What is the meaning of the word synonymous

Last Updated:
11 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the general meaning of «synonym». For other uses, see Synonym (disambiguation).

A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words begin, start, commence, and initiate are all synonyms of one another: they are synonymous. The standard test for synonymy is substitution: one form can be replaced by another in a sentence without changing its meaning. Words are considered synonymous in only one particular sense: for example, long and extended in the context long time or extended time are synonymous, but long cannot be used in the phrase extended family. Synonyms with exactly the same meaning share a seme or denotational sememe, whereas those with inexactly similar meanings share a broader denotational or connotational sememe and thus overlap within a semantic field. The former are sometimes called cognitive synonyms and the latter, near-synonyms,^[2] plesionyms^[3] or poecilonyms.^[4]

Lexicography[edit]

Some lexicographers claim that no synonyms have exactly the same meaning (in all contexts or social levels of language) because etymology, orthography, phonic qualities, connotations, ambiguous meanings, usage, and so on make them unique. Different words that are similar in meaning usually differ for a reason: feline is more formal than cat; long and extended are only synonyms in one usage and not in others (for example, a long arm is not the same as an extended arm). Synonyms are also a source of euphemisms.

Metonymy can sometimes be a form of synonymy: the White House is used as a synonym of the administration in referring to the U.S. executive branch under a specific president.^[5] Thus, a metonym is a type of synonym, and the word metonym is a hyponym of the word synonym.^{[citation needed]}

The analysis of synonymy, polysemy, hyponymy, and hypernymy is inherent to taxonomy and ontology in the information science senses of those terms.^[6] It has applications in pedagogy and machine learning, because they rely on word-sense disambiguation.^[7]

Etymology[edit]

The word is borrowed from Latin synōnymum, in turn borrowed from Ancient Greek synōnymon (συνώνυμον), composed of sýn (σύν ‘together, similar, alike’) and —ōnym— (-ωνυμ-), a form of onoma (ὄνομα ‘name’).^[8]

Sources[edit]

Synonyms are often some from the different strata making up a language. For example, in English, Norman French superstratum words and Old English substratum words continue to coexist.^[9] Thus, today we have synonyms like the Norman-derived people, liberty and archer, and the Saxon-derived folk, freedom and bowman. For more examples, see the list of Germanic and Latinate equivalents in English.

Loanwords are another rich source of synonyms, often from the language of the dominant culture of a region. Thus, most European languages have borrowed from Latin and ancient Greek, especially for technical terms, but the native terms continue to be used in non-technical contexts. In East Asia, borrowings from Chinese in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese often double native terms. In Islamic cultures, Arabic and Persian are large sources of synonymous borrowings.

For example, in Turkish, kara and siyah both mean ‘black’, the former being a native Turkish word, and the latter being a borrowing from Persian. In Ottoman Turkish, there were often three synonyms: water can be su (Turkish), âb (Persian), or mâ (Arabic): «such a triad of synonyms exists in Ottoman for every meaning, without exception». As always with synonyms, there are nuances and shades of meaning or usage.^[10]

In English, similarly, we often have Latin (L) and Greek (Gk) terms synonymous with Germanic ones: thought, notion (L), idea (Gk); ring, circle (L), cycle (Gk). English often uses the Germanic term only as a noun, but has Latin and Greek adjectives: hand, manual (L), chiral (Gk); heat, thermal (L), caloric (Gk). Sometimes the Germanic term has become rare, or restricted to special meanings: tide, time/temporal, chronic.^[11]

Many bound morphemes in English are borrowed from Latin and Greek and are synonyms for native words or morphemes: fish, pisci- (L), ichthy- (Gk).

Another source of synonyms is coinages, which may be motivated by linguistic purism. Thus, the English word foreword was coined to replace the Romance preface. In Turkish, okul was coined to replace the Arabic-derived mektep and mederese, but those words continue to be used in some contexts.^[12]

Uses[edit]

Synonyms often express a nuance of meaning or are used in different registers of speech or writing.

Different technical fields may appropriate synonyms for specific technical meanings.

Some writers avoid repeating the same word in close proximity, and prefer to use synonyms: this is called elegant variation. Many modern style guides criticize this.

Examples[edit]

Synonyms can be any part of speech, as long as both words belong to the same part of speech. Examples:

• noun: drink and beverage
• verb: buy and purchase
• adjective: big and large
• adverb: quickly and speedily
• preposition: on and upon

Synonyms are defined with respect to certain senses of words: pupil as the aperture in the iris of the eye is not synonymous with student. Similarly, he expired means the same as he died, yet my passport has expired cannot be replaced by my passport has died.

A thesaurus or synonym dictionary lists similar or related words; these are often, but not always, synonyms.^[13]

• The word poecilonym is a rare synonym of the word synonym. It is not entered in most major dictionaries and is a curiosity or piece of trivia for being an autological word because of its meta quality as a synonym of synonym.
• Antonyms are words with opposite or nearly opposite meanings. For example: hot ↔ cold, large ↔ small, thick ↔ thin, synonym ↔ antonym
• Hypernyms and hyponyms are words that refer to, respectively, a general category and a specific instance of that category. For example, vehicle is a hypernym of car, and car is a hyponym of vehicle.
• Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation but different meanings. For example, witch and which are homophones in most accents (because they are pronounced the same).
• Homographs are words that have the same spelling but different meanings. For example, one can record a song or keep a record of documents.
• Homonyms are words that have the same pronunciation and spelling but different meanings. For example, rose (a type of flower) and rose (past tense of rise) are homonyms.

See also[edit]

• -onym
• Synonym (taxonomy)
• Cognitive synonymy
• Elegant variation, the gratuitous use of a synonym in prose
• Synonym ring
• Synonymy in Japanese
• Thesauri and synonym dictionaries – Reference work for synonyms

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Britannica Dictionary definition of SYNONYMOUS

Synonymy relates to the topic of semantics, which concerns the study of meaning in language. The term synonymy originates from the Greek words sún and onoma, which mean with and name.

The first sentence uses awful to describe the weather and the second uses terrible. Although both sentences use different words, they have the same meaning: bad. In other words, awful and terrible are synonyms of bad.

To test whether two words are synonyms (or synonymous), we can use a substitution method: if one word can be replaced by another without changing the meaning/sense of the sentence, the two words are synonyms. The opposite of synonymy is antonymy. Synonymy can be found across all parts of speech: in nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.

Let’s put the synonyms into a sentence and use the substitution method:

1a. You have a big house.

1b. You have a large house.

By substituting big with large, we can keep the sentence’s meaning (the description of the house) in a similar degree/sense as the original sentence.

2a. He had a difficult decision to make.

2b. He had a hard decision to make.

The same as before, the substitution of difficult with hard does not change the sentence’s meaning (the description of the decision).

Synonymy in literature

Instead of repeating the word one kind, Lee chooses its synonym: alike, to relay a similar meaning to ‘very similar’. The same thing happens in the case of stayed shut up in the house and stay inside. Using synonymy, Lee enriches the prose by avoiding repetition while keeping the meaning similar in both cases.

Wake is a synonym of watch. Here, wake means ‘to stay awake to watch or tend’ (Oxford English Dictionary). Notice the slightly richer sense of see in watch compared to wake, yet the two words carry a similar meaning. By adopting synonymy, Shakespeare enhances the quality of the words he uses.

Absolute synonyms

With absolute synonyms, the meaning and function of the synonymous words are exactly the same. If you have a pair of absolutely synonymous words, you can substitute the words in every possible context (semantic, grammatical, sociolinguistic, etc.) with its synonym. This condition is very rare because, usually, two words that refer to the same meaning/object can’t co-exist. An example of an absolute synonym is airport and aerodrome. The former is what we commonly use nowadays, whereas the latter is an old-fashioned word.

Partial synonyms

Partial synonyms, on the other hand, occur when words have very closely related meanings. The meanings are not exactly the same, only partially, but close enough to relay the same message. Partial synonyms can differ in their collocation, register, and regional/social variation.

Have a look at these examples of partial synonyms:

Important to note: Homonym is a broader term for homophone (words that sound the same but have different meanings) and homograph (words that are spelt the same but have different meanings). Synonyms have similar meanings but homonyms have different meanings.

Even though the word wing is replaced with extension, we still get the same information about ‘a new section of the hospital is currently being constructed and it is for the maternity department’. The meaning of extension isn’t exactly the same as wing , but similar.

The same explanation can also be found here. We still get the same information about where my room is: on the west side of the building.

Polysemy — multiple meanings: wing — animal parts for flying & a section of a building.

The meaning of wing in this sentence refers to ‘a section of building’ and not ‘animal parts for flying’.

Synonymy vs. Polysemy

• In synonymy, you can substitute a word with its similar meaning and the sense/meaning of the sentence doesn’t change. A is similar to B .
• Synonyms are usually used as a means of avoiding word repetition. However, be careful of the slightly different meanings of synonymous words. Always be mindful of the context and valency of the sentence.
• Polysemy isn’t about word substitution. Because a single polysemic word has many meanings (A means B and C) , it can cause ambiguity. It is often used for wordplay or for creating “hidden” meanings.