synonymy
Americannoun
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synonymies
plural
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the quality of being synonymous; equivalence in meaning.
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the study of synonyms.
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a set, list, or system of synonyms.
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Biology. a list of the scientific names, with explanatory matter and location of type or types, for a particular taxonomic group.
noun
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the study of synonyms
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the character of being synonymous; equivalence
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a list or collection of synonyms, esp one in which their meanings are discriminated
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biology a collection of the synonyms of a species or group
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of synonymy
1600–10; < Late Latin synōnymia < Greek synōnymía. See synonymous, -y 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They claimed that the work collapsed several species of snakes together in synonymy, meaning that different types of creatures were treated as if they were the same one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Caimanops amphibolurodes – the Mulga dragon, the only member of its genus – was recently returned to synonymy with by Doughty .
From Scientific American ● Feb. 7, 2014
The resurrection of the Cape Verde shearwater from synonymy with Cory’s shearwater means that there are now two Atlantic Calonectris species.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 10, 2013
Branca paused from his lunch to let forth a burst of philosemitism — declaiming the health benefits of kashrut and circumcision, the synonymy of Judaism with charity, leadership, patriotism, brains.
From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2011
Under these circumstances the nomenclature of Indian tribes became ponderous and the synonymy complex.
From First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1879-1880, Government Printing Office 1881 by Various
The details of variation in these and other characters and our justifications for the synonymies are given in the accounts of the species.
From A Synopsis of Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Osteocephalus by William E. Duellman
In the following accounts complete synonymies are given for each species.
From A Review of the Frogs of the Hyla bistincta Group by William E. Duellman
Only the most important references are given in the synonymies, except those of the two subspecies of Hyla staufferi, which are more nearly complete.
From The Systematics of the Frogs of the Hyla Rubra Group in Middle America by Juan R. león
The changes in nomenclature which grew out of increased understanding of these mice through additional collecting are expressed in the synonymies under the accounts of subspecies.
From Subspeciation in the Meadow Mouse, Microtus montanus, in Wyoming and Colorado by Sydney Anderson
References cited only in the synonymies are not listed in the Literature Cited.
From The Amphibians and Reptiles of Michoacán, México by William E. Duellman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
