%synonym%

v. t. To deprive of synonymous character; to discriminate in use; -- applied to words which have been employed as synonyms. Coleridge. Trench. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Synonyms [ F. synonyme, L. synonyma, pl. of synonymum, Gr. synw`nymon. See Synonymous. ] 1. 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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

His name has thus become, throughout all civilized countries, a synonym for probity and philanthropy. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. G. P. Marsh. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

3. One of two or more words corresponding in meaning but of different languages; a heteronym. [ Rare ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖n. pl. [ L. ] Synonyms. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Synonymous. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Synonymously. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Synonym. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. G. synonymik. See Synonymous. ] (Gram.) The science, or the scientific treatment, of synonymous words. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Of or pertaining to synonyms, or synonymic; synonymous. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL. ] A dictionary of synonyms. C. J. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. synonymiste. ] One who collects or explains synonyms. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Synonymized p. pr. & vb. n. Synonymizing ] To express by a synonym or synonyms; to give the synonym or synonyms corresponding to. [ 1913 Webster ]

This word “fortis” we may synonymize after all these fashions: stout, hardy, valiant, doughty, courageous, adventurous, brave, bold, daring, intrepid. Camden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_;; sy`n with, together + &unr_;, &unr_;, name. See Syn-, and Name. ] Having the character of a synonym; expressing the same thing; conveying the same, or approximately the same, idea. -- Syn*on"y*mous*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

These words consist of two propositions, which are not distinct in sense, but one and the same thing variously expressed; for wisdom and understanding are synonymous words here. Tillotson. [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Identical; interchangeable. -- Synonymous, Identical. If no words are synonymous except those which are identical in use and meaning, so that the one can in all cases be substituted for the other, we have scarcely ten such words in our language. But the term more properly denotes that the words in question approach so near to each other, that, in many or most cases, they can be used interchangeably. 1. Words may thus coincide in certain connections, and so be interchanged, when they can not be interchanged in other connections; thus we may speak either strength of mind or of force of mind, but we say the force (not strength) of gravitation. 2. Two words may differ slightly, but this difference may be unimportant to the speaker's object, so that he may freely interchange them; thus it makes but little difference, in most cases, whether we speak of a man's having secured his object or having attained his object. For these and other causes we have numerous words which may, in many cases or connections, be used interchangeably, and these are properly called synonyms. Synonymous words “are words which, with great and essential resemblances of meaning, have, at the same time, small, subordinate, and partial differences, -- these differences being such as either originally and on the ground of their etymology inhered in them; or differences which they have by usage acquired in the eyes of all; or such as, though nearly latent now, they are capable of receiving at the hands of wise and discreet masters of the tongue. Synonyms are words of like significance in the main, but with a certain unlikeness as well.” Trench. [1913 Webster]