Etymologically
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synonymous

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /sɪˈnɒnɪməs/[1]
  • US: /sɪˈnɑnɪməs/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin synōnymus,[2][3][4][5][6] with the English suffix -ous,[2][7] from Ancient Greek συνώνυμος (sunṓnumos, “having the same name, synonymous”),[2][3][8] formed from σύν (sún, “together, same”) and a combining form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).[2][3][4] Etymonline traces the Greek word for "name" to Proto-Indo-European *no-men- (“name”),[3] the root of English name.[4] The neuter of the Greek adjective, used as a noun, is the source of synonym.[3][2] Johnson (1755) compared French synonyme as well as the Greek.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of words or phrases, denoting the same thing or idea; equivalent in meaning: 1610, in John Donne's Pseudo-Martyr.[2][4] Etymonline dates it to about 1600,[3] Dictionary.com to 1600–10.[7]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word described words that mean the same, and the OED notes that it was construed with the preposition to, now usually replaced by with.[2] By 1659 it was extended to words for things that imply one another,[2] and by 1789 it was transferred to the things themselves, said of things that are the same but go by different names.[2][6] In the late 17th and 18th centuries it could also mean "of the same description, similar" (1690) and, loosely, "having the same name" (1734), senses now obsolete or confused with homonymous.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "expressing the same thing by different words".[9] The modern figurative use, in which a name or thing is synonymous with a quality closely associated with it, is recorded in both Merriam-Webster and Collins.[4][10] An adjective synonymal, from the 1610s, is obsolete.[3]

Timeline

  • 1610 – equivalent in meaning, of words or phrases.[2][4]
  • 1659 – of words for things that imply one another.[2]
  • 1690 – of the same description, similar (now obsolete).[2]
  • 1734 – loosely, having the same name.[2]
  • 1789 – of things, identical but called by different names.[2]
  • 1805 – relating to synonyms.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or phrase: In this sense, "fast" is synonymous with "quick".[10][4][2]
  2. So closely associated with something that the one brings the other to mind: Her family's name became synonymous with fine furniture.[10][4]
  3. Of things, the same in nature though called by different names; identical.[2][6]

Word family

  • synonymously
  • synonymousness
  • nonsynonymous
  • unsynonymous

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins