Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or other words in a language.
- n. A word or an expression that serves as a figurative or symbolic substitute for another.
- n. Biology A scientific name of an organism or of a taxonomic group that has been superseded by another name at the same rank.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A word having the same signification as another; one of two or more words which have the same meaning; by extension, a word having nearly the same meaning as another; one of two or more words which in use cover to a considerable extent the same ground: the opposite of antonym.
- n. A word of one language which corresponds in meaning with a word in another language. See heteronym, 2, paronym, 2, and the quotation from Camden under synonymize.
- n. In natural history, a systematic name having the same, or approximately the same, meaning or application as another which has superseded it; a technical name which, by the rules of nomenclature, is not tenable. The question of the acceptance of a generic or a specific name depends upon the law of priority.
Wiktionary
- n. semantics, with respect to a given word or phrase A word or phrase with a meaning that is the same as, or very similar to, another word or phrase.
- n. zoology, with respect to a name for a given taxon Any of the formal names for the taxon, including the valid name (i.e. the senior synonym).
- n. botany, with respect to a name for a given taxon Any name for the taxon, usually a validly published, formally accepted one, but often also an unpublished name.
- n. databases An alternative (often shorter) name defined for an object in a database.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One of two or more words (commonly words of the same language) which are equivalents of each other; one of two or more words which have very nearly the same signification, and therefore may often be used interchangeably. See under synonymous.
- n. An incorrect or incorrectly applied scientific name, as a new name applied to a species or genus already properly named, or a specific name preoccupied by that of another species of the same genus; -- so used in the system of nomenclature (which see) in which the correct scientific names of certain natural groups (usually genera, species, and subspecies) are regarded as determined by priority.
- n. Rare One of two or more words corresponding in meaning but of different languages; a heteronym.
WordNet 3.0
- n. two words that can be interchanged in a context are said to be synonymous relative to that context
Etymologies
- From Middle English sinonyme, from Latin synōnymum, from Ancient Greek συνώνυμον (sunōnumon), neuter singular form of συνώνυμος (sunōnumos, "synonymous"), from σύν ("with") + ὄνομα ("name"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English sinonyme, from Old French synonyme, from Latin synōnymum, from Greek sunōnumon, from neuter of sunōnumos, synonymous; see synonymous. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In a previous column, cleared by copy editors and other arbiters of editorial taste after great hair-tearing and teeth-gnashing, we explored the penile and ornamental origins of the German-Yiddish schmuck, which has lost its taboo and is now a slang synonym for jerk, nerd, dork and creep.”
“Another synonym is "maison de tolérance" (house of tolerance) and the humor is not lost on me as I go about putting together this unexpected edition ...”
“Around 1960, it became a slang synonym for any kind of failure, "we cratered.”
The Washington Post: Oil spill: Even worse worst-case scenarios!
“Maybe we could mix it up with your tag synonym service too?”
“While the zoot suit eventually attained widespread popularity in the mainstream, it also became a pejorative synonym for "Mexican" on the West Coast as some Americans took umbrage at so many able-bodied young men who were not "helping to win the war.”
“While toilet and lavatory have discarded their original meanings, terms such as bog retained their original meanings (` a marshy place ') as well as being understood in Britain as a slang synonym for a toilet; it achieved an entry in Hotten's dictionary as early as 1864 as "a privy as distinguished from a water-closet.”
“25 I replied that there was none in the house, which induced a sneer and an ejaculation sounding like “Himar,” (ass,) the slang synonym amongst fast Moslems for water-drinker.”
“April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and, to kick things off, I’d like to take issue with the growing prevalence of the word “rape” as a slang synonym for “dominated”, “rocked’, or “killed”.”
“J. 363 2001)) "states' rights" is used as a pejorative synonym for federalism by people who oppose it, not by people who believe in and advance federalism, subsidiarity and the like.”
I just noticed that Dan Drezner called something "the Ann Althouse" idea.
“The Hawthornes made up this stupid thing called the synonym game back when Emma and Darcy were little.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘synonym’.
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EN - fine scholarly language
exhort, accretion, twenty-nine, atrophy, additive, brilliantly, interreligious, empiricism, pathologic, limitless, half-century, vigilant and 488 more...
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G[r]eek
A collection of words found in English that are either purely Greek or have Greek etymology.
Please add with caution and certainty. Will be regularly updated by me.etymology, philosophy, laconic, disharmony, patriarchic, archaic, phlogiston, aether, aeon, angel, arachnid, rhythm and 346 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Yazhinni Spelling bee
tongue, stallion, scruple, salinity, schedule, rouge, populist, Permian, perspire, pasteurize, multitude, mournful and 227 more...
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Realia from Everywhere
Culturally defined terms and expressions from the four corners of the world
fjord, mistral steppe, tornado, tsunami, polder, kiwi, koala, sequoia, Abominable Snowman, paprika, spaghetti, empanada and 299 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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WF - Word Formation Words
Classes of words and types of word formation
sniglet, protologism, portmanteau word, blend, telescope-word, frankenword, double-entendre, compound, derivative, palindrome, spoonerism, malapropism and 152 more...
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Names for Names
Source and definitions: http://phrontistery.info/name.html
acronym, allonym, ananym, anonym, antonym, aptronym, autonym, caconym, cohyponym, cryptonym, dionym, eponym and 26 more...
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-onym, -onymous, -onymic
denoting or relating to names
acronym, synonymous, patronymic, antonym, ananym, anonym, aptronym, autonym, caconym, cohyponym, cryptonym, dionym and 29 more...
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syn-, sym-, syl-
united; acting or considered together
sympathy, syllogism, synthesis, synonym, synaesthesia, synecdoche, synagogue, syzygy, symbiosis, system, idiosyncratic, idiosyncracy and 3 more...
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A Name
Nouns meaning a name
nomen, binomen, cognomen, appellation, epithet, agnomen, designation, surname, alias, autonym, eponym, anonym and 18 more...
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Nyms
synonym, antonym, eudonym, retronym, homonym, womonym, ananym, aptronym, autoantonym, bacronym, capitonym, endonym and 16 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
List.001
New word list
imperative, republic, subtle, Androgynous, licentious, auspices, avengeance, cabal, sibilant, Entropy, caduceus, ludicrous, and 170 more...
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oddball
wackadoodlery.
( personal list )
related (from me):
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/onomatopoeias--1
bric-a-brac, succotash, humbucker, skedaddle, scallywag, sassafras, gadzooks, humdinger, hoity-toity, wishy-washy, namby-pamby, ding dong and 441 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for synonym.
NUTZFORdBUCKS Just because it is a synonym, does not mean it connotes the same meaning. Feb 12, 2012
jmjarmstrong JM wonders if there is another word for synonym. Jul 16, 2011
Prolagus Uh, I came here to write the same thing :) Nov 30, 2009
vanishedone A lowercase word that weirdly never existed on Wordie Classic; see Synonym. Nov 18, 2009