| Main Entry: | hedge |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | boundary, obstacle, especially one made of plants |
Synonyms: |
barrier, bush, enclosure, fence, guard, hedgerow, hurdle, protection, quickset, screen, shrubbery, thicket, windbreak |
| Main Entry: | hedge |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid, dodge |
Synonyms: |
be noncommittal, beat around the bush, blow hot and cold, cop a plea, cop out, duck, equivocate, evade, flip-flop, fudge, give the run around, hem and haw, jive, pass the buck, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, run around, shilly-shally, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, stall, stonewall, temporize, tergiversate, tergiverse, waffle |
Antonyms: |
confront, face, meet |
| Main Entry: | hedge |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | enclose |
Synonyms: |
block, border, cage, confine, coop, corral, edge, fence, girdle, hem in, hinder, immure, obstruct, pen, restrict, ring, siege, surround |
Antonyms: |
release |
| Main Entry: | bramble |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | thorny bush |
Synonyms: |
brier, burr, catch weed, cleaver, furze, goose grass, gorse, hedge, nettle, prick, prickly shrub, shrub, spray, thistle, thistle sage, thorn |
| Main Entry: | brush |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | scrappy bushes |
Synonyms: |
boscage, bracken, brushwood, chaparral, coppice, copse, cover, dingle, fern, gorse, grove, hedge, scrub, sedge, shrubbery, spinney, thicket, undergrowth, underwood |
| Main Entry: | bush |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | shrubs; woodland |
Synonyms: |
backcountry, backwoods, boscage, bramble, briar, brush, chaparral, creeper, forest, hedge, hinterland, jungle, outback, plant, scrub, scrubland, shrubbery, the wild, thicket, vine, wilderness |
| Notes: | bush and shrub are used interchangeably for relatively low woody perennials with many stems and branches that grow from a complex close to the ground; a tree is a woody perennial, usually taller, with branches starting higher up |
| Main Entry: | defend |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | protect |
Synonyms: |
avert, battle, beat off, bulwark, care for, cherish, conserve, contend, cover, entrench, espouse, fend off, fight, fight for, fortify, foster, garrison, guard, guard against, hedge, hold, hold at bay, house, insure, keep safe, look after, maintain, mine, nourish, oppose, panoply, preserve, prevent, provide sanctuary, repel danger, resist, retain, safeguard, save, screen, secure, shelter, shield, stave off, sustain, take in, uphold, war, ward off, watch, watch over, withstand |
Antonyms: |
abandon, attack, desert, leave, quit, relinquish, resign, surrender |
| Main Entry: | dodge |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid |
Synonyms: |
circumlocute, dark, deceive, ditch, duck, elude, equivocate, escape, evade, fence, fend off, fudge, get around, get out of, give the slip, hedge, juke, lurch, malinger, move to the side, parry, pussyfoot, put the move on, shake, shake off, shift, shirk, short-circuit, shuffle, sidestep, skip out on, skirt, slide, slip, swerve, tergiversate, tergiverse, trick, turn aside, weasel |
Antonyms: |
confront, encounter, face, meet, stand up to |
| Main Entry: | enclose |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | put inside, surround |
Synonyms: |
block off, blockade, bound, box up, cage, circle, circumscribe, close in, confine, coop, corral, cover, encase, encircle, encompass, enfold, enshroud, environ, fence, fence off, hedge, hem in, imbue, immure, implant, impound, imprison, include, induct, insert, intern, jail, limit, lock in, lock up, mew, mure, pen, restrict, set apart, shut in, veil, wall in, wrap |
Antonyms: |
free, let go, release, unloose |
| Main Entry: | equivocate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid an issue |
Synonyms: |
beat around the bush, beg the question, blow hot and cold, cavil, cloud the issue, con, cop a plea, cop out, cover up, dodge, double-talk, elude, escape, eschew, evade, falsify, fence, fib, flip-flop, fudge, give run around, hedge, hem and haw, jive, lie, mince words, palter, parry, pass the buck, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, run around, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, stonewall, tell white lie, tergiversate, tergiverse, waffle, weasel |
Antonyms: |
face, meet, speak on |