create a database of words organized by semantic categories, suitable for use in natural-language understanding programs. This is a very small-scale project, which will not be competitive with large academic or commercial efforts such as the CYC project, but is intended to provide a convenient resource for experimentation in natural-language processing for individuals or small groups. Anyone who is currently engaged in or contemplating a similar thesaurus or dictionary project, who would be willing to collaborate on this project, is encouraged to contact us, so that unnecessary duplication of effort can be avoided. We would also appreciate being notified of typos, errors, or omissions in any version. Send inquiries or comments to:

               Patrick Cassidy
               MICRA Inc.
               735 Belvidere Ave.
               Plainfield, NJ 07062-2054

               voice: (908) 668-5252
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               THESAURUS OF ENGLISH WORDS AND PHRASES

CLASS I WORDS EXPRESSING ABSTRACT RELATIONS

SECTION I. EXISTENCE

1. BEING, IN THE ABSTRACT %

     #1. Existence.— N. existence, being, entity, ens[Lat], esse[Lat],
subsistence.
     reality, actuality; positiveness &c. adj.; fact, matter of fact, sober
reality; truth &c. 494; actual existence.
     presence &c. (existence in space) 186; coexistence &c. 120.
     stubborn fact, hard fact; not a dream &c. 515; no joke.
     center of life, essence, inmost nature, inner reality, vital
principle.
     [Science of existence], ontology.
     V. exist, be; have being &c. n.; subsist, live, breathe, stand,
obtain, be the case; occur &c. (event) 151; have place, prevail; find
oneself, pass the time, vegetate.
     consist in, lie in; be comprised in, be contained in, be constituted
by.
     come into existence &c. n.; arise &c. (begin) 66; come forth &c.
(appear) 446.
     become &c. (be converted) 144; bring into existence &c. 161.
     abide, continue, endure, last, remain, stay.
     Adj. existing &c. v.; existent, under the sun; in existence &c. n.;
extant; afloat, afoot, on foot, current, prevalent; undestroyed.
     real, actual, positive, absolute; true &c. 494; substantial,
substantive; self-existing, self-existent; essential.
     well-founded, well-grounded; unideal[obs3], unimagined; not potential
&c. 2; authentic.
     Adv. actually &c. adj.; in fact, in point of fact, in reality; indeed;
de facto, ipso facto.
     Phr. ens rationis[Lat]; ergo sum cogito: "thinkest thou existence doth
depend on time?" [Lat][Byron].

     #2. Inexistence.— N. inexistence[obs3]; nonexistence, nonsubsistence;
nonentity, nil; negativeness &c. adj.; nullity; nihility[obs3], nihilism;
tabula rasa[Lat], blank; abeyance; absence &c. 187; no such thing &c. 4;
nonbeing, nothingness, oblivion.
     annihilation; extinction &c. (destruction) 162; extinguishment,
extirpation, Nirvana, obliteration.
     V. not exist &c. 1; have no existence &c. 1; be null and void; cease
to exist &c. 1; pass away, perish; be extinct, become extinct &c. adj.; die
out; disappear &c. 449; melt away, dissolve, leave not a rack behind; go,
be no more; die &c. 360.
     annihilate, render null, nullify; abrogate &c. 756; destroy &c. 162;
take away; remove &c. (displace) 185; obliterate, extirpate.
     Adj. inexistent[obs3], nonexistent &c. 1; negative, blank; missing,
omitted; absent &c. 187; insubstantial, shadowy, spectral, visionary.
     unreal, potential, virtual; baseless, in nubibus[Lat]; unsubstantial
&c. 4; vain.
     unborn, uncreated[obs3], unbegotten, unconceived, unproduced, unmade.
     perished, annihilated, &c. v.; extinct, exhausted, gone, lost,
vanished, departed, gone with the wind; defunct &c. (dead) 360.
     fabulous, ideal &c. (imaginary) 515, supposititious &c. 514.
     Adv. negatively, virtually &c. adj.
     Phr. non ens[Lat].

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% 2. BEING, IN THE CONCRETE %

#3. Substantiality. — N. substantiality, hypostasis; person, being, thing, object, article, item; something, a being, an existence; creature, body, substance, flesh and blood, stuff, substratum; matter &c. 316; corporeity[obs3], element, essential nature, groundwork, materiality, substantialness, vital part. [Totality of existences], world &c. 318; plenum. Adj. substantive, substantial; hypostatic; personal, bodily, tangible &c. (material) 316; corporeal. Adv. substantially &c. adj.; bodily, essentially.

#4. Unsubstantiality. — N. unsubstantiality[obs3], insubstantiality; nothingness, nihility[obs3]; no degree, no part, no quantity, no thing. nothing, naught, nil, nullity, zero, cipher, no one, nobody; never a one, ne'er a one[contr]; no such thing, none in the world; nothing whatever, nothing at all, nothing on earth; not a particle &c. (smallness) 32; all talk, moonshine, stuff and nonsense; matter of no importance, matter of no consequence, thing of naught, man of straw, John Doe and Richard Roe, faggot voter; nominis umbra[Lat], nonentity; flash in the pan, vox et praeterea nihil[Lat]. shadow; phantom &c.(fallacy of vision) 443; dream &c. (imagination) 515; ignis fatuus &c. (luminary) 423[Lat]; "such stuff as dreams are made of" [Tempest]; air, thin air, vapor; bubble &c. 353; "baseless fabric of a vision" [Tempest]; mockery. hollowness, blank; void &c. (absence) 187. inanity, fool's paradise. V. vanish, evaporate, fade, dissolve, melt away; disappear &c. 449. Adj. unsubstantial; baseless, groundless; ungrounded; without foundation, having no foundation. visionary &c. (imaginary) 515; immaterial &c. 137; spectral &c. 980; dreamy; shadowy; ethereal, airy; cloud built, cloud formed; gossamery, illusory, insubstantial, unreal. vacant, vacuous; empty &c. 187; eviscerated; blank, hollow; nominal; null; inane. Phr. there's nothing in it; "an ocean of dreams without a sound" [Shelley].

% 3. FORMAL EXISTENCE

Internal conditions %

#5. Intrinsicality.— N. intrinsicality[obs3], inbeing[obs3], inherence, inhesion[obs3]; subjectiveness; ego; egohood[obs3]; essence, noumenon; essentialness[obs3] &c. adj.; essential part, quintessence, incarnation, quiddity, gist, pith, marrow, core, sap, lifeblood, backbone, heart, soul; important part &c. (importance) 642. principle, nature, constitution, character, type, quality, crasis[obs3], diathesis[obs3]. habit; temper, temperament; spirit, humor, grain; disposition. endowment, capacity; capability &c. (power) 157. moods, declensions, features, aspects; peculiarities &c. (speciality) 79; idiosyncrasy, oddity; idiocrasy &c. (tendency) 176[obs3]; diagnostics. V. be in the blood, run in the blood; be born so; be intrinsic &c. adj. Adj.