synonym

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are words that have the same or a near meaning, such as the pair close and shut, or the trio begin, start, and commence. Some word sets of this kind arise because words coming into English from other languages failed to drive out those already in use; for example, close is a Middle English (13th century) word derived from Old French, and joined the existing Old English word shut. Other pairs of words have different levels of appropriacy; for example, kill is a general word whereas slay is literary or rhetorical, and little carries connotations of affection that are not present in the more neutral word small (compare my little house and my small house). Many words are loosely described as synonyms although their meanings are close rather than identical (e.g. danger and risk, entreat and implore, leave and depart), and few synonyms are interchangeable in all contexts.

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synonym, a word that has the same—or virtually the same—meaning as another word, and so can substitute for it in certain contexts. This identity of meaning is called synonymy.

Adjective: synonymous.

Two words are synonyms when they mean the same. Similarly two phrases or sentences are synonymous when they mean the same. The usual criterion is that meaning is preserved when they are substituted one for the other. Two terms may be cognitively synonymous although associated with a different tone, and the choice of one synonym or another may have implicatures, but these will not be due to a difference of what is actually said. However, the notorious difficulties for translators of finding synonyms across different languages testifies to the delicate problem of quite how much is built into the meaning of terms. Philosophically, synonymy was crucial to the methodology of the analytic tradition, whose goal of laying out the structure of our concepts is only realistic if we know whether what is displayed is in fact the structure of the original, and not some reconstruction or differing concept altogether. Knowing this will require judging whether the analysans or analysing expression is indeed synonymous with the analysandum or expression to be analysed. Although difficulties with the relationship had always been recognized, it was Quine who first made an effective attack on the notion of synonymy, in his widely influential article ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’ (1951). Quine complained that the ideal of synonymy demands a sharp division between what we put down to linguistic convention, and what we put down to generally held truths about the world, but that in practice this division cannot be sustained. The question of whether we have ‘changed the meaning’ of a term when we come to believe something new about its subject matter is generally speaking unanswerable and unprofitable. The extent of Quine's critique is, however, problematic. It seems essential to any understanding of language, and especially any belief that logic applies to language, that terms mean the same on one occurrence as they do on another, so at least in some cases a notion of synonymy must be applicable. A compromise would be that a notion of synonymy is applicable when in our actual practices of interpretation we refuse to contemplate the possibility of meaning shift; however, when such possibilities genuinely arise, the way we settle the matter may be subject to a high degree of indeterminacy. See also indeterminacy of translation.

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Words that mean roughly the same thing. Container and receptacle are synonyms.

One of two or more words that have the same or nearly identical meanings.

An alternative name for the same disease, sign, bacteria, etc. A key word or sign may have a number of synonyms.

For a list of words related to synonym, see:

• Linguistics and Writing Systems - synonym: word with same or essentially similar meaning as another word

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See words rhyming with "synonym."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Synonym.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - synonym, andet ord med samme betydning

Nederlands (Dutch)
synoniem

Français (French)
n. - synonyme

Deutsch (German)
n. - Synonym

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - συνώνυμο, συνώνυμη ή ταυτόσημη λέξη

Italiano (Italian)
sinonimo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - sinônimo (m)

Русский (Russian)
синоним, отождествление

Español (Spanish)
n. - sinónimo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - synonym

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
同义字, 同物异名, 类义字

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 同義字, 同物異名, 類義字

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 동의어, 유의어

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 類義語, シノニム, 同意語

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) المرادف , المترادف‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מילה קרובה במשמעותה, מילה נרדפת, סינונים‬

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