[obs3]; literal translation, free translation; key; secret; clew &c. (indication) 550; clavis[obs3], crib, pony, trot [U.S.]. exegesis; expounding, exposition; hermeneutics; comment, commentary; inference &c. (deduction) 480; illustration, exemplification; gloss, annotation, scholium[obs3], note; elucidation, dilucidation|; eclaircissement[Fr], mot d'enigme[Fr]. [methods of interpreting - list] symptomatology[Med], semiology, semeiology[obs3], semiotics; metoposcopy[obs3], physiognomy; paleography &c. (philology) 560; oneirology acception[obs3], acceptation, acceptance; light, reading, lection, construction, version. equivalent, equivalent meaning &c. 516; synonym; paraphrase, metaphrase[obs3]; convertible terms, apposition; dictionary &c. 562; polyglot. V. interpret, explain, define, construe, translate, render; do into, turn into; transfuse the sense of. find out &c. 480a the meaning &c. 516 of; read; spell out, make out; decipher, unravel, disentangle; find the key of, enucleate, resolve, solve; read between the lines. account for; find the cause, tell the cause &c. 153 of; throw light upon, shed light upon, shed new light upon, shed fresh light upon; clear up, clarify, elucidate. illustrate, exemplify; unfold, expound, comment upon, annotate; popularize &c. (render intelligible) 518. take in a particular sense, understand in a particular sense, receive in a particular sense, accept in a particular sense; understand by, put a construction on, be given to understand. Adj. explanatory, expository; explicative, explicatory; exegetical[obs3]; construable. polyglot; literal; paraphrastic, metaphrastic[obs3]; consignificative[obs3], synonymous; equivalent &c.