Synonymy

//sɪˈnɒnəmi// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A certain degree of similarity between the meaning(s) of several (synonymous) words or phrases. (See Usage notes below.) countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    the semantic relation that holds between two words that can (in a given context) express the same meaning wordnet
  3. 3
    A list or collection of synonyms, often compared and contrasted. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    The use of synonyms to clarify or explain one's meaning. countable, rhetoric, uncountable
  5. 5
    The study of synonyms. countable, uncountable
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A system of synonyms. countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    The state of not being the name to be used, of being a synonym. countable, uncountable

    "sink into synonymy"

  3. 8
    A group or list of synonyms. broadly, countable, uncountable

    "The synonymy of Tachina is extensive."

Synonyms

All synonyms
synonymitysynonymousnessagreementbiographical dictionarychemical dictionarycoequality

Example

More examples

"Hyponymy, antinomy and synonymy are all lexical terms."

Etymology

From French synonymie and its etymon Late Latin synōnymia, from Ancient Greek συνωνυμία (sunōnumía), from συνώνυμος (sunṓnumos, “of like name”) + -ία (-ía, abstract noun suffix). By surface analysis, synonym + -y or syn- + -onymy. Doublet of synonymia.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.