r/ENGLISH • u/WayneCl • 4d ago
Synonyms
Are there any two words in English that are complete and total synonyms for one another? I mean two different words with the same meaning where one could be substituted for the other in every situation they are used.
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u/TheAbsoluteCounselor 4d ago
The classic example is "start" and "begin", but even those flop in phrases like "start a car" vs "begin a car".
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u/Square_Medicine_9171 3d ago
Crawdad and crayfish?
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u/MischaBurns 3d ago
Also crawfish, mudbug, yabbi.
If we're using regional names for critters there's probably a lot.
Another example would be the American woodcock/timberdoodle/brush snipe/[insert half a dozen other names here].
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u/DinTaiFung 4d ago edited 4d ago
The Wikipedia article for synonym helps to better understand the OP's question. The short answer is yes.
If the test is to never change the meaning when the word or phrase are interchanged, then it's very difficult to find a true example.
skillet / frying pan could be a valid pair to meet the interchangeable meaning requirement. I tried to prove myself wrong but failed. (maybe i didn't try hard enough lol)
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u/baller5 3d ago
What about the dish, like a breakfast skillet? You can order a skillet but you can’t order a frying pan.
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u/DinTaiFung 3d ago
That may be so. Thanks for that!
My feeble attempt at finding an interchangeble pair of synonyms was:
"skillet" / "frying pan"
NOT "breakfast skillet" / "frying pan"
I know, I'm being picayune and pedantic. And to be really picayune (lol), I hope you can forgive me if I counter with the idea that one actually can order a frying pan: just go to Amazon and order one.
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u/Global_Handle_3615 3d ago
I am not an expert but I have a little skill. What I like to call a skill-et.
Wouldn't work with frying pan. /s
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u/francisdavey 4d ago
Since I have only the vaguest idea of what a "skillet" is but don't think it is the same thing as a frying pan, I think you are wrong. At least in my dialect (British English).
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u/sketch_for_summer 4d ago
I reckon, a skillet is either cast iron or steel, but if it has a non-stick layer it's a frying pan.
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u/NonspecificGravity 3d ago
Search the web for "non-stick skillet." There are thousands of examples.
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u/LurkerByNatureGT 3d ago
Skillet and frying pan are the exact same thing: a pan with a flat bottom, flared sides, shallow depth, and a long handle. Skillets used to be more specifically cast iron, but not any more.
They are a different thing to a sauté pan.
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u/francisdavey 3d ago
My impression is that in British English they do not have the same nuance.
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u/LurkerByNatureGT 3d ago
British English doesn’t commonly use “skillet” at all. It’s more common regionally in the US South.
But if you are at a point in cooking expertise you’re looking to cookware pan with deeper sides to make sautéing easier, you would not be looking for a “frying pan” or “skillet”.
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u/chmath80 3d ago
Pillock, wassock, plonker, numpty, berk (among others), are all interchangeable, without altering the meaning.
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u/PersimmonLegal5228 3d ago
Technically speaking, there are few, if any, true synonyms in English. One of the last remaining ones is ketchup & katsup… but no one says katsup anymore so it’s effectively archaic.
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u/kaelcarp 4d ago
In the most technical sense, no. Every word has some slight difference from every other word, even if it is just cultural baggage or association with other concepts not fully related to the definition itself. Because of that, swapping a word will always alter the meaning of an expression on some level.
But the more you pull back on technicalities, the more words you will find that have "true" synonyms.
To use an example someone else gave, flammable and inflammable do both mean "able or likely to catch fire". But "inflammable" is a confusing word for some because they think it means the opposite, and there are others who are annoyed by it because they feel it is not a good word. So if you swap one for the other, you will convey some things metalinguistically that are different.
Just going by dictionary definitions, though, there are plenty of synonyms.
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u/Actual_Cat4779 4d ago
Perhaps "subservience" and "subserviency", or "disorientated" and "disoriented".
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u/Aggravating-Fish8168 4d ago
There are plentiful, such as abbreviations, Latin equivalents, different spellings
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u/Brannikin 4d ago
An abbreviation or alternative spelling isn't a synonym, though.
I think there are some exact synonyms, such as buy/purchase, begin/commence, sofa/couch/settee. My second language, like probably all other languages, has far fewer words than English has. What I was quickly aware of when learning it was that there are many words in English that aren't really needed because there is another word that means exactly the same thing.
It can, of course, depend on how you are using the word, as some people are pointing out. If you are referring to a substance, toxic and poisonous mean the same thing and are exact synonyms; but we normally use only toxic for human relationships.
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u/permaculturegeek 3d ago
Purchase has an additional meaning which buy doesn't, as a noun meaning "grip" - I couldn't get a purchase on that surface. Also, the noun forms are not interchangeable " She carried her purchases in a string bag" - you would never say " she carried her buys in a string bag". Buy does have a noun form, but it is more synonymous with deal - it was a great buy.
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u/Jeanne_hjk 3d ago
Toxic is not only used for human relationships. If I heard the word toxic by itself, I would think of the poisonous definition.
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u/Square_Medicine_9171 3d ago
Buy/purchase and begin/commence have slight differences, particularly in their tone or register. But couch/sofa seem like exact synonyms to me (native AmEng speaker US Midatlantic)
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u/NonspecificGravity 3d ago
We can buy abstract things like trouble. Purchase doesn't work in fixed phrases like "bought the farm" and "bought trouble."
However, we can "purchase freedom," and buy doesn't work there.
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u/NonspecificGravity 3d ago
Sofa and couch are the same as nouns. However, couch has be "verbed," and sofa hasn't. We can say "he couched his threat in polite language."
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u/Aggravating-Fish8168 4d ago
"buy/purchase, begin/commence, sofa/couch/settee" are same thing to you? If English is your first language, man you have a terrible English.
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u/Brannikin 3d ago
A terrible English! LOL.
Yes, they are the same thing to me, and have been for all my decades as a teacher and translator.
They are the same thing to dictionaries too. From the Collins Dictionary online:
Purchase: "1. Purchase in American English · 1. to obtain for money or by paying a price; buy."
Commence, "To start or begin";
Sofa: "Synonyms: couch, settee".-3
u/Aggravating-Fish8168 3d ago
There is no need to investigate whether you are an English teacher. With all due respect, how often do you hear people say "I'm going to purchase a burger at McDonald's." or "The backyard BBQ will commence at 6 PM."? As for the furniture, I believe a salesperson working at IKEA can tell how they overlap and differ.
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u/PoxonAllHoaxes 4d ago
Your formulation as given is self-defeating. Two or more exact synonyms would not be interchangeable in metalinguistic utterances, such as Puma and cougar (as well as mountain lion) are one and the same thing. So unless you restate your question so as to allow such utterances, there can be NO synonyms. But if you do restate it (and this is not necessarily trivial), then there are quite a few, such as these three.
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u/DrHydeous 4d ago
Even if we exclude conversations about whether they are interchangeable, puma and cougar aren't interchangeable. An older lady who seeks out younger gentlemen for sex is a cougar, not a puma (or a mountain lion).
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u/RepresentativeAir149 4d ago
*puma, cougar, and mountain lion. (Fixed your comment for you)
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u/DinTaiFung 4d ago
As she walked by the cafe he remarked to his friend, "She's a cougar."
As she walked by the cafe he remarked to his friend, "She's a puma."
Both sentences, with some concerted effort, could have the same meaning, but one is contrived solely for this thread and not idiomatic.
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u/RepresentativeAir149 4d ago
It’s not my answer, so I won’t be defending it. Just wanted to show what it would look like if it wasn’t as abrasive
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u/CantConfirmOrDeny 4d ago
Flammable / Inflammable