View source for Synonym

{{Short description|Words or phrases of the same meaning}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Library of Ashurbanipal synonym list tablet.jpg|thumb|Synonym list in [[cuneiform]] on a clay tablet, [[Neo-Assyrian]] period<ref>{{British-Museum-db|K.4375|id=308401}}</ref>]]

A '''synonym''' is a [[word]], [[morpheme]], or [[phrase]] that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Synonym {{!}} Definition, Meaning, & Examples |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/synonym |website=Britannica |date=27 February 2024 |language=en}}</ref> 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 may often be synonymous in only one particular [[word sense|sense]]: for example, ''long'' and ''extended'' in the [[context (language use)|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 (semantics)|seme]] or denotational [[sememe]], whereas those with inexactly similar meanings share a broader denotational or [[connotation]]al sememe and thus overlap within a [[semantic field]]. The former are sometimes called [[cognitive synonymy|cognitive synonyms]] and the latter, near-synonyms,<ref name="Stanojević_2009">{{Citation |last=Stanojević |first=Maja |year=2009 |title= Cognitive synonymy: a general overview |journal=Facta Universitatis, Linguistics and Literature Series |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=193–200 | url=http://facta.junis.ni.ac.rs/lal/lal200902/lal200902-05.pdf |postscript=.}}</ref> plesionyms<ref>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.</ref> or poecilonyms.<ref>Grambs, David. The Endangered English Dictionary: Bodacious Words Your Dictionary Forgot. WW Norton & Company, 1997.</ref>

==Lexicography==
Some [[lexicographer]]s claim that no synonyms have exactly the same meaning (in all contexts or social levels of language) because [[etymology]], [[orthography]], phonic qualities, [[connotation]]s, ambiguous meanings, [[usage (language)|usage]], and so on make them unique.<ref>"In the strictest sense, ''synonymous'' words scarcely exist". ''Standard Dictionary'' (Funk & Wagnalls, 1894), entry for ''synonyms'' or ''synonymous'', as quoted in ''Webster'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.&nbsp;19a (''Survey of the History of English Synonymy'', in ''Introductory Matter''); ''accord'', ''Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms'', ''id.'', pp.&nbsp;23a–25a, ''passim'' (''Synonym: Analysis and Definition'' (titular word & colon italicized in original & subtitle not), in ''Introductory Matter'').</ref> 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 [[euphemism]]s.

[[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|U.S. executive branch]] under a specific president.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.essential-architecture.com/A-AMERICA-N/USA/USA-Washington/DC-001.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071110040451/http://www.essential-architecture.com/A-AMERICA-N/USA/USA-Washington/DC-001.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 10, 2007|title=World Architecture Images – The White House|website=essential-architecture.com|access-date=2019-12-09}}</ref> Thus, a metonym is a type of synonym, and the word ''metonym'' is a [[hyponymy and hypernymy|hyponym]] of the word ''synonym''.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}

The analysis of synonymy, [[polysemy]], hyponymy, and hypernymy is inherent to [[taxonomy (general)|taxonomy]] and [[ontology (information science)|ontology]] in the [[information science]] senses of those terms.<ref>Hirst, Graeme. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20211104132456/ftp://ftp.db.toronto.edu/public_html/dist/gh/Hirst-Ontol-2009-as-published.pdf Ontology and the lexicon]." Handbook on ontologies. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2009. 269–292.</ref> It has applications in [[pedagogy]] and [[machine learning]], because they rely on [[word-sense disambiguation]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Turney|first=Peter D.|date=2008|title=A Uniform Approach to Analogies, Synonyms, Antonyms, and Associations|url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1599081.1599195|journal=Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Computational Linguistics - Volume 1|series=COLING '08|location=Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, US|publisher=Association for Computational Linguistics|pages=905–912|isbn=978-1-905593-44-6|arxiv=0809.0124}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The word is borrowed from [[Latin language|Latin]] ''{{Lang|la|synōnymum}}'', in turn borrowed from [[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]] ''{{Transliteration|grc|synōnymon}}'' ({{lang|grc|[[wikt:συνώνυμον|συνώνυμον]]}}), composed of ''{{Transliteration|grc|sýn}}'' ({{lang|grc|[[wikt:σύν|σύν]]}} 'together, similar, alike') and ''-{{Transliteration|grc|ōnym}}-'' ({{lang|grc|-ωνυμ-}}), a form of ''{{Transliteration|grc|onoma}}'' ({{lang|grc|[[wikt:ὄνομα|ὄνομα]]}} 'name').<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', 1st edition, 1919, [https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/196522 ''s.v.'']</ref>

==Sources==

Synonyms are often from the different [[Stratum (linguistics)|strata]] making up a language. For example, in English, [[Norman French]] [[superstratum]] words and [[Old English]] [[Substratum (linguistics)|substratum]] words continue to coexist.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qs0AQAAMAAJ&q=origin+on+english+synonym&pg=PA1|title=The Making of English|last=Bradley|first=Henry|date=1922|publisher=Macmillan and Company, Limited|language=en}}</ref> Thus, today there exist 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]].

[[Loanword]]s 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 Asian cultural sphere|East Asia]], borrowings from [[Chinese language|Chinese]] in [[Sino-Japanese vocabulary|Japanese]], [[Sino-Korean vocabulary|Korean]], and [[Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary|Vietnamese]] often exist alongside native words. In Islamic cultures, [[Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]] are large sources of synonymous borrowings.

For example, in [[Turkish language|Turkish]], ''{{Lang|tr|kara}}'' and ''{{Lang|tr|siyah}}'' both mean 'black', the former being a native Turkish word, and the latter being a borrowing from Persian. In [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]], there were often three synonyms: water can be ''{{Lang|tr|su}}'' (Turkish), ''{{Lang|fa-latn|âb}}'' (Persian), or ''{{Lang|ar-latn|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.<ref>Ziya Gökalp, ''The Principles of Turkism'', 1968, p. 78</ref>

In English, similarly, there often exist 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''.<ref>Carl Darling Buck, ''A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages'', 1949, reprinted as {{isbn|0226079376}}</ref>

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 [[neologism|coinage]]s, which may be motivated by [[linguistic purism]]. Thus, the English word ''foreword'' was coined to replace the Romance ''preface''. In Turkish, ''{{Lang|tr|okul}}'' was coined to replace the Arabic-derived ''mektep'' and ''mederese'', but those words continue to be used in some contexts.<ref>Geoffrey Lewis, ''The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success'', 1999, {{isbn|0198238568}}, p. 44, 70, 117</ref>

==Uses==

Synonyms often express a nuance of meaning or are used in different [[Register (sociolinguistics)|registers]] of speech or writing.

Various technical domains may employ synonyms to convey precise technical nuances.

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 ==

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|thesaurus or synonym dictionary]] lists similar or related words; these are often, but not always, synonyms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allacronyms.com/|title=Synonym dictionary words and phrases|website=www.allacronyms.com|access-date=2018-04-27}}</ref>

* 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 (prefix)|meta]] quality as a synonym of ''synonym''.
* [[Antonym]]s are words with opposite or nearly opposite meanings. For example: ''hot'' ↔ ''cold'', ''large'' ↔ ''small'', ''thick'' ↔ ''thin'', ''synonym'' ↔ ''antonym'' 
* [[Hyponymy and hypernymy|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''.
* [[Homophone]]s 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).
* [[Homograph]]s are words that have the same spelling but different meanings. For example, one can ''record'' a song or keep a ''record'' of documents.
* [[Homonym]]s 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 ==
* [[-onym]]
* [[Cognitive synonymy]]
* [[Elegant variation]], the gratuitous use of a synonym in prose
* [[Semantic equivalence (linguistics)]]
* [[Synonym (taxonomy)]]
* [[Synonymy in Japanese]]
* [[Synset]], a set of synonyms in computational linguistics
* {{Annotated link|Thesaurus|Thesauri and synonym dictionaries}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary-inline}}

{{Lexicology}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Types of words]]
[[Category:Semantic relations]]