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Use WordNet online Synonym and
Word Dictionary
 Synonyms
(in ancient Greek syn 'συν' = plus and onoma 'όνομα' =
name) are different words with similar or identical
meanings. Antonyms are words with opposite or nearly
opposite meanings.
(Synonym and antonym are antonyms.)
In scientific classification
In scientific
classification, synonyms are different scientific names
that pertain to the same taxon, for example two name for
the same species. The rule of scientific nomenclature is
that the first name to be published is valid (the senior
synonym); any others are junior synonyms and should not
be used.
Synonyms are
"objective" if they unambiguously refer to the same taxon; this
is the case if they refer to the same description or the same
type specimen. Otherwise the synonyms are "subjective", meaning
that there is room for debate: one researcher might consider the
two names to refer to the same taxon, another might disagree.
For example, John Edward Gray published the name
Antilocapra anteflexa in 1855 for a species of pronghorn, based
on a pair of horns. However, it is now thought that his specimen
was an unusual individual of the species Antilocapra americana
published by George Ord in 1815. Ord's name thus takes priority,
with Antilocapra anteflexa being a junior subjective synonym.
Objective synonyms are common at the level of genera,
because two researchers may independently arrive at the
conclusion that a species is sufficiently different from others
in its genus that it needs to be given its own genus. Thus each
names a new genus with the same type species; these are
objective synonyms.
At
the species level, subjective synonyms are common because an
unexpectedly large range of variation in a species — or simple
ignorance about an earlier description — may lead a biologist to
place a newly discovered specimen in a new genus. However,
objective synonyms are quite rare. An example is the tarpan (the
European wild horse) which was described by Johann Friedrich
Gmelin in 1774. In 1784 Pieter Boddaert named the tarpan Equus
ferus, referring to Gmelin's description. Unaware of Boddaert's
name, Otto Antonius published the name Equus gmelini in 1912,
again referring to Gmelin's description. Since the two names
refer to the same description, they are objective synonyms.
See also:
Synonymous
Homonyms, words that sound alike, or are spelled
alike, but mean different things, such as too and two;
there and their; or fluke (of luck) and fluke (of a
whale).
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