Notes at the bottom of a dictionary entry-especially usage notes and synonym studies-are often where we’ll find the detailed information that allows us to improve (or refine or polish ) our writing. Lists of synonyms are useful when we are struggling to write and looking for just the right word, but each word must be considered in light of its specific definition. The verbs make and construct mean roughly the same thing, but one is more likely to make a cake but construct a building, which is a more complex undertaking. A sunset might be described equally well as beautiful or resplendent, but a beautiful baby would not usually be described as resplendent, which implies an especially dazzling appearance. And when we move from nouns to other parts of speech, we almost always find subtle but important differences among synonyms: although the meanings overlap, they differ in emphasis and connotation. warlike aggressive, bellicose, belligerent, bloodthirsty, combative, hawkish, hostile, inimical, jingoistic, martial, militaristic, military, pugnacious, sabre. a name that precedes ones surname especially : first name Synonyms. But forest and wood, though often interchangeable, have different shades of meaning: a forest tends to be larger and denser than a wood. The different meanings of the name Marsha are: American meaning: War-like English. And if you ask for a soda on the east coast of the U.S., you’ll get the same drink that asking for a pop will get you farther west. Just about every popular dictionary defines synonym as a term having “the same or nearly the same” meaning as another, but there is an important difference between “the same” and “nearly the same.” Noun synonyms sometimes mean exactly the same thing. belonging to or characteristic of an enemy synonym: warlike 60 - howling - only before noun (a). English, with its long history of absorbing terminology from a wealth of other tongues, is a language particularly rich in synonyms -words so close in meaning that in many contexts they are interchangeable, like the nouns tongue and language in the first part of this sentence. a very strong manner synonym: opposed to (d).
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