SYNONYM • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Synonym

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/sˈɪnənˌɪm/ Listen

noun

Synonym n. (pl. synonyms)

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. (Written also synonyme) "All languages tend to clear themselves of synonyms as intellectual culture advances, the superfluous words being taken up and appropriated by new shades and combinations of thought evolved in the progress of society." "His name has thus become, throughout all civilized countries, a synonym for probity and philanthropy." "In popular literary acceptation, and as employed in special dictionaries of such words, synonyms are words sufficiently alike in general signification to be liable to be confounded, but yet so different in special definition as to require to be distinguished."

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.

One of two or more words corresponding in meaning but of different languages; a heteronym. (Rare)

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Etymology of 'Synonym'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Synonym" Quotes from Famous Books

... newspaper recipe has become a synonym for something utterly unreliable, and, therefore, a byword among those so old-fashioned as to believe that a woman who holds a pen is, of course, ...

— The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892. - A Monthly Magazine to Interest and Help All Literary Workers • Various

... consideration of the alternative of a cleavage of relations between the two countries, brought from Germany a reply on February 4, 1916, which was described as "one word short" of a satisfactory surrender. The word needed was a synonym for "disavowal" which did not convey that Germany had committed an illegal act. So the proposal again fell short of the demand; it did not contain the exact form of disavowal insisted upon by the United States. But it came nearer to meeting the American demands than any of the varied proposals ...

— The Story of the Great War, Volume IV (of 8) • Francis J. (Francis Joseph) Reynolds, Allen L. (Allen Leon)

... a synonym for A. ceciliae. B. and Br. and perhaps nothing more than a vigorous growth of Amanitopsis vaginata. It has almost no odor and a sweet taste ...

— The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise - Its Habitat and its Time of Growth • M. E. Hard

... The day broke. The Nabob had slept off his debauch, and permitted the door to be opened. Twenty-three ghastly figures staggered out of the charnel-house, one hundred and twenty-three bodies were hastily thrown into a pit and covered up, and the Black Hole of Calcutta has gone into history as a synonym for all that is dreadful and all that is ...

— Ten Great Events in History • James Johonnot

... of tracing the origin of words, says that Celer rushed away from Rome, fearing vengeance, and did not rest until he had reached the limits of Etruria, and that his name became the synonym for quickness, so that men swift of foot were called Celeres by the Romans, just as we still speak of "celerity," meaning rapidity of motion. Thus the walls of the new ...

— The Story of Rome From the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic • Arthur Gilman

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