Inversely, the irreducible character of the phenomenon of synonymy is confirmed by the possibility of providing synonyms for the various acceptations of a single word (this is the commutative test of polysemy itself): the word review is the synonym sometimes of 'parade,' sometimes of 'magazine.' In every case a community of meaning is at the bottom of synonymy. Synonymy and Polysemy - 'What defines synonymy is precisely the possibility of substituting words in given contexts without altering the objective and affective meaning.(George Yule, The Study of Language, 2nd ed.

The sentence My father purchased a large automobile seems much more serious than the following casual version, with four synonymous replacements: My dad bought a big car.' Synonymous forms may also differ in terms of formality. For example, whereas the word answer fits in this sentence: Cathy had only one answer correct on the test, its near-synonym, reply, would sound odd. Synonymy, Near-Synonymy, and Degrees of Formality - 'It should be noted that the idea of 'sameness of meaning' used in discussing synonymy is not necessarily 'total sameness.' There are many occasions when one word is appropriate in a sentence, but its synonym would be odd.Lynne Murphy, Semantic Relations and the Lexicon.

All that must happen is that ride must be used and understood to mean the same thing as car-as in My new ride is a Honda.' Ride does not need to be inducted as a member of the synonym set-no one has to say ' ride means the same thing as car' in order for the synonym relation to be understood. For example, every time a new slang term meaning 'automobile' is invented, a synonym relation is predicted for the new slang term (say, ride) and the standard and slang terms that already exist ( car, auto, wheels, etc.). If we invent a new word that represents (to some extent) the same thing that an existing word in the language represents, then the new word is automatically a synonym of the older word. The Productivity of Synonymy - 'The productivity of synonymy is clearly observable.(Alan Partington, Patterns and Meanings: Using Corpora for English Language Research and Teaching. However, given the rarity of absolute synonymy, learners also need to know which of the particular synonyms given by dictionaries and thesauruses is the most suitable for any given context.' Harvey & Yuill (1994) found that searches for synonyms accounted for over 10 percent of dictionary consultations when learners were engaged in a writing task. For motives of stylistic variation, non-native learners and translators have a pressing need to find lexical alternatives to express a particular concept, especially in writing. In addition, what we might term 'definition through synonym' is a central feature of most dictionary organisation (Ilson 1991: 294-6).

For the latter, there is a good deal of evidence to suggest that vocabulary is often best acquired by analogy, in other words, remembered as being similar in meaning to previously acquired forms. For the former, synonymy is an important member of the theoretical set of logical relations existing in language.

'The phenomenon of synonymy is a central interest for both the semanticist and the language learner.

Accounted synonym