synonymy
/sɪˈnɒnəmi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.29 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A certain degree of similarity between the meaning(s) of several (synonymous) words or phrases. (See Usage notes below.)
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "sink into synonymy"
- "In 1924 this name was reduced to synonymy."
- "The synonymy of Tachina is extensive."
- "Descriptions are followed by a synonymy of the names that have been applied in the literature ."
Etymology
From French synonymie and its etymon Late Latin synōnymia, from Ancient Greek συνωνυμία (sunōnumía), from συνώνυμος (sunṓnumos, “of like name”) + -ία (-ía, abstract noun suffix). By surface analysis, synonym + -y or syn- + -onymy. Doublet of synonymia.
Origin
- Source language: French