avoid
elude
escape
eschew
evade
shun
award
bounty
particular effect. The contributory cause, however, only accompanies a major cause: Underground sabotage was a contributory factor in the German retreat before the Allied onslaught. Unlike ancillary or auxiliary items, something that is contributory exists only if actually called into action; it cannot be held in abeyance and still be contributory. Also, a contributory factor may be part of a destructive as well as a constructive result: Cigarette smoking may be regarded as a contributory cause of cancer in his case.
Secondary and subsidiary both clearly state the subordination or inferiority of the added factor. Secondary relates to contributory in having a cause-and-effect meaning but, unlike contributory, can refer to both causes and effects. A contributory cause, for example, may result only in a secondary effect. Secondary may be applied in any context where comparison is made between primary values, goals, benefits and less important or gratuitous ones. In this respect, subsidiary is more specific, meaning all the attached ramifications that may exist along with a primary situation: an author’s subsidiary rights in the stage and film versions of his novel; a main store’s subsidiary branches. Subsidiary, in this sense, is most like auxiliary in suggesting a similar but less important aspect of a larger whole. See addition, assistant, subordinate.
Avoid means to keep away from or keep at a distance, either by design or as the automatic or accidental consequence of an action. [He drove home over the bridge to avoid the traffic congestion at the tunnel; By driving home over the bridge he unknowingly avoided the tunnel congestion.]
Escape in its basic sense refers similarly to a deliberate or accidental keeping clear of something. A criminal may adopt a ruse to escape detection, or he may escape apprehension by the death of the only witness. Escape is also used with the sense of to manage to avoid, or to remain untouched or uninfluenced by something evil or harmful: to escape from being injured by the falling debris.
To elude is to avoid or escape by the use of dexterity or artifice. A quarterback may elude tacklers by a feint; a fugitive may elude pursuers by planting false clues. Evade may sometimes be used in place of elude, but often carries the connotation of avoidance of duty or obligation by underhanded methods: a taxpayer who evaded taxes by falsifying his accounts — a punishable offense — although he might legally have avoided a portion of the tax by taking advantage of allowable deductions; a soldier who evades hazardous duty by malingering.
Shun and eschew are to avoid with repugnance or distaste, or for reasons of morality or prudence. [A virtuous man will shun evil companions and practices; A man on a diet may shun or eschew rich foods.] Eschew is restricted to formal contexts, and is narrower in application than shun. Whereas eschew points to abstention, shun may indicate either abstention or physical withdrawal; one can shun people as well as things. [During his illness he shunned all society, and in particular those who had been his dearest friends.]
Antonyms: catch, encounter, face, meet, seek, solicit.
These words involve the showing of favor either out of generosity or out of respect for achievement. Award and prize are now nearly identical in meaning, although prize is less formal in tone. Both refer to a tribute given for some outstanding accomplishment. Both may or may
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not imply the giving of a sum of money. [The Olympic winner was offered only a crown of olive as an award ; An award of ten thousand dollars accompanied the prize for the best novel of the year.] Prize may also signify the objective or attainment of a struggle. [The company took the hill after an all-night battle, but it was a costly prize, Although he had not guessed it when he proposed, his wife turned out to be quite a prize.\
Honor is more general than the foregoing. Whereas award and prize may suggest an official ceremony of recognition, honor may share this implication or depart from it to indicate simply private, unofficial respect. [The visiting head of state was given the honor of a twenty-one gun salute; It is an honor to hear you speak so highly of me.]
Premium is most specific in meaning, referring to an additional value beyond an agreed-on sum, the premium being given when a further condition has been met: They gave him a premium for selling the most insurance that month. More generally, the word may simply mean a high valuation, like honor’. I put a high premium on the truth.
Bounty may mean generosity in general, or the gift given as a favor, a rather formal use: The land’s bounty passed all expectation. Bounty is also used specifically to mean a sum of money given by a government for killing a predatory animal: the bounty offered for killing a mountain lion. See approval.
Antonyms: forfeit, penalty.
These words mean to have knowledge of the existence or fact of something. Aware is the broadest term, and may mean having knowledge of something inside oneself or of some external fact or condition. Such knowledge may be based on the evidence of one’s senses or on the intellect: to be aware of hunger pangs; aware of a sharp drop in temperature; aware of a new trend in public opinion.
Conscious at its most restricted is close to aware in indicating the mind’s registering of a sensation, perception, or state of affairs: conscious of how dim the room had grown as the twilight deepened; conscious of what the other students thought of her. Even on this level, however, the word may suggest the minimal registering of a perception, whereas aware more often implies a keener response or greater alertness that may encompass evaluation or rational judgment: People had been conscious of the problem before, but the new book made them aware of its magnitude. Conscious, furthermore, can apply as aware cannot to the waking state in general, as opposed to a sleeping or comatose state: a local anesthetic under which a person remains conscious throughout the operation. In a psychological context, the word can apply to those contents of the psyche that are present or available to the ego: a conscious hatred of his mother; slowly becoming conscious of his long-buried feelings of inferiority. Less technically, the word can refer to a deliberate or voluntary judgment: urged to make a conscious choice before events decided the question for them.
Cognizant implies knowledge of a more public character than the other words here considered. To say that one was cognizant of a breeze would be absurdly pretentious, but one may without fear of ridicule claim to be cognizant of new methods in the teaching of foreign languages. [A Congressman ought to be cognizant of the attitudes and opinions of his electorate.] Cognizant thus suggests a deliberate effort to know, and the things known are usually of some public importance. Mindful, like cognizant a rather formal word, emphasizes the giving of
award
(continued)
honor
premium
prize
aware
cognizant conscious mindful on to
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