synonymous

Language

2022

We explain what synonyms are, what types of synonyms exist and various examples. Also, what are antonyms.

Synonymy is a relationship of similarity or identity of meanings.

What are synonyms?

Words have associated meanings, more than one on certain occasions, and these meanings may, in theory, coincide. When this happens, we are in the presence of a phenomenon called synonymy, understood as a relationship of similarity or identity of meanings between different signifiers, always belonging to the same grammatical category.

In other words, two words of the same type that have practically the same meaning, despite having different forms, are synonymous words. An example is the words far Y distant. However, synonymy is not an exact relationship, and rarely do two words have the same meaning, without any nuance of some kind that differentiates them.

In fact, if we review the previous example, we will notice that, although in certain contexts far Y distant are perfectly interchangeable, in others they really are not, especially when it comes to figurative or contextual uses: it is not exactly the same to say that Diego is distant with Maria that Diego is far away with Maria.

It is possible, then, to affirm that perfect synonymy does not exist, since no word is a perfect equivalent of another in absolutely all contexts, but in general terms, and for practical purposes, we can assume that it does exist.

Types of synonyms

There are two types of synonymy:

  • Total. When the shared meaning matches perfectly.
  • Partial. When the shared meaning coincides only in certain respects.

But since, as we have said, strictly speaking all synonymy is always partial, we can distinguish four kinds of synonymous relationship depending on the type of similarity between the meanings:

  • Conceptual synonymy. When the two words allude to the same concept, that is, to the same real referent, although some will be preferred by the various communities of speech that exist. For example: donkey - donkey - donkey - donkey.
  • Referential synonymy. The two words refer to the same referent, without meaning exactly the same in themselves. For example: beer - liquor - drink.
  • Contextual synonymy. When synonymous words can be exchanged only in certain contexts, in which their meanings coincide. For example: Your friend is very heavy - Your friend is very unfriendly - Your friend is very repellent.
  • Synonymy of connotation. Those cases in which a word gains new meanings through a dialect or circumstantial use, and therefore acquires synonymy relationships that were not originally contemplated. For example: The soccer game was brutal - The soccer game was good.

Examples of synonyms

Some examples of synonymy are the following:

  • Brightness - luminosity.
  • Order - organization.
  • Sorceress witch.
  • Crazy mad.
  • Exile - ostracism.
  • Endeavor - eagerness.
  • Behavior - performance.
  • Father - parent.
  • Boredom - boredom.
  • Idiot - fool - idiot.
  • Dog - canine - can.
  • Face - countenance - features.
  • Plot - warp - machine.
  • Good - Chévere - Bacán - Chido - Copado.

Antonyms

If the synonyms are words that share the same meaning to some extent, the antonyms on the contrary are those words that have totally opposite meanings, that is, that constitute their lexical opposite. For example: pretty - ugly, exciting - boring, big - small, day - night, bright - dull.

!-- GDPR -->