English
What is a synonym?
Quick answer
A synonym is a word that means the same or nearly the same as another word, like big and large, or happy and cheerful.
In one sentence
Synonyms are different words with the same or very similar meanings.
Explained
Big, large, huge, enormous and gigantic all describe something of great size. They are synonyms. Knowing several synonyms gives writers choices, so they can avoid repeating the same word and pick the one that fits best.
Synonyms are rarely perfect swaps. They often have shades of meaning, a bit like shades of a colour:
- warm → hot → boiling → scorching
- look → glance → stare → peer
- walk → stroll → march → stomp
- said → whispered → muttered → shouted
She glanced at the clock and She stared at the clock tell you very different things about the character.
Some synonyms also fit some sentences and not others. A big sister is an older sister; a large sister means something else entirely. A huge surprise sounds natural; an enormous surprise is fine; a gigantic surprise starts to sound jokey. Read the sentence aloud to check.
A thesaurus is a book (or tool) that lists synonyms. It is a great help, but always check the new word means what you want. Swapping nice for fine, pleasant or delightful gives three quite different tones.
Synonyms sit alongside antonyms (opposites). Together they are a key part of building vocabulary.
elephant
mountain
whale
Examples
| Word | Synonyms |
|---|---|
| happy | cheerful, glad, delighted, joyful |
| sad | unhappy, miserable, gloomy |
| small | little, tiny, minute |
| begin | start, commence |
| brave | bold, courageous, fearless |
- The dog was tired. → The dog was exhausted.
- We ran to the bus. → We dashed to the bus.
Common mistakes
- Swapping without checking meaning. The cake was enormous delicious does not work; choose words that fit the grammar too.
- Using the fanciest word every time. Commence sounds odd in Let's commence our sandwiches. Plain words are often best.
- Mixing up synonyms and homophones. Synonyms share meaning; homophones share sound.
Quick quiz
Synonyms
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Question 1 of 4
Which word is a synonym for quick?
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Related topics
Antonyms
An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word, like hot and cold, up and down, or happy and unhappy.
Adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a noun, telling you what kind, which one or how many, like a huge elephant, a sour lemon or three red balloons.
Homophones
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and usually different spellings, like there, their and they're, or see and sea.
Similes
A simile compares one thing to another using like or as, such as as brave as a lion or her eyes shone like stars.
Prefixes
A prefix is a group of letters added to the start of a word to change its meaning, like un- in unhappy, re- in replay or dis- in disappear.
Adverbs
An adverb gives more information about a verb, adjective or another adverb, telling how, when, where or how often, like slowly, tomorrow, outside or always.