Do you know what synonym is?
Synonym is a word of Greek origin (syn + onyma) that means “with + name”. In general, we can say that the synonyms are words of same part of speech that have identical meanings or very close. one word is considered synonymous from another when you can replace it in different contextswithout changing the meaning.
At Semantics, field of study synchronous and/or diachronic of the meaning of the words, the synonyms are classified into perfect and imperfect. Let's look at each of them:
→ perfect synonyms
You perfect synonyms are words that have identical meanings. Note the following examples:
after and after
Diogo only arrives after at 6pm.
Diogo only arrives later from 6pm.
die and die
He died at 9 am on September 14, at the Santa Cecília hospital.
He he died at 9 am on September 14, at the Santa Cecília hospital.
alphabet and alphabet
Our alphabet consists of 26 letters.
Our alphabet consists of 26 letters.
Lexicon and vocabulary
the choice of lexicon it must be related to the context of production and circulation of utterances.
the choice of vocabulary it must be related to the context of production and circulation of utterances.
language and language
THE tongue it is one of the greatest cultural heritages of a people.
O language it is one of the greatest cultural heritages of a people.
Marriage and Marriage
O wedding it is the most complex form of interpersonal relationship.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
O marriage it is the most complex form of interpersonal relationship.
→ Imperfect Synonyms
You imperfect synonyms are words that have very close meanings, although, not identical. They are also considered imperfect because they cannot be replaced in the most varied discursive contexts. Note the following examples:
happy and joyful
? Examples of statements on what no there is semantic change.
Mariana was very happy as a gift.
Mariana was very happy as a gift.
? Examples of utterances that suffer a sensitive semantic change.
I'm very happy.
I'm very happy.
Note that both the adjective "happy" as the substantive "happiness" indicate a feeling much more comprehensive and lasting than the adjective "joy" and the noun "joy", which point to something more passenger.
? See other examples and look at the meaning effects between the imperfect synonyms in different contexts:
listen and listen
→ I couldn't hear what I was saying.
→ I couldn't hear what he was saying.
(semantically similar)
→ listen his mother's advice. (related to hearing ability - ear: hearing)
→ Listen his mother's advice. (related to listening carefully, listening and following advice)
Know and study about the synonyms is very important for us to expand our lexical repertoire in order to avoid repeating words when we need to write a text.
By Ma. Luciana Kuchenbecker Araújo
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
ARAúJO, Luciana Kuchenbecker. "What is synonymous?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/portugues/o-que-e-sinonimo.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
