One Word Substitutes

One word substitutes make your language crisp. A Phrase or a sentence may be substituted by a single word. Given below are words that may be used to replace a phrase or sentence:

One Word Substitution (from enableall.org)

1.	One who is out to subvert a government	Anarchist
2.	One who is recovering from illness	Convalescent
3.	One who is all powerful	Omnipotent
4.	One who is present everywhere	Omnipresent
5.	One who knows everything	Omniscient
6.	One who is easily deceived	Gullible
7.	One who does not make mistakes	Infallible
8.	One who can do anything for money	Mercenary
9.	One who has no money	Pauper
10.	One who changes sides	Turncoat
11.	One who works for free	Volunteer
12.	One who loves books	Bibliophile
13.	One who can speak two languages	Bilingual
14.	One who loves mankind	Philanthropist
15.	One who hates mankind	Misanthrope
16.	One who looks on the bright side of things	Optimist
17.	One who looks on the dark side of things	Pessimist
18.	One who doubts the existence of god	Agnostic
19.	One who pretends to be what he is not	Hypocrite
20.	One incapable of being tired	Indefatigable
21.	One who helps others Good	Samaritan
22.	One who copies from other writers	Plagiarist
23.	One who hates women	Misogynist
24.	One who knows many languages	Polyglot
25.	One who is fond of sensuous pleasures	Epicure
26.	One who thinks only of himself	Egoist
27.	One who thinks only of welfare of women	Feminist.
28.	One who is indifferent to pleasure or pain	Stoic
29.	One who is quite like a woman	Effeminate
30.	One who has strange habits	Eccentric
31.	One who speaks less	Reticent
32.	One who goes on foot	Pedestrian
33.	One who believes in fate	Fatalist
34.	One who dies without a Will	Intestate
35.	One who always thinks himself to be ill	Valetudinarian
36.	A Government by the people	Democracy
37.	A Government by a king or queen	Monarchy
38.	A Government by the officials	Bureaucracy
39.	A Government by the rich	Plutocracy
40.	A Government by the few	Oligarchy
41.	A Government by the Nobles	Aristocracy
42.	A Government by one	Autocracy
43.	Rule by the mob	Mobocracy
44.	That through which light can pass	Transparent
45.	That through which light cannot pass	Opaque
46.	That through which light can partly pass	Translucent
47.	A sentence whose meaning is unclear	Ambiguous
48.	A place where orphans live	Orphanage
49.	That which cannot be described	Indescribable
50.	That which cannot be imitated	Inimitable
51.	That which cannot be avoided	Inevitable
52.	A position for which no salary is paid	Honorary
53.	That which cannot be defended	Indefensible
54.	Practice of having several wives	Polygamy
55.	Practice of having several husbands	Polyandry
56.	Practice of having one wife or husband	Monogamy
57.	Practice of having two wives or husbands	Bigamy
58.	That which is not likely to happen	Improbable
59.	People living at the same time	Contemporaries
60.	A book published after the death of its author	Posthumous
61.	A book written by an unknown author	Anonymous
62.	A life history written by oneself	Autobiography
63.	A life history written by somebody else	Biography
64.	People who work together	Colleagues
65.	One who eats too much	Glutton
66.	That which cannot be satisfied	Insatiable
67.	One who questions everything	Cynic
68.	A flesh eating animal	Carnivorous
69.	A grass eating animal	Herbivorous
70.	One who lives in a foreign country	Immigrant
71.	To transfer one's authority to another	Delegate
72.	One who is a newcomer	Neophyte
73.	That which is lawful	Legal
74.	That which is against law	Illegal
75.	One who is unmarried	Celibate
76.	A game in which no one wins	Draw
77.	A study of man	Anthropology
78.	A study of races	Ethnology
79.	A study of the body	Physiology
80.	A study of animals	Zoology
81.	A study of birds	Ornithology
82.	A study of ancient things	Archaeology
83.	A study of derivation of words	Etymology
84.	Murder of a human being	Homicide
85.	Murder of a father	Patricide
86.	Murder of a mother	Matricide
87.	Murder of an brother	Fratricide
88.	Murder of an infant	Infanticide
89.	Murder of self	Suicide
90.	Murder of the king	Regicide
91.	To free somebody from all blame	Exonerate
92.	To write under a different name	Pseudonym
93.	A thing no longer in use	Obsolete
94.	A handwriting that cannot be read	Illegible
95.	Words written on the tomb of a person	Epitaph
96.	One who is greedy for money	Avaricious
97.	Something that cannot be imitated	Inimitable
98.	One who doesn't know how to read and write	Illiterate
99.	A person's peculiar habit	Idiosyncrasy
100.	An animal who preys on other animals	Predator
101.	Violating the sanctity of a church	Sacrilege
102.	One who can throw his voice	Ventriloquist

Reason By Isaac Asimov(contd).

The narrative is replete with dialogue and repartee. Throughout the story the Earthmen, Powell and Donovan are engaged in a dialogue with the robot Cutie. The language is crisp and conversational with arguments balanced against eachother as in a debate-the relative merits of humans and robots are weighed leading to moments that are witty, pitiable or humorous. Donovan's speech is full of alliterative phrases like 'chromium cranium', 'metal mess', 'brass baboon' and 'Sizzling Saturn' evoking caricatures of the robot. The equipoise and calm nature of POwell is well contrasted with the mercurial and irate nature of Donovan. Sympathy for Cutie is evoked with patient humour at the attempts of Cutie to learn about his world. The actual threat posed by electron storm and an intractable robot is foreboding but vaguely looms at the fringes of the narrative. Donovan's threats convey the urgency of the situation where a crisis is imminent but Powell's composure is reassuring as it emphasises trhe human ability to deal with any eventuality. There is a cue that a robot cannot be treated as 'slave' any longer and a mature managerial style is needed to handle an intelligent machine.The three laws of robotics: First, no harm to humans; second, Obedience; and third, choosing human life over robot existence control and program even the most intelligent and sophisticated machines making human authority ultimately infallible.

Reason by Issac Asimov

On the character of Cutie, the Robot

Cutie can understand human language. Not only does he have a faculty of reason, but also 'intuition' which is associated with natural beings. He displays curiosity to his own existence. He is inquisitive and original in his approach to the world believing in investigating the causes of various observable phenomena. 

He accepts nothing on authority and wants evidence to back up any hypothesis, his doubts make him a skeptic. He formulates his own theory of evolution with humans at the bottom, mechanical robots in the middle and intelligent robots on top of the hierarchy. His attitude is rebellious from the point of view of humans but his ‘natural’ obedience is discernible in its veneration of the Beam Director/Energy Convertor and ultimately, in a circuitous way towards the humans. Heis more accurate and quick than humans, hence more efficient. His intelligence matches that of Rene Descartes and Albert Einstein and his genius threatens the humans to a degree that makes Donovan call him a 'lunatic' robot and a 'metal maniac.'  He has a developed consciousness verging on a personality-if robots can have a personality Cutie possesses it due to his unique characteristics. Cutie becomes the founder of a new religion- a prophet of the Master that is actually the Convertor. His genius verges on the ridiculous because at the end of it all- humans have created ‘him’ and it is to serve our planet Earth.

more IDIOMS: III

1.       Bark is worse than your bite: empty threats

2.       Black Sheep of the family: the odd one out in a family

3.       Bull in a China Shop: a clumsy person

4.       A leopard cannot change his spots: one cannot change his nature

5.       Crocodile tears: false tears

6.       Cry wolf: raise false alarm

7.       Eager Beaver: hardworking person

8.       Go to the dogs: get ruined

9.       Hold your horses: go slow or slowdown

10.   Make a mountain out of a molehill or To stir storm in a kettle: to exaggerate; to make something sound larger than it really is

11.   Accidentally on purpose: to deliberately do something but make it appear accidental

12.   Somebody’s Achilles heel: the only weak point in an otherwise perfect person

13.   Chalk and Cheese relationship: very different

14.   Comparing apples to oranges: false comparison

15.   Between the devil and the deep blue sea or Catch-22: No choice left

16.   Run like clockwork: when everything happens as per the schedule

17.   Blessing in disguise: an apparent curse that turns out to be good for you

18.   A tough act to follow: a feat that is very difficult to repeat

19.   There are too many chiefs and not enough Indians: too many people giving orders but none to follow them

20.   Raining cats and dogs: heavy downpour or heavy rainfall.

21.   Square pegs in round holes: misfits

22.   Bee in your bonnet: a crazy idea

23.   Cloak and Dagger: mysterious

24.   Sitting duck: In a position where one can be easily hurt.

25.   Bats in your belfry: A crazy idea

26.   Wolf in a sheep’s clothing: Someone who looks harmless but may actually be very dangerous

27.   Straight from the horse’s mouth: from the original source or get some news directly from the person concerned

28.   Ace up your sleeve: a secret advantage

29.   Kill two birds with one stone: To accomplish two deeds with one action

30.   Smell a rat: To be suspicious or get a feeling that something is wrong

31.   Get a pink slip: to lose your job

32.   Green thumb: to have a talent for gardening

33.   Once in a blue moon: Very rarely

34.   Out of the clear blue sky: Without any warning

35.   Red carpet treatment: To treat specially, giving a lot of respect.

36.   Red herring: Anything that misleads you

37.   Show your true colours: To show what you really are

38.   Eat your hat: Saying that you will do something impossible if your words are proven wrong.

39.   Feather in your cap: a great achievement

40.   Goody two shoes:  of those who think they are perfect