- mention
- mention vb Mention, name, instance, specify are comparable when they mean to make clear or specific by referring to something explicitly.Mention indicates a calling attention to, usually by name where possible, sometimes by a brief, cursory, or incidental reference{
I shall mention the accident which directed my curiosity originally into this channel— Lamb
}{intellectuals are such puritanical devils, that they usually recoil with horror when prayer is mentioned— Forster
}{usually the class is not directly mentioned in our statement; but there must be an implicit understanding, since otherwise the probability would be indeterminate— Eddington
}{mentioning several minor figures in his lecture on Shakespeare
}Name implies clear mention of a name and therefore may suggest greater explicitness{naming Doe and Roe in the report and implicating their associates
}{he names golf, tennis, and music as his chief means of recreation— Current Biog.
}Instance may indicate clear explicit reference or definite emphasis as a typical example or special case{examples can be instanced from the first to the twentieth century— Latourette
}{is it unfair to instance Marlowe, who died young?— Quiller-Couch
}{I have instanced his book because it was flagrant, not unique— Leech
}Specify implies statement so explicit, detailed, and specific that misunderstanding is impossible{the standards specify the names under which these five varieties must be sold— Americana Annual
}{as changes emerge from the storm of civil commotion, it is often just as hard to specify the exact day on which a government is born or dies— Jessup
}{to specify the structure of a skeleton is to specify the bones of which it consists and their interrelations— Clement
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
