A quick guide to the meanings of all key terms used in the Dramatica Theory of Story:Dramatica Synonyms

Ability • [Element] • innate capacity, capability, talent for, inherent proficiency

Ability • [Variation] • talent, knack, capability, capacity, faculty

Acceptance • [Element] • acquiescence, tolerance, allowance for, consent, submission

Accurate • [Element] • within tolerance, sufficient, adequate, acceptable, passable

Actuality • [Element] • the true state of things, objective reality, factuality, demonstrable existence, demonstrable reality

Analysis • [Variation] • evaluation, examination, breakdown of situation, close investigation, scrutinization

Appraisal • [Variation] • first impression, preliminary understanding, initial approach, initial assimilation

Approach • [Variation] • method, procedure, style, manner, manner of doing, one’s own way

Attempt • [Variation] • try, uncertain undertaking, speculative endeavor, dubious effort, endeavor, unlikely venture

Attitude • [Variation] • demeanor, manner of approach, countenance, behavioral outlook, perspective on doing

Attraction • [Variation] • allure, enticement, charm, captivate, appeal, draw, lure

Avoid • [Element] • evade, dodge, elude, escape, steer clear of, prevent

Aware • [Element] • outward perceptiveness, external sensitivity, consciousness of the external, responsive

Becoming • [Type] • embodying, manifesting, personifying, incarnating, transforming

Being • [Type] • pretending, appearing, acting like, seeming as, fulfilling a role

Cause • [Element] • engender, induce, elicit, determinant, reason for, factor, effector, source, agent, antecedent

Certainty • [Element] • sureness, definiteness, having no doubts, total reliability, indisputability, irrefutability, unmistakability, certitude, conviction

Change • [Element] • altering, altering force, modify, reshape, adjust, adapt

Chaos • [Element] • randomness, anarchy, disorder, formlessness, noncohesion

Choice • [Variation] • decision, selection, determination, pick

Circumstances • [Variation] • how things stand emotionally, emotional evaluation of the environment, value of existing conditions, relationship to others

Closure • [Variation] • finishing, completion, resolution, recursive

Commitment • [Variation] • dedication, devotion, steadfastness, zeal

Conceiving • [Type] • originating, inventing, devising, engendering, hatching ideas

Conceptualizing • [Type] • visualizing, imagining, envisioning, visualizing implementation

Conditioning • [Variation] • habituation, trained response, accustomed response, adaptive adjustments

Confidence • [Variation] • hopeful prospects, positive expectations, faithful anticipation, optimism

Conscience • [Element] • forgoing for fear of consequences, forgo, forbearance, temperance, abstinence, restraining oneself

Conscious • [Type] • considerations, sensibilities, cognizant, ability to consider, sensible, informed contemplation, contemplation

Consider • [Element] • deliberate, contemplate, ponder, weigh in the mind, mull

Control • [Element] • regulate, organized management, steer, conduct, guide, manipulate, focused organization

Deduction • [Element] • drawing a conclusion, process of elimination, demonstrative reasoning, narrowing to a single point

Deficiency • [Variation] • inadequacy, insufficiency, deficit, unfulfilled need

Delay • [Variation] • put off, retard, postpone, defer, suspend, prolong, procrastinate

Denial • [Variation] • not accepting, refusal to end, unwillingness to let go, refusal to back down, stubbornness, uncompliant

Desire • [Element] • drive, motivational goal, unfulfillment, source of discontent, essence of motivation

Desire • [Variation]• want, favor, like, covet, prefer, wish, aspire

Destiny • [Variation] • inescapable path, predetermined trajectory, set direction of the future, inevitable path, unavoidable trajectory

Determination • [Element] • ascertaining causes, discovering causes, finding the reasons why, figuring out factors, discerning antecedents

Disbelief • [Element] • refusal to accept, distrust, find unconvincing, find false, unpersuadability

Doing • [Type] • performing, executing, effecting action, acting

Doubt • [Variation] • pessimism, uninformed misgivings, uncertainty, trepidation, distrust

Dream • [Variation] • aspire, desiring the unlikely, pulling for the doubtful, airy hope, glimmer, far fetched desire

Effect • [Element] • result, consequence, outcome, culmination, the ensuing

Ending • [Element] • conclusion, finish, completion, termination, close

Enlightenment • [Variation] • insight, illumination, intuitive discernment, transcendent comprehension

Equity • [Element] • balance, fairness, parity, equilibrium, level, even

Evaluation • [Element] • appraisal, analysis, assessment, survey, examination

Evidence • [Variation] • proof, indicator, supporting information, corroborating facts, grounds for belief, substantiation

Expectation • [Element] • anticipated results, eventual outcome, presumed prospects, probable denouement, likely consequences

Expediency • [Variation] • advisability, convenience, prudent efficiency

Experience • [Variation] • familiarization, level of practice, seasoning, accumulated feelings, accumulated dealings with

Fact • [Variation] • belief in the genuine, ultimately real beliefs, truly real beliefs, authentic notion, authentic idea, correct knowledge, correct beliefs

Faith • [Element] • acceptance without proof, steadfast belief, confidence in unproven, credence, unquestioned trust

Falsehood • [Variation] • erroneousness, untruth, erroneous notion, mistaken, astray, dishonest

Fantasy • [Variation] • false belief, faith in the imaginary, delusion, erroneous conviction

Fate • [Variation] • inevitable events, unpreventable incidents, eventual events, destined occurrence, destined events, unavoidable situations

Feeling • [Element] • empathy, emotional sensibility, affective outlook, sentiment, emotional assessment

Future • [Type] • what is to come, what will be, prospect, prospective

Help • [Element] • aid, assist, support, bolster, abet

Hinder • [Element] • retard, obstruct, impede, fetter, undermine, block, burden, encumber, thwart

Hope • [Variation] • desired expectation, optimistic anticipation, confident aspiration, promise, encouraging outlook

Hunch • [Element] • intuition, premonition, impression, suspicion

Inaction • [Element] • passive reaction, inactive response, achieve through not doing

Induction • [Element] • postulate, predicate, conjecture, infer, hypothesize, determine possibility

Inequity • [Element] • imbalance, unfair, disparity, unequal, uneven, disproportionate

Inertia • [Element] • tendency to continue, a change resistant pattern, continuation, following an established direction

Instinct • [Variation] • involuntary drive, innate impulse, unconditioned response, automatic response, unconditioned motivation

Interdiction • [Variation] • altering the future, interfering with the predetermined, hindering the inevitable, escaping the predestined

Interpretation • [Variation] • construe, rendition, rendering meaning, elucidate, translating meaning

Investigation • [Variation] • inquiry, research, probe, sleuthing, delving, query

Knowledge • [Element] • learnedness, held truths, authoritative certainty, generally agreed upon truths

Knowledge • [Variation] • held truth, maintained information, presumed facts, accepted ideas

Learning • [Type] • cultivating experience, acquiring information, collecting data, gathering knowledge

Logic • [Element] • linear reasoning, rationality, structural sensibility, syllogistics

Memory • [Type] • remembering, recollections, reminiscence, recalling, retention

Mind • [Class] • attitude, fixation, position on an issue, fixed point of view, disposition

Morality • [Variation] • selflessness, altruism, benevolence, generosity

Need • [Variation] • subjective necessity, urge, demand, imperative

Non-Acceptance • [Element] • run counter to, reject, decline, repudiate, resist, refusal to compromise

Non-Accurate • [Element] • not within tolerance, insufficiency, inadequacy, deviancy, deficient to the purpose

Obligation • [Variation] • agreement, pledge, contract, accepted compulsion, emotional contract

Obtaining • [Type] • controlling for oneself, possessing, having, keeping

Openness • [Variation] • broad mindedness, tolerance, willingness to reevaluate, receptiveness

Oppose • [Element] • object to, speak out against, argue against, protest, dispute, show disapproval of, detract from

Order • [Element]• structure, patterned arrangement, organization, patterned formation, formation, configuration, patterned sequence

Past • [Type] • history, what has happened, former times, retrospective

Perception • [Element] • appearance, how things seem to be, discernment, a particular reading of things, a point of view on reality, a way of seeing

Permission • [Variation] • constrained ability, limited capability, restricted capacity, hindered performance, allowed limitations, restrained utility

Physics • [Class] • an activity, an enterprise, an initiative, an endeavor, an operation

Possibility • [Element] • plausibility, viability, conceivable eventualities, open assessment

Potentiality • [Element] • chance, precariousness, focusing on the uncertain, going with the improbable

Preconception • [Variation] • prejudice, closed mindedness, narrow mindedness, intolerance, stubbornness, unwillingness to reevaluate

Preconditions • [Variation] • provision, prescribed specification, imposed stipulation, limiting parameters, imposed limitations

Preconscious • [Type] • unthinking responses, immediate responses, impulse, impulsive response, instinctive response, innate response, reflex

Prediction • [Variation] • foresight, foreseeing, anticipation, envisioning one’s future, prophecy, forecast, foretell, prognosticate

Prerequisites • [Variation] • essential steps, necessary requisites, compulsory stipulation

Present • [Type] • how things stand, the here and now, current situation, as of this moment

Proaction • [Element] • to initiate action, execute, undertake, commit, implement

Probability • [Element] • likelihood, prospective, predictable, promising

Process • [Element] • chain of interactions, manner of procedure, cause/effect relation, progression, ongoing pull or tendency

Production • [Element] • determining potential, noticing possibilities, ruling out future impossibilities, discovering of potential

Progress • [Type] • flowing, advancing, proceeding, moving forward, developing step by step, graduated, staging, successive, procession, the way things are going

Projection • [Element] • anticipation, how things will be, most likely, probable

Protection • [Element] • defense, safeguard, preservation, precaution

Proven • [Element] • verified, confirmed, corroborated, established, demonstrated, shown

Psychology • [Class] • ways of thinking, thinking process, activity of the psyche, manipulation of others

Pursuit • [Element] • seek, go after, attempt to achieve, look for, directed effort

Rationalization • [Variation] • fabricated excuse, ulterior explanation, false justification, artificial reason

Reaction • [Element] • response, reply, acting from stimulus, goaded to action

Re-appraisal • [Variation] • reassess, rechecking, checking up, re-examining a conclusion, re-evaluating a conclusion

Reconsider • [Element] • re-examining conclusions, rethinking, to mull over again, further deliberation, additional scrutiny

Reduction • [Element] • determining probability, comparisons of potentiality, measurement of likelihood, judging probabilities

Re-evaluation • [Element] • re-appraisal, further assessment, subsequent analysis, scrutiny of first impressions

Repulsion • [Variation] • unattractive, repellent, foreboding, unsavory, pushing away, forcing back

Responsibility • [Variation] • assumed propriety, believed appropriateness, self designated aptness, accepted suitability

Result • [Element] • ramifications of an effect, consequence, repercussion, impact, end product

Security • [Variation] • evaluation of safety, measure of safeguards, appraisal of one’s protections, gauge of defenses

Self-Aware • [Element] • self-conscious, conscious of one’s existence, self-perceiving, self-appreciating, self-cognizant

Self-Interest • [Variation] • self-serving, self-centered, narcissistic, selfishness, self-absorbed, egocentric

Sense of Self • [Variation] • perception of self, self image, self identity, self attribution

Senses • [Variation] • perceptual data, raw sensations, sensory impressions, immediate impressions, perceptions

Situation • [Variation] • how things stand rationally, a reasoned evaluation of environment, arranged context, environmental state, surroundings, predicament

Skill • [Variation] • proficiency, aptitude, competence, adeptness, degree of expertise, practiced ability, honed ability

Speculation • [Element] • prognostication, surmising possibilities, conjecturing

State-of-Being • [Variation] • essence, one’s true self, true self, essential nature, core being

Strategy • [Variation] • scheme, tactic, plan, ploy, decided approach

Subconscious• [Type] • libido, id, basic motivations, basic drives, anima

Support • [Element] • commend, extol, endorse, back, compliment, laud

Suspicion • [Variation] • wary approach, partially justified apprehension, informed doubt, doubt based on evidence, sensible caution

Temptation • [Element] • indulge, embracing immediate benefits, intemperance, immoderation

Test • [Element] • trial of validity, examination, audit, inspection, scrutinization

Theory • [Element] • structured explanation, concrete hypothesis, systematized descriptive knowledge, description of linear connections

Thought • [Element] • the process of consideration, thinking, contemplation, mental attention, running over in your mind

Thought • [Variation] • consideration, contemplation, ponderence, musing, reflection

Threat • [Variation] • perceived danger, indication of peril, perceived vulnerability, warning, detected hazard

Trust • [Element] • untried acceptance, untested belief in, accept implicitly, assumed dependability, unquestioned reliance on

Truth • [Variation] • honesty, correct information, correct notion, verity

Unending • [Element] • continual, ongoing, perpetual, ceaseless, interminable, incessant, perennial

Uncontrolled • [Element] • unregulated, disorganized, unfocused, rampant, unguided, open, frenzy

Understanding • [Type] • comprehending, grasping, appreciating, obtaining meaning, acquiring meaning

Universe • [Class] • a situation, a set of circumstances, state of affairs, predicament, environment, milieu

Unproven • [Element] • unverified, unconfirmed, unestablished, undemonstrated, untried

Value • [Variation] • utility, objective appraisal, general usefulness

Wisdom • [Variation] • mental mastery, integrated understanding, seasoned understanding, comprehension, astute cogency

Work • [Variation] • appropriate undertaking, suitable task, manageable labor, a performable activity

Worry • [Variation] • anxiety, concern, apprehension, misgivings

Worth • [Variation] • subjective value, individual appraisal, personal importance • [Variation] • subjective value, individual appraisal, personal importance • [Variation] • subjective value, individual appraisal, personal importance