Jonah -
I am a DC based television writer and earlier today I turned to a thesaurus. I was looking for a good synonym for the word "advanced." (I am writing about dinosaurs.) I went to one of my usual sources, Thesaurus.com - - the on-line version of the esteemed Roget's Thesaurus.
So just what words are listed as synonyms for "advanced?" - - how about "liberal" or "progressive."
Main Entry: advanced
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: ahead in position, time, manner
Synonyms: avant-garde, breakthrough, excellent, exceptional, extreme, first, foremost, forward, higher, late, leading, liberal, precocious, progressive, radical, state-of-the-art*, unconventional, cutting-edge, leading-edge
Then, just for fun, I clicked on the word "liberal" - - and got such hits as "enlightened," "humanitarian," "intelligent," "rational," "unbiased," unprejudiced" and "unbigoted" - - as for antonyms try "conservative" and "narrow-minded."
Main Entry: liberal
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: progressive
Synonyms: advanced, avant-garde, broad, broad-minded, catholic, enlightened, flexible, free, general, high-minded, humanitarian, indulgent, intelligent, interested, left, lenient, loose, magnanimous, permissive, radical, rational, reasonable, receiving, receptive, tolerant, unbiased, unconventional, understanding, unorthodox, unprejudiced, humanistic, latitudinarian, libertarian, reformist, unbigoted
Antonyms: conservative, narrow, narrow-minded
I am a great fan of your columns - - and maybe somewhere in the creeping leftism of something as supposedly benign as a thesaurus will give you some fodder for some future writings...
Oh and the kind words are appreciated and *not* annoying.
