Synonym
For the specific botanical and zoological meanings of synonym, see Synonym (botany) and Synonym (zoology).Synonyms (in ancient
Greek syn 'συν' = plus and onoma 'όνομα' = name) are different words with similar or identical meanings and are interchangeable.
Antonyms are words with opposite or nearly opposite meanings. (
Synonym and
antonym are antonyms.)
An example of synonyms are the words
cat and
feline. Each describes any member of the family
Felidae. Similarly, if we talk about a
long time or an
extended time,
long and
extended become synonyms.
In the figurative sense, two words are often said to be
synonymous if they have the same connotation:
"a widespread impression that … Hollywood was synonymous with immorality" (Doris Kearns Goodwin)
Synonyms can be
nouns,
adverbs or
adjectives, as long as both members of the pair are the same
part of speech.
More examples of English synonyms:
baby and
infant (noun)
student and
pupil (noun)
pretty and
attractive (adjective)
sick and
ill (adjective)
interesting and
fascinating (adjective)
quickly and
speedily (adverb)
Note that the synonyms are defined with respect to certain senses of words; for instance,
pupil as the
"aperture in the iris of the eye" is not synonymous with student. Similarly,
expired as
"having lost validity" (as in grocery goods) doesn't necessarily mean death.
Some
lexicographers claim that no synonyms have exactly the same meaning (in all contexts or social levels of language) because
etymology,
orthography,
phonic qualities, ambiguous meanings, usage, etc. make them unique. However, many people feel that the synonyms they use are identical in meaning for all practical purposes. 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, such as a
long arm and an
extended arm. Synonyms are also a source of
euphemisms.
The purpose of a
thesaurus is to offer the user a listing of similar or related words; these are often, but not always, synonyms. In a way,
hyponyms are similar to synonyms.
In contrast,
antonyms (an opposite pair) would be:
dead and
alive (compare to synonyms:
dead and
deceased)
near and
far (compare to synonyms:
near and
close)
war and
peace (compare to synonyms:
war and
armed conflict)
tremendous and
awful (compare to synonyms:
tremendous and
remarkable)
In biology,
synonym is used with a closely defined meaning, different for animals and plants, see
synonym (zoology) and
synonym (botany).
*
Homonyms, words that sound alike, or are spelled alike, but mean different things, such as
too and
two;
there and
their; or
fluke (of luck) and
fluke (of a whale).
*
-onym*
Free Online English Thesaurus and Dictionary. Free Online English Thesaurus and dictionary containing synonyms, related Words, antonyms, definitions, idioms, words and terms using Merriam Websters Thesarus, Wordnet Reference and Roget's Thesaurus Definitions.
