- comfortable
- comfortable, cozy, snug, easy, restful are comparable when they mean enjoying or providing conditions or circumstances which make for one's contentment and security.Comfortable usually implies the absence of whatever gives trouble, pain, or distress in any degree or of any kind to the body or mind{
a comfortable chair
}{a comfortable room both in summer and in winter
}{he is never comfortable except in his own home
}{a makeshift arrangement not altogether agreeable or comfortable for either of us— Ellis
}but it often applies to persons or things that encourage in one serenity of mind, tranquillity, a sense of well-being, or complacency{the family was left in comfortable circumstances
}{a comfortable, motherly woman
}{diverted from senseless controversy into comfortable monologue— Jan Struther
}Cozy suggests comfortableness derived from warmth, shelter, ease, and friendliness{a cozy fire
}{a cozy armchair
}{close all the windows and doors so as to make the house cozy
}{the cozy talk by the fireside—J. R. Green
}{Wimsey gratefully took in the cozy sitting room, with its . . . fire roaring behind a chaste canopy of velvet overmantel— Sayers
}Snug (see also NEAT) suggests the state or the frame of mind of one who has as much room, or responsibility, or freedom, or money as is essential to his well-being but no more than he actually needs to be cozy, content, or secure; the term usually connotes such comfort as is associated with small but comfortable quarters as distinguished from those that are spacious or with a quiet, restricted, but pleasant way of life as distinguished from one where there is little time for one's own interests or where one is driven by ambitions or restlessness; often, specifically, the term emphasizes protection from the elements, and warmth and dryness, as contributions to one's comfort{all the gypsies and showmen ... lay snug within their carts and tents— Hardy
}{Arnold the heartbroken outcast from the snug household of faith, wearying in spiritual wastes of sand and thorns— Montague
}Easy (see also EASY 2) implies relief from all that makes for discomfort or hardships, with the result that one is happy or free from care, anxiety, trouble, or doubt{he is in easy circumstances for the first time in his life
}{she could now enjoy herself with an easy conscience
}{people of the right sort are never easy until they get things straight— Shaw
}{Mrs. Struthers's easy Sunday hospitality— Wharton
}Restful usually suggests a state of mind of one who is comfortable, cozy, or easy, as well as relaxed, or a quality in a thing that induces such a state of mind{it's restful to arrive at a decision, and restful just to think about New Hampshire— Frost
}{a restful, friendly room, fitted to the uses of gentle life— Mary Austin
}Analogous words: comforting, consoling, solacing (see COMFORT vb): content or contented, satisfied (see under SATISFY): grateful, welcome, agreeable, gratifying (see PLEASANT)Antonyms: uncomfortable: miserable
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
