|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
SYNONYMY
SYNONYMY.
1. Equivalence in meaning, as with enormous and immense, both having the general sense ‘very big’. Such equivalence may be precise, as is generally the case with these adjectives, or may be relative, as with big and large: the phrases a big house and a large house may communicate the same idea of size, but in That was a big help and He was in large part to blame for what happened, the two words are not interchangeable. 2. A set, list, system, or book of synonyms. There have been many such works since the 18c, including books that seek through short essays to make discriminations among the members of sets of words. One of the earliest of these in English was Hester Thrale Piozzi's The British Synonymy (1794), which set the style for later works of the same kind. George Crabb brought out in 1816 a detailed work entitled English Synonyms Explained in Alphabetic Order, containing etymologies, citations, and discursive personal comment, and in 1851 Elizabeth Jane Whately published A Selection of English Synonyms, arguing that words in need of discrimination are not synonyms as such but ‘pseudo-synonyms’. Since the mid-19c, alphabetically ordered synonymies are usually called dictionaries, and include Richard Soule's A Dictionary of English Synonyms (1871, revised by A. D. Sheffield, 1937: lists only), Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms (ed. Rose Egan, 1968: largely with discriminating statements and described on the cover as a ‘thesaurus’), and the Longman Synonym Dictionary (ed. Laurence Urdang, 1979: without discriminations but with usage labels). See THESAURUS. |
|
|
Cite this article
TOM McARTHUR. "SYNONYMY." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. TOM McARTHUR. "SYNONYMY." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-SYNONYMY.html TOM McARTHUR. "SYNONYMY." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-SYNONYMY.html |
|
synonymy
syn·on·y·my / səˈnänəmē/ • n. the state of being synonymous. |
|
|
Cite this article
"synonymy." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "synonymy." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-synonymy.html "synonymy." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-synonymy.html |
|
Synonymy
Synonymysynonyms collectively, 1683. |
|
|
Cite this article
"Synonymy." Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. 1985. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Synonymy." Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. 1985. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505301538.html "Synonymy." Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. 1985. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505301538.html |
|
synonymy
synonymy
•chamois, clammy, gammy, Grammy, hammy, jammy, mammae, mammee, mammy, Miami, ramie, rammy, Sammy, shammy, whammy
•acme, drachmae
•Lakshmi
•army, balmy, barmy, gourami, macramé, origami, palmy, pastrami, salami, smarmy, swami, tsunami, Yanomami
•Clemmie, Emmy, jemmy, lemme, semi
•elmy
•Amy, cockamamie, flamy, gamy, Jamie, Mamie, samey
•beamy, creamy, dreamy, gleamy, Mimi, preemie, seamy, steamy
•gimme, shimmy, Timmy
•pygmy • filmy
•arch-enemy, enemy
•synonymy • Jeremy • sashimi
•blimey, gorblimey, grimy, limey, slimy, stymie, thymy
•commie, mommy, pommie, pommy, tommy
•dormy, stormy
•foamy, homey, loamy, Naomi, Salome
•polychromy
|
|
|
Cite this article
"synonymy." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "synonymy." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-synonymy.html "synonymy." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-synonymy.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
