- fit
- fit n Fit, attack, access, accession, paroxysm, spasm, convulsion are comparable when they denote a sudden seizure or spell resulting from an abnormal condition of body or mind. The last three are too specific in their technical medical senses to be synonyms of the others (except of fit in its narrower significations), but in their extended senses they are frequently closely parallel.Fit is often used narrowly: sometimes to designate a sudden seizure of a disorder (as epilepsy or apoplexy) characterized by such symptoms as violent muscular contractions or unconsciousness{
fall in a fit
}or sometimes to designate a period in which there is a marked increase of a physical disturbance characteristic of a disease{hysteria often reveals itself in fits of alternate laughing and weeping
}In its wider application, fit still may imply suddenness and violence, but it emphasizes temporariness{a fit of the blues
}{he works only by fits and starts
}Occasionally it suggests nothing more than the unusual and passing character of the condition and is applied to things as well as to persons{enjoy a fit of laziness
}{a fit of bad weather
}Attack always implies a sudden and often violent onslaught but carries no suggestion of length of duration{frequent attacks of pain
}{an attack of melancholy
}{a prolonged attack of bronchitis
}{we have a second attack of hot weather— Whit man
}Access and accession, though often interchangeable with attack, distinctively imply the initiation of an attack or fit and often come close in meaning to outbreak or outburst{now and then an access of. . . sudden fury . . . would lay hold on a man— Kipling
}{one of his sudden sharp accessions of impatience at the leisurely motions of the Trujillo boy— Mary Austin
}Occasionally they also connote intensification (as of a mood or state of mind) to the point where control is lost or nearly lost{her evident, but inexplicable, access of misery— Meredith
}In their technical medical senses paroxysm, spasm, and convulsion are sudden and usually short attacks especially characteristic of certain diseases. The distinguishing marks of a paroxysm are sudden occurrence or intensification of a symptom (as coughing) and recurrence of attacks; those of spasm are sudden involuntary muscular contraction, in some cases producing rigidity of the body or constriction of a passage and in others producing alternate contractions and relaxations of the muscles; those of convulsion are of repeated spasms of the latter kind affecting the whole or a large part of the body and producing violent contortions of the muscles and distortion of features. The implications of these technical senses are usually carried over into the extended senses. Paroxysm commonly occurs in the plural and suggests recurrent, violent attacks{the girls went into paroxysms of laughter
}{throughout the night he suffered paroxysms of fear
}Spasm, especially when used of emotional disturbances, often implies possession by something that for a moment grips and paralyzes{she could scarcely even look at the wall without a spasm of fear— Bennett
}When used in the plural, it usually suggests the more or less rapid alternation of contrasting moods or states of mind{he worked only by spasmsy
}Convulsion implies definite physical effects accompanying the mood or state of mind and closely resembling those symptomatic of disease{the ragged crew actually laughed at me . . . some ot them literally throwing themselves down on the ground in convulsions of unholy mirth— Kipling
}fit adj Fit, suitable, meet, proper, appropriate, fitting, apt, happy, felicitous are comparable when they mean right with respect to the nature, condition, circumstances, or use of the thing qualified.Something is fit which is adapted or adaptable to the end in view, the use proposed, or the work to be done{food fit for a king
}{but when to mischief mortals bend their will, how soon they find fit instruments of ill!— Pope
}{never even in the most perfect days of my development as an artist could I have found words fit to bear so august a burden— Wilde
}{a wooden image, movable and fit to be carried in procession— Santayana
}Sometimes, in addition, fit connotes competence or the possession of the required qualifications{men fit to command
}{he is not a fit father for his children
}{they do not know what the boy is fit for
}Other times it suggests readiness (as in condition, state of health, mood, or inclination){the vessel is now fit for service
}{he played tennis to keep fit
}Something is suitable which answers the requirements or demands of the occasion, the circumstances, or the conditions or suggests no incongruity with them{behavior suitable to his age and station in life
}{will begin instinctively to arrange these institutions into suitable conventional categories— Marquand
}{clothes suitable for the occasion . . . tennis outfits, hiking outfits, cycling outfits— Laver
}Something is meet which is not only suitable but nicely adapted to the particular situation, need, or circumstances; the word usually suggests lightness or justness rather than an absence of incongruity; thus, a punishment of a childish offense may be suitable if it is in accord with the years and mentality of the child, but it is not meet unless it suggests due proportion between the offense and its penalty{it is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord— Book of Common Prayer
}{Sabbath was made a solemn day, meet only for preaching, praying, and Bible reading— Charles & Mary Beardy}}
}Something is proper (see also DECOROUS) which belongs to a thing on some justifiable grounds (as by nature, by custom, or by right reason){water is the proper element for fish
}{the proper observance of Memorial Day
}{the article brought only half its proper price
}When, as often happens, fitness or suitability is stressed rather than natural or rightful association, proper then implies determination of fitness or suitability by logic, reasonableness, or good judgment{the proper study of mankind is man— Pope
}{[according to Aristotle] the thing to aim at is to be angry "on the proper occasions and with the proper people in the proper manner and for the proper length of time"— Dickinson
}Something is appropriate which is so eminently fit or suitable that it seems to belong peculiarly or distinctively to the person or thing with which it is associated, sometimes giving him or it a distinguishing grace or charm through its very congruity{an excitement in which we can discriminate two sorts of elements, the passions appropriate to the subject and the passion proper to the artist— Alexander
}{the eighteenth-century gentleman spoke with a refined accent, quoted the classics on appropriate occasions— Russell
}{we have agreed that our writing should be appropriate . . . that it should rise and fall with the subject, be grave where that is serious, where it is light not afraid of what Stevenson . . . calls "a little judicious levity"— Quiller-Couch
}Something is fitting which is in harmony with the spirit, the tone, the mood, or the purpose{news fitting to the night, black, fearful, comfortless and horrible— Shak.
}{it is a fitting paradox that he should live today . . . chiefly by those writings which contradict everything he believed— Stewart
}Something is apt (see also APT 2; QUICK 2) which is nicely fitted by its nature or construction to attain the end desired, to accomplish the purpose in view, or to achieve the results contemplated{it was recognized that while one style was suited to one set of themes, another was apter for another set— Binyon
}{Fourier . . . invented a mathematical process which was not only suitable for handling his problem, but proved to be so universally apt that there is hardly a field of science or of engineering which it has not penetrated— Darrow
}Something is happy (see also GLAD, LUCKY) which is singularly appropriate and apt and therefore brilliantly successful or effective considered in its relation to the situation, the conditions, or other important factors{a happy choice of words, nicely expressing the subtlety of his thought
}{whether a composite language like the English is not a happier instrument of expression than a homogeneous one like the German— Coleridge
}{of all writers he perhaps best combines in his style a felicitous elegance with a happy vernacular— Van Doren
}Something is felicitous which is most opportunely, tellingly, or gracefully happy{I do not like mottoes but where they are singularly felicitous— Lamb
}{some of the most felicitous turns of thought and phrase in poetry are the result of a flash of inspiration under the happy guidance of a rhyme— Lowes
}{let us inquire . . . whether the relation of the figures to each other and of groups to the space they occupy is a felicitous one— Binyon
}Analogous words: adapted or adaptable, adjusted or adjustable, conformed or conformable (see corresponding verbs at ADAPT): qualified, capable, *able, competentAntonyms: unfitfit vb *prepare, qualify, condition, ready
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
