Asynonym is aword,morpheme, orphrase that has a similar or identical meaning to another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language.[2] For example, inEnglish, words likebegin,start,commence, andinitiate are synonyms: they aresynonymous. The standard test for synonymy is substitution: one form can be used interchangeably without changing the meaning of the sentence.
Words may be synonymous in only one particularsense: for example,long andextended in thecontext oflong time orextended time are synonymous, butlong cannot be used in the phraseextended family.
Synonyms with identical meanings share aseme or denotationalsememe, whereas those with inexactly similar meanings share a broader denotational orconnotational sememe and overlap within asemantic field. The former are sometimes known ascognitive synonyms, and the latter are referred to as near-synonyms,[3] plesionyms,[4] or poecilonyms.[5]
Somelexicographers argue that no synonyms are identical (in all contexts or social levels of language) due to differences inetymology,orthography, phonic qualities,connotations, ambiguous meanings, andusage.[6] For example,feline is more formal thancat, and along arm is not the same as anextended arm, aslong andextended are not always interchangeable. Synonyms can also be used aseuphemisms.
The term synonym is derived from theLatin wordsynōnymum, which was borrowed from theAncient Greek wordsynōnymon (συνώνυμον). It is composed of the Greek elementssýn (σύν, meaning 'together, similar, alike') and-ōnym- (-ωνυμ-), a form ofonoma (ὄνομα, meaning 'name').[10]
Loanwords are frequently used as synonyms, often borrowed from the dominant culture's language in a region. European languages commonly borrow from Latin and ancient Greek for technical terms, while native terms are used in everyday language. InEast Asia, languages likeJapanese,Korean, andVietnamese incorporateChinese borrowings alongside native words.Arabic andPersian are significant sources of synonymous borrowings in Islamic cultures.
InTurkish,kara andsiyah both mean 'black', withkara being a native Turkish word and siyah a borrowing from Persian. InOttoman Turkish, water is often referred to assu (Turkish),âb (Persian), ormâ (Arabic), "such a triad of synonyms exists in Ottoman for every meaning, without exception". These synonyms in Ottoman Turkish offer nuances and variations in meaning or usage.[12]
In English, Latin (L) and Greek (Gk) terms are often synonymous with Germanic ones. For example,thought andnotion (L) are synonymous withidea (Gk), whilering andcircle (L) are synonymous withcycle (Gk). English typically uses the Germanic term as a noun, but employs Latin and Greek adjectives. For instance,hand andmanual (L) are synonymous withchiral (Gk), andheat andthermal (L) are synonymous withcaloric (Gk). In some cases, the Germanic term has become rare or limited to specific meanings, such as tide,time/temporal, andchronic.[13]
Manybound morphemes in English are borrowed from Latin and Greek, serving as synonyms for native words or morphemes. For example,fish corresponds topisci- (L) andichthy- (Gk).
Coinages are another source of synonyms, often motivated bylinguistic purism. For example, the English wordforeword was coined to replace the Romance termpreface. In Turkish, the wordokul was created to replace the Arabic-derivedmektep andmederese, although the latter terms are still used in certain contexts.[14]
Synonyms often convey subtle differences in meaning or are employed in various speech or writingregisters.
Different technical fields may use synonyms to express specific technical distinctions.
Elegant variation is the practice of using synonyms to avoid repetition of the same word in proximity by using synonyms. However, modern style guides often criticize this practice.
Synonyms can be anypart of speech, as long as both words are of the same part of speech. Examples:
noun:drink andbeverage
verb:buy andpurchase
adjective:big andlarge
adverb:quickly andspeedily
preposition:on andupon
Synonyms are defined according to certain senses of words. For example,pupil refers to theaperture in the eye, not astudent.He expired is synonymous withhe died, butmy passport has expired cannot be replaced withmy passport has died.
The wordpoecilonym is a rare synonym of the wordsynonym. It is not entered in most major dictionaries and is a curiosity or piece of trivia for being anautological word due to itsmeta nature as a synonym ofsynonym.
Antonyms are words with opposite or nearly opposite meanings. For example,hot ↔cold,large ↔small,thick ↔thin,synonym ↔antonym
Hypernyms and hyponyms represent a broader category and a specific instance within that category. For instance,vehicle is a hypernym ofcar, whilecar is a hyponym ofvehicle.
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings. For example,witch andwhich are homophones in most accents because they are pronounced in the same way.
Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. For example,record can refer to both the act ofrecording a song and keeping arecord of documents.
Homonyms are words that have the same pronunciation and spelling but different meanings. For example,rose can refer to a type of flower or the past tense ofrise.
^DiMarco, Chrysanne, and Graeme Hirst. "Usage notes as the basis for a representation of near-synonymy for lexical choice." Proceedings of 9th annual conference of the University of Waterloo Centre for the New Oxford English Dictionary and Text Research. 1993.
^Grambs, David. The Endangered English Dictionary: Bodacious Words Your Dictionary Forgot. WW Norton & Company, 1997.
^"In the strictest sense,synonymous words scarcely exist".Standard Dictionary (Funk & Wagnalls, 1894), entry forsynonyms orsynonymous, as quoted inWebster's New Dictionary of Synonyms: A Dictionary of Discriminated Synonyms with Antonyms and Analogous and Contrasted Words (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam (Merriam-Webster ser.), [4th ed.] 1973 (SBN 0-87779-141-4)), p. 19a (Survey of the History of English Synonymy, inIntroductory Matter);accord,Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms,id., pp. 23a–25a,passim (Synonym: Analysis and Definition (titular word & colon italicized in original & subtitle not), inIntroductory Matter).
