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[ sin-uh-nim ]

/ ˈsɪn ə nɪm /

See the most commonly confused word associated with synonym

This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.

noun

a word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another in the language, as happy, joyful, elated. A dictionary of synonyms and antonyms (or opposites), such as Thesaurus.com, is called a thesaurus.

a word or expression accepted as another name for something, as Arcadia for pastoral simplicity or Wall Street for U.S. financial markets; metonym.

Biology. one of two or more scientific names applied to a single taxon.

Origin of synonym

1400–50; synōnymumsynṓnymon, noun use of neuter of synṓnymossynonymous; replacing Middle English sinonyme

grammar notes for synonym

English, with its long history of absorbing terminology from a wealth of other tongues, is a language particularly rich in synonyms —words so close in meaning that in many contexts they are interchangeable, like the nouns tongue and language in the first part of this sentence. Just about every popular dictionary defines synonym as a term having “the same or nearly the same” meaning as another, but there is an important difference between “the same” and “nearly the same.”
Noun synonyms sometimes mean exactly the same thing. A Dalmatian is a coach dog —same dog. A bureau is a chest of drawers. And if you ask for a soda on the east coast of the U.S., you’ll get the same drink that asking for a pop will get you farther west. The object referred to remains constant. But forest and wood, though often interchangeable, have different shades of meaning: a forest tends to be larger and denser than a wood. And when we move from nouns to other parts of speech, we almost always find subtle but important differences among synonyms: although the meanings overlap, they differ in emphasis and connotation. A sunset might be described equally well as beautiful or resplendent, but a beautiful baby would not usually be described as resplendent, which implies an especially dazzling appearance. The verbs make and construct mean roughly the same thing, but one is more likely to make a cake but construct a building, which is a more complex undertaking.
Lists of synonyms are useful when we are struggling to write and looking for just the right word, but each word must be considered in light of its specific definition. Notes at the bottom of a dictionary entry—especially usage notes and synonym studies—are often where we’ll find the detailed information that allows us to improve (or refine or polish ) our writing.

OTHER WORDS FROM synonym

syn·o·nym·ic, syn·o·nym·i·cal, adjectivesyn·o·nym·i·ty [sin-uh-nim-i-tee], /ˌsɪn əˈnɪm ɪ ti/, noun

Words related to synonym

How to use synonym in a sentence

• Several companies sell the drug in the US, for prices that range from $10 to $50 apiece, but Plan B has the largest market share and is a de-facto synonym for the morning-after pill.

• Hashish oil is basically a synonym for cannabis oil, which comes from marijuana.

• As a synonym for a break-up note sent by a woman to a man in uniform, the Dear John letter made its debut in a major national newspaper in October 1943.

• I think that the word “country” is a synonym for so many other words.

• As a synonym for “nonsense,” bunk proved to be just the sort of satisfying, blunt word users crave.

• Most importantly, foreign policy should not be reduced to a synonym for military action and covert operations.

• Less canonically, “natural marriage” is also at times used as a rough synonym for “common-law marriage.”

• It's a telling tic that we often use "urban" as a synonym for "black."

• My students seem to really want to use “however” as a conjunction—more or less a synonym for “but.”

• A synonym given for submissive is “compliant,” and among those given for submit is “yield” and “defer.”

• One of the most beautiful symbols of the Catacombs is the dove, the perpetual synonym of peace.

• It came to mean an entertainment of music and dancing, and was used as a synonym for masquerades.

• Another synonym of tonos which becomes very common in the later writers on music is the word tropos.

• Change the structure of the sentence, substitute one synonym for another, and the whole effect is destroyed.

• The profits were beyond all reason, and the word publican became a synonym for sinner.

noun

a word that means the same or nearly the same as another word, such as bucket and pail

a word or phrase used as another name for something, such as Hellene for a Greek

biologya taxonomic name that has been superseded or rejected

Derived forms of synonym

synonymic or synonymical, adjectivesynonymity, noun

Word Origin for synonym

C16: via Late Latin from Greek sunōnumon, from syn- + onoma name