synonym, n.
(ˈsɪnənɪm)
Forms: see below.
[ad. late L. synōnymum, -on, a. Gr. συνώνυµον, neut. sing. used subst. of συνώνυµος, f. σύν syn-1 + -ωνυµ- (as in νώνυµ(ν)ος, ἀνώνυµος nameless, anonymous) = ὄνοµα name. Cf. F. synonyme, † sinonime (12th c.), It., Sp. sinonimo, Pg. synonymo. The earliest instances are plural (after L. synonyma, Gr. συνώνυµα), anglicized sinonymes, synonymes, in Latin or Græco-Latin form synonyma, synonuma, incorrectly with addition of pl. -s, synonymas (whence a rare spurious sing. synonyma). The anglicized sing. synonym(e scarcely makes its appearance, except in dictionaries, till the close of the 18th century.]
1. Strictly, a word having the same sense as another (in the same language); but more usually, either or any of two or more words (in the same language) having the same general sense, but possessing each of them meanings which are not shared by the other or others, or having different shades of meaning or implications appropriate to different contexts: e.g. serpent, snake; ship, vessel; compassion, fellow-feeling, sympathy; enormous, excessive, immense; glad, happy, joyful, joyous; to kill, slay, slaughter; to grieve, mourn, lament, sorrow. Const. for, of, † formerly to, with.
In quot. 1432–50 sinonymes is a rendering of the title of Isidore's work Synonyma de lamentatione animae peccatricis, where it denotes identical ideas expressed in different ways in the course of the work: cf. OF. sinonimes (12th c. in Romania, 1876, V. 275).
pl. α. 5 sinonymes, 6–9 synonymes, 8 synonimes, 8– synonyms.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) VI. 51 Isidorus..lefte noble werkes..as the books of his Ethimologies,..of the ordre of creatures, sinonymes, and mony oþer þinges. |
| 1540 Palsgrave tr. Acolastus Epistle A iij b, Theyr yong scholers..be forced to falle a glosynge..of their latyn bokes..of dyuers englishe wordes..beinge synonymes..they chuse moste commonly the very worste. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. xiii. §25. 41 b, If the Father and the Sonne were Synonymes or seuerall names signifying one thyng. 1715 Bentley Serm. Popery 4 Hesychius makes them [sc. καπηλεύοντες and δολῶντες] Synonyms. 1783 Walker 18 Apr. in Boswell Johnson, Walker. Do you think, Sir, that there are any perfect synonimes in any language? Johnson. Originally there were not; but by using words negligently, or in poetry, one word comes to be confounded with another. 1785 Reid Intell. Powers i. i. 14 Most synonimes have some minute distinction that deserves notice. 1856 Max Müller Chips (1880) II. xvi. 74 The more ancient a language, the richer it is in synonymes. 1863 Bain Higher Engl. Gram. (1879) 73 Only, with the synonymes ‘solely’, ‘merely’, ‘alone’. 1874 Sayce Compar. Philol. i. 27 Another mode of arresting our attention and giving distinctness to the thought which has to be expressed is by setting two synonymes side by side. 1904 H. Bradley Making of English v. 176 The notion of striking was expressed by the verb now pronounced slay, which survives only in a narrowed and developed meaning... Here,..German has kept the old word (schlagen), while English has rejected it for more vigorous synonyms. |
(β) 6–7 synonoma, synonuma, 6–9 synonyma, 7 synonima.
| 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent 289 This Horsa, and his Brother Hengist (both whose names be Synonuma, and signifie a Horse). 1573 G. Harvey Scholar's Love in Letter-bk. (Camden) 116 Those two, I take it, are Synonoma. 1585 C. Fetherstone tr. Calvin on Acts xiii. i. 290 It may be that they [sc. doctors and prophets] are in this place Synonyma, or that they signifie both one thing. 1656 Blount Glossogr. s.v. Marque, Marques and Reprizals are used as Synonima. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. xii. 290 The words Weal, welfare, are mentioned as Synonoma. 1673 Sir P. Leycester Hist. Antiq. i. iii. 97 Dux and Consul in these Ages were Synonima. 1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. ii. i. 221 The barrenness of the Anglo-Saxon language may be seen in the fewness of its synonyma. |
(γ) 6–7 synonym-, -im-, -aes, 6–8 -a's, -as, (6 sunonimas), 6–7 synonamaes, 7 synonemas, sinonimaes.
| [1594 Sunonimas: see 1 c.] 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. ii. Babylon 368 Better then Greeke with her Synonymaes, Fit Epithetes, and fine Metaphoraes. a 1634 Coke 4th Pt. Inst. (1648) 30 In the statute of 11 H. 4. Customes and Subsidies are used as Synonymaes. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. i. Sect. vi. 98 All the synonyma's of sadnesse were little enough to expresse this great weeping. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. i. 269 Nothing more common than to make Monks and Fryers both Synonyma's and reciprocall. 1765 Sterne Tr. Shandy VIII. xix, The Corporal, wishing..the word and all its synonimas at the Devil. 1789 G. Campbell Four Gospels I. iv. 127 The use of such synonymas [as ἀπιστία and σκληροκαρδία]. |
Singular. α. 6 synonomon, 7 synonymum, 7–8 synonymon.
In quots. 1583 and 1673 perhaps to be taken as neut. adj.
| 1583 Fulke Def. Tr. Script. i. 11 For them..whiche knowe..that Simulachrum is Synonomon with Imago. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. v. 26 Give me a synonymon for a gammon of bacon. 1653 H. More Conject. Cabbal. (1713) 146, I need not note that Μνήµη was added as a synonymon of Μνηµοσύνη. 1659 Termes de la Ley 352 Faitour..an evil doer, or an idle companion,..a Synonymon to Vagabond. 1673 O. Walker Educ. 125 Satyricalnes, (which is almost synonymum to wit). |
(β) 6 sinonime, 8–9 synonime, 7– synonyme(e.
| 1598 Florio, Sinomino, a sinonime, or word of one signification. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. iii. iv. 314 The last Combination doth consist of such as are..Expositive; either by Synonyme, or by Instance. Ibid., Dict., Synonym. 1727 Boyer Dict. Royal, Synonime..a Synonym, or Synonyma. 1801 Mason Suppl. to Johnson, Synonyme, a word of the same meaning as some other word. [Quot. from Reid has synonimes.] 1816 Coleridge Lay Serm. App. p. xvi, Worth was degraded into a lazy synonyme of value. 1825 Macaulay Ess., Milton (1843) I. 12 Change the structure of the sentence; substitute one synonyme for another; and the whole effect is destroyed. 1828–32 Webster s.v., A name, noun or other word having the same signification as another, is its synonym. 1853 W. Gregory Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) 25 The term atomic weight is used,..but only as a convenient synonym for the term equivalent. 1869 Gladstone Juv. Mundi ii. (1870) 69 We have also to consider the word Panachaioi... We cannot take it for a mere synonym of Achaioi. |
(γ) 7 synonima, 8 synonyma.
| 1611 Cotgr., Synonime, a Synonima. 1727 [see β]. 1776 G. Campbell Philos. Rhet. I. i. vi. 172 The stress of the argument lies in a mere synonyma, or something equivalent. |
b. spec. in Nat. Hist. A systematic name having the same, or nearly the same, application as another, esp. as another which has superseded it.
| 1659 Ray Corr. (1848) 2, I shall give the names of all plants..in an alphabetical order, together with their synonyma. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 441 Gramen typhinum majus, seu primum... Mr. Hudson then adds, as a synonym, Gramen typhinum medium s. vulgatissimum. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. Pref. p. xvi, We cannot have too complete a catalogue of all the species..together with their synonyms. 1857 Henfrey Bot. §184 We find a distinct generic name given as a synonym. |
c. The equivalent of a word in another language.
| 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 27 Bidding a man boniure in Germane sunonimas. 1804 A. Seward Mem. E. Darwin 202 Had life been used instead of its Latin synonym [printed synonism] ens. |
2. By extension: A name or expression which involves or implies a meaning properly or literally expressed by some other; ‘another name for’.
| 1631 Massinger Emperor East i. ii, Informer... As I am the State scout, you may think me an informer. Mast. They are Synonima. 1690 C. Nesse Hist. & Myst. O. & N. Test. I. 129 Abrahams bosom is made the synonymon (of the same import) with heaven. 1784 R. Bage Barham Downs I. 329 Nor of dishonour neither, which I suppose is the modern synonime with marriage. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 507 His [sc. William Penn's] name has..become..a synonyme for probity and philanthropy. 1868 G. Duff Pol. Surv. 229 This region [sc. Peru], whose name was so long a synonym for wealth and magnificence. 1874 Green Short Hist. ix. §1. 602 ‘Hobbism’ became, ere he died, the popular synonym for irreligion and immorality. 1879 Lubbock Sci. Lect. v. 161 The word ferrum was employed in Latin as a synonym for a sword. |
3. transf. Either of two or more things of like or identical nature but called by different names, e.g. corresponding geological formations in different regions. (Cf. synonymity b.)
| 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. i. iv. 66 The formation differs essentially both from its type in the North of England, and from its foreign Synonyms. |
4. loosely. A person of the same name as another; a ‘namesake’: = homonym 2. nonce-use.
| 1837 Syd. Smith Sir J. Mackintosh Wks. (1850) 650/1 A Scotch cousin, who had mistaken me for my gallant synonym, the hero of Acre. |
5. Comb., as (sense 1) synonym-pair; synonym-compound (see quot. 1923).
| 1923 B. Karlgren Sound & Symbol in Chinese iii. 32 The additions were of various kinds, the commonest and by far the most important of which was the formation of what may be called synonym-compounds. This consists in coupling together two simple words with the same or at least analogous meanings, words that formerly had been used alone. 1964 Language XL. 104 The Chinese..invented tones to keep the monosyllables apart, and then synonym-compounds, further to clear up the difficulties they were now experiencing with their own language. 1980 Logophile IV. i. 28, I have been working for some time on an article about the curious existence in English and French of synonym-pairs. |
Hence † ˈsynonym v. trans. (rare), to designate by a synonym.
| 1761 Da Costa in Phil. Trans. LII. 446 It is truly a kind of crystal, and might with propriety be synonymed Crystallus viridis columnaris lateribus inordinatis. |