strength of the feeling; as, an
_attitude_ of defiance; or it may be consciously assumed in the attempt
to express the feeling; as, he assumed an _attitude_ of humility. A
_pose_ is a _position_ studied for artistic effect, or considered with
reference to such effect; the unconscious _posture_ of a spectator or
listener may be an admirable _pose_ from an artist's standpoint.

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ATTRIBUTE, _v._

Synonyms:

ascribe, associate, connect, impute, refer.
assign, charge,

We may _attribute_ to a person either that which belongs to him or that
which we merely suppose to be his. We _attribute_ to God infinite power.
We may _attribute_ a wrong intent to an innocent person. We may
_attribute_ a result, rightly or wrongly, to a certain cause; in such
case, however, _attribute_ carries always a concession of uncertainty or
possible error. Where we are quite sure, we simply _refer_ a matter to
the cause or class to which it belongs or _ascribe_ to one what is
surely his, etc. Many diseases formerly _attributed_ to witchcraft are
now _referred_ to the action of micro-organisms. We may _attribute_ a
matter in silent thought; we _ascribe_ anything openly in speech or
writing; King Saul said of the singing women, "They have _ascribed_ unto
David ten thousands, and to me they have _ascribed_ but thousands." We
_associate_ things which may have no necessary or causal relation; as,
we may _associate_ the striking of a clock with the serving of dinner,
tho the two are not necessarily connected. We _charge_ a person with
what we deem blameworthy. We may _impute_ good or evil, but more
commonly evil.

Antonyms:

deny, disconnect, dissociate, separate, sever, sunder.

Prepositions:

It is uncharitable to attribute evil motives _to_ (archaic _unto_)
others.

* * * * *

ATTRIBUTE, _n._

Synonyms:

property, quality.

A _quality_ (L. _qualis_, such)--the "suchness" of anything, according
to the German idiom--denotes what a thing really is in some one respect;
an _attribute_ is what we conceive a thing to be in some one respect;
thus, while _attribute_ may, _quality_ must, express something of the
real nature of that to which it is ascribed; we speak of the
_attributes_ of God, the _qualities_ of matter. "Originally 'the
_attributes_ of God' was preferred, probably, because men assumed no
knowledge of the actual _qualities_ of the De