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 word homophone is used to describe a word that sounds the same as another word, but that has a different meaning. ![]() 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. The principle was articulated by John Rupert Firth, who wrote, You shall know a word by the. 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. By similarity, we really mean used in similar contexts. ![]() 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. ![]() But forest and wood, though often interchangeable, have different shades of meaning: a forest tends to be larger and denser than a wood. And if you ask for a soda on the east coast of the United States, 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. Use the information given in the dictionary and complete the table.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. Look up the dictionary entries for the words sympathy, familiarity, comfort, care, and surprise. When you described something as terrible back in the day, it meant that it caused genuine fits of terror today, people use it to describe anything that's mildly badeven a terrible movie. are signposts which help you locate the right meaning and usage, and give information about the part of speech that the word is.) The original meaning of the word terrible is similar to its definition today, only way more extreme. (Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, synonyms, etc. Both versions are delicious, so even if you use the wrong word, the outcome will taste more than all right. eaterswe mean, er, speakersknow chips as thick-cut deep-fried potato slices. Look at the dictionary entry on ‘culture’ from Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005. In America, chips is the name for thinly sliced deep-fried potato snacks (known as crisps in the U.K.), while U.K. Usually a dictionary helps you identify the right meaning by giving you signposts. In the first sentence, ‘culture’ (noun) means way of life in the second, ‘cultural’ (adjective) means connected with art, literature and music and in the third, ‘cultured’ (verb) means sophisticated, well mannered.
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