Zarok is a word that in today's speech sounds already slightly outdated. And if the author uses it, then he most likely stylizes the speech of the characters under the 19th century, and maybe wants to seem even more “Russian”. It is difficult for adolescents and youth who did not discover Dostoevsky or Tolstoy to cope with the meaning of the word "vow." But you do not need to be afraid of him, it is simple.
Value
Imagine the situation. The boy is offended by girls. His relationship with the beautiful half of humanity does not add up. And he promises himself never to deal with women in the future. The reader will be surprised, but at that very moment the boy gave himself a vow. In other words, it is an oath or promise not to do anything under any circumstances. By the way, the noun “vow” is rarely used now, but its related verb is still used by Russian people.
Synonyms
Once we know the meaning, we can move on to synonyms. There are not so many of them, just four:
- Oath.
- Promise.
- Assurance.
- Vow.
All synonyms are partial. But do not take a word. We argue our position.
An oath is a stronger word than a vow. When a person swears an oath, he never under any circumstances violates it. The main and most famous covenant of the Hippocratic oath is “Do no harm!” And although in practice, doctors often have to take risks, trying, for example, experimental treatment, from which the patient often gets worse, but consciously the doctor never sets as his goal to torment the patient.
I immediately recall the great and terrible diagnostician House, but he is actually a great humanist who, under the guise of a cynic, hides his love for people and the ability to sacrifice everything that he has for them.
Another important point: the oath is given both positive (to do something) and negative (not to do something). Zarok is a promise to oneself that does not have a positive dimension.
A promise is not as rigorous as an oath. Or rather: his obligatory execution depends on the conscience of the person. For example, a child promised his mother to eat soup for lunch, but when his mother is not at home, he backs away from this promise without suffering from moral torment. And just like an oath, a promise has two poles. Assurance is similar in quality to a promise.
A vow is, on the one hand, a religious promise (a vow of silence, celibacy), on the other hand, an even more obsolete synonym for vow or promise. A vow is even stricter than an oath, if you can compare here. At such heights, it is already becoming quite difficult. Such is the vow, synonyms, as we see, cannot replace it completely.
Quit smoking
It remains only to say that not always a negative promise to oneself not to do something leads to destruction. Sometimes it positively affects the surrounding reality and the person himself. To reveal the meaning of the word “vow” fully and fully, examples are needed. We are going to them.
The man promises himself never to smoke again. Is it bad? Not. This decision is one good. Saving money that you can spend on travel and self-education, if, of course, put it off. In general, the time of such a vow comes for a person when he has not illusory, but real health problems. Therefore, it is better to start earlier. And the economic incentive to get rid of bad habits in our time is one of the strongest. A person can underestimate health problems, but he can’t get past the specific benefits.
"I will never forgive!"
This epic phrase is spoken by almost everyone at different stages of their lives. Most of such a vow, fortunately, does not comply. But, of course, when it comes to the heroes of American militants, they are adamant and follow their decision to the very end. If you rebuild the phrase “I will never forgive” with the help of an antinomy, then “I will avenge until the very end” comes out.
Of course, the heroes of Schwarzenegger and Van Damme immediately come to mind. But if you give yourself the trouble to think a bit, does the prospect of total hatred of enemies look so good? Of course, if the villains did something terrible, they should be punished with all severity. But the problem is that ordinary people rarely do something as serious, however, films teach hate. In other words, sometimes vowing is not such a good idea.
How to be? You need to choose the middle path. On the one hand, you should not forgive everyone and everything and turn the other cheek every time they want to hit her, but on the other hand, you cannot resist drowning in crazy hatred.
Reason is precisely for that person and given to determine the verge of permissible in each case.