Glossary:Synonym

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Synonym

Definition

Synonym ([ˈsɪnɘnɪm]): Synonyms are words that have the same denotation.

Comment: With denotation we mean what the words refer to literally. So, truck and lorry refer to the same objects, i.e., they have the same denotation, but there is a regional variation (truck being rather American English, lorry being British English). There could be other differences at the level of connotations (horse as the neutral term, nag as a pejorative term), register differences, or differences in the collocational behavior (fast (asleep/*impressed)-deeply (asleep/impressed)). In each of these cases, we consider the items synonyms, since their denotation is the same, even though they can clearly not be freely interchanged in every situation.

Examples

dad - father
buy - purchase
truck - lorry

Related terms

• antonym
• homonym
• paraphrase

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