A synonym is a word that has the same – or nearly the same – meaning as another word in the same language.
When looking for synonyms of a particular word, you could begin with a thesaurus. The purpose of a thesaurus is to be an easy-reference tool for looking up synonyms.
However, just viewing a list of alternative words doesn’t always tell you the nuances of each meaning or when it is appropriate to use it.
For example, let’s consider some synonyms of nice. This adjective can be applied very broadly to mean that something is pleasant, good or agreeable. You could have a nice dinner, a nice friend, a nice house, a nice time… and so on.
But not all synonyms of ‘nice’ are valid in all circumstances.
You could describe a ‘nice dinner’ as ‘enjoyable’ and a ‘nice friend’ as ‘kind’, but you wouldn’t talk about an ‘enjoyable friend’ or a ‘kind dinner’. And this is where a thesaurus has its limitations.
So, here you can browse our articles about synonyms of English words – and not just lists of synonyms but more detailed explanations as to when it is appropriate to use each one.
