synonym

See also: Synonym

English

Etymology

From Middle English sinonyme, from Latin synōnymum, from Ancient Greek συνώνυμον (sunṓnumon), neuter singular form of συνώνυμος (sunṓnumos, “synonymous”), from σύν (sún, “with”) + ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”). Corresponds to syn- +‎ -onym.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪnənɪm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

synonym (plural synonyms)

1. (semantics, strictly) A word whose meaning is the same as that of another word.

   Synonyms: equivalent, poecilonym

   Antonyms: antonym, opposite

2. (semantics, loosely) A word or phrase with a meaning that is the same as, or very similar to, another word or phrase.

   “Happy” is a synonym of “glad”.

   • 1991, William T. Parry, Edward A. Hacker, Aristotelian Logic^[1]:

     The proportion of English words that have an exact synonym is small.

3. (zoology) Any of the formal names for a taxon, including the valid name (i.e. the senior synonym).
4. (botany) Any name for a taxon, usually a validly published, formally accepted one, but often also an unpublished name.
5. (databases) An alternative (often shorter) name defined for an object in a database.
   • 2011, Paul Nielsen, Uttam Parui, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Bible:

     Synonyms are part of the SQL standard and are used frequently by Oracle DBAs. Note that Oracle includes both private and public synonyms.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• near-synonym

• parasynonym
• quasi-synonym

Related terms

• near-synonym
• quasi-synonym
• synonymic
• synonymist
• synonymous
• synonymy

Translations

word with same meaning as another

• Arabic: مُرَادِف‏‎ m (murādif), مُرَادِفَات‏‎ pl (murādifāt)
• Armenian: հոմանիշ (hy) (homaniš)
• Asturian: sinónimu (ast) m
• Azeri: sinonim
• Belarusian: сіно́нім (be) m (sinónim)
• Bengali: প্রতিশব্দ (prôtishôbdô)
• Bulgarian: сино́ним (bg) m (sinónim)
• Catalan: sinònim (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同義詞 (zh), 同义词 (zh) (tóngyìcí), 代名詞 (zh), 代名词 (zh) (dàimíngcí), 近義詞 (zh), 近义词 (zh) (jìnyìcí) (near-synonym)

• Czech: synonymum (cs) n, slovo souznačné (cs) n
• Danish: synonym (da) n
• Dutch: synoniem (nl) n, evenwoord n
• Esperanto: sinonimo
• Estonian: sünonüüm
• Finnish: synonyymi (fi)
• French: synonyme (fr) m
• Galician: sinónimo (gl) m
• Georgian: სინონიმი (sinonimi)
• German: Gleichwort n, Synonym (de) n, Synonymum n
• Greek: συνώνυμο (el) n (synónymo)
• Hebrew: מִלָּה נִרְדֶּפֶת‏‎ (he) f (millá nirdéfet)
• Hindi: पर्याय (hi) m (paryāy), पर्यायवाची (paryāyvācī), समानार्थी शब्द (samānārthī śabd)
• Hungarian: szinonima (hu)
• Icelandic: samheiti (is) n
• Ido: sinonimo (io)
• Irish: comhchiallach m
• Italian: sinonimo (it) m
• Japanese: 同義語 (ja) (どうぎご, dōgigo) (same), 類義語 (ja) (るいぎご, ruigigo) (similar)
• Kazakh: синоним (sïnonïm)

• Khmer: ន័យដូច (ney dooch)
• Korean: 동의어 (ko) (dong-uieo), 유의어 (ko) (yuuieo)
• Latvian: sinonīms (lv) m
• Lithuanian: sinonìmas (lt) m
• Macedonian: синоним m (sinonim)
• Malay: synonim, kata seerti, sinonim, muradif
• Maori: kupu taurite
• Persian: هم‌معنی‏‎ (ham-ma'ni), مترادف‏‎ (fa) (motarâdef)
• Polish: synonim (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: sinónimo (pt) (Portugal), sinônimo (pt) (Brazil)
• Romanian: sinonim (ro) n
• Russian: сино́ним (ru) m (sinónim)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: истозначница f, сино̀нӣм m

  Roman: istòznačnica (sh) f, sinònīm (sh) m

• Slovak: synonymum n
• Slovene: sopomenka (sl) f, sinonim (sl) m
• Spanish: sinónimo (es) m
• Swahili: kisawe (sw)
• Swedish: synonym (sv) c, liktyding c
• Tagalog: singkahulugan
• Telugu: ప్రతిపదము (te) (pratipadamu)
• Thai: ไวพจน์ (wai-pót), คำพ้องความ (kam-pɔ́ɔng-kwaam)
• Turkish: sinonim (tr)
• Ukrainian: сино́нім (uk) m (synónim)
• Uyghur: مەنىداش سۆز‏‎ (menidash söz)
• Vietnamese: từ đồng nghĩa
• Volapük: leigasinifavöd
• Walloon: sinonime (wa) m, Piron-parey m
• Welsh: cyfystyr (cy) m, gair cyfystyr m

in zoological nomenclature

• Czech: synonymum (cs) n
• Dutch: synoniem (nl) n
• Finnish: synonyymi (fi)

• Portuguese: sinónimo (pt) (Portugal), sinônimo (pt) (Brazil)
• Swahili: sinonimu (sw)
• Swedish: synonym (sv) c, vetenskaplig synonym c, namnsynonym c

in botanical nomenclature

• Czech: synonymum (cs) n
• Dutch: synoniem (nl) n
• Finnish: synonyymi (fi)

• Portuguese: sinónimo (pt) (Portugal), sinônimo (pt) (Brazil)
• Swahili: sinonimu (sw)
• Swedish: synonym (sv) c, vetenskaplig synonym c, namnsynonym c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} persamaan kata , ^{(please verify)} sinonim (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} synonymo
• Malayalam: ^{(please verify)} പര്യായം (ml) (paryāyaṃ)

• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} synonym (sv)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} eş anlamlı (tr)

See also

An Euler diagram showing the relationship between these -nyms.

Different Meanings

nym	Sound	Spelling	Category
homonym	same	same
heteronym	different	same	(cat)
homograph	not specified	same
homophone	same	different	(cat)
heterophone	different	different
synonym	different	different

• homotypic
• heterotypic
• Wiktionary:Semantic relations

---

Danish

Adjective

synonym

1. synonymous

Inflection

Inflection of synonym
	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Common singular	synonym	—	—2
Neuter singular	synonymt	—	—2
Plural	synonyme	—	—2
Definite attributive1	synonyme	—	—
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Synonyms

• ensbetydende

Noun

synonym n (singular definite synonymet, plural indefinite synonymer)

1. synonym

Inflection

Declension of synonym

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	synonym	synonymet	synonymer	synonymerne
genitive	synonyms	synonymets	synonymers	synonymernes

---

German

Adjective

synonym (not comparable)

1. synonymous

Declension

Declension of synonym

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist synonym	sie ist synonym	es ist synonym	sie sind synonym
strong declension (without article)	nominative	synonymer	synonyme	synonymes	synonyme
	genitive	synonymen	synonymer	synonymen	synonymer
	dative	synonymem	synonymer	synonymem	synonymen
	accusative	synonymen	synonyme	synonymes	synonyme
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der synonyme	die synonyme	das synonyme	die synonymen
	genitive	des synonymen	der synonymen	des synonymen	der synonymen
	dative	dem synonymen	der synonymen	dem synonymen	den synonymen
	accusative	den synonymen	die synonyme	das synonyme	die synonymen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein synonymer	eine synonyme	ein synonymes	(keine) synonymen
	genitive	eines synonymen	einer synonymen	eines synonymen	(keiner) synonymen
	dative	einem synonymen	einer synonymen	einem synonymen	(keinen) synonymen
	accusative	einen synonymen	eine synonyme	ein synonymes	(keine) synonymen

Synonyms

• synonymisch

Related terms

• Synonym
• Synonymie
• antonym, antonymisch
• Antonym
• Antonymie

Further reading

• synonym in Duden online

---

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Ancient Greek συνώνυμον (sunṓnumon), and συνώνυμος (sunṓnumos, “synonymous”).

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

synonym (neuter singular synonymt, definite singular and plural synonyme)

1. synonymous

Noun

synonym n (definite singular synonymet, indefinite plural synonym or synonymer, definite plural synonyma or synonymene)

1. a synonym

Derived terms

• synonymordbok

References

• “synonym” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

---

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Ancient Greek συνώνυμον (sunṓnumon), and συνώνυμος (sunṓnumos, “synonymous”).

Adjective

synonym (masculine and feminine synonym, neuter synonymt, definite singular and plural synonyme, comparative synonymare, indefinite superlative synonymast, definite superlative synonymaste)

1. synonymous

Noun

synonym n (definite singular synonymet, indefinite plural synonym, definite plural synonyma)

1. synonym

Derived terms

• synonymordbok

References

• “synonym” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.