Other forms: synonyms
A synonym is a word meaning the same as another word. A close synonym, look up a synonym, no exact synonym.
Perfect ones barely exist: two words that mean the same thing almost always differ in register, in what they collocate with, or in feeling — which is why swapping in a thesaurus word makes writing worse. Note antonym; and that the Greek means with-name, from syn plus onoma.
1nounsynonymA word meaning the same as another word.
“Can you think of a synonym for "angry" that sounds a bit more formal?”
synonym is a word relation.
Greek synonymon is syn, with, plus onoma, a name. Anonymous and pseudonym come from the same name.
Ancient Greek
συνώνυμον
Latin
synōnymum
Middle English
sinonyme
English, today
synonym
Built from
From Middle English sinonyme, from Latin synōnymum, from Ancient Greek συνώνυμον, neuter singular form of συνώνυμος (“synonymous”), from σύν (“with”) + ὄνομα (“name”). by surface analysis, syn- + -onym.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA