Ministry of the higher and secondary special education of the republic of uzbekistan state world languages university

Chapter II. Synonymic sets and ways of their interpretation
 
2.1. Semantic groupings in the English vocabulary
Every language has in its vocabulary a lot of words different in their 
phonetic shape, usage, collocation and connotations but very close in meaning/ 
Their denotational component is almost identical or nearly identical, e.g. to kill 
– to slay – to do in – to murder; anger-wrath-rage-fury-indignation, ire, etc.
Such language units are termed synonyms. By definition they are words 
belonging to the same part of speech and interchangeable in some or at least two 
contexts.
As the majority of English words are polysemantic, frequent words have 
many synonyms. The semantic structure of polysemantic words sometimes 
coincides in more than one meaning but never completely. Even mirror 
(polished surface that reflects images) and looking-glass (a mirror made of 
glass) are not totally identical in their meaning. 
In a synonymic group loving - affectionate – devoted – fond – 
doting, “loving” and “devoted” 
are 
used 
with 
a 
positive 
evaluation, “affectionate” is neutral as well as “fond”; “doting” may render 
disapproval. “Loving” describes the inner emotional state, “affectionate”– a 
tender feeling which 
may be displayed in caressing and other 
manifestations, “devoted” demonstrates one’s faithfulness, readiness to spend 
time and effort, “doting” underlines foolish, exaggerated feeling which may be 
blind. 
In this synonymic group its members differ in rendering the basic notion, 
in shades of meaning and degree of intensity. 
We call such synonyms ideographic; they express the same idea but are 
not fully identical in their referential content. 
In a synonymic group visage – countenance – face – phiz – muzzle – 
snout – clock – mug its members constitute stylistic synonyms and we see that 

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the presence or absence of stylistic colouring may be also accompanied by a 
difference in emotional colouring and evaluation. 
The difference in the shade of meaning is in many cases supported by 
difference in style; thus we deal with ideographic - stylistic synonyms: Mad – 
maniacal – crazy – crazed – insane – demented – deranged. 
We see that mental disorder is rendered by synonymic words which differ 
not only by shades of meaning and degrees of intensity but also by their stylistic 
characteristics – some of them are neutral (insane), some – bookish (demented, 
maniacal), some – colloquial (crazy, crazed). 
Synonymic groups contain usually several members differing from each 
other in some shades of meaning, degree of intensity, stylistic reference and 
emotional colouring. Synonymic dominant is the most general term of its kind, 
usually stylistically neutral, sharing the specific features rendered by all the 
other members of the group. 
We must not confuse the synonymic dominant with a generic term 
or hyperonym - name for the notion of the genus as distinguished from the name 
of the species- hyponyms.
“Insect” is a generic term for “cockroach”, “ant”, 
“fly”, “flea”, “gnat”, “moth”, etc. 
It is universally known that no two words are absolutely identical in their 
meanings, connotations, ways of usage, stylistic reference, frequency of 
occurrence. We cannot be sure that even “mother country” and “fatherland” are 
absolutely identical in their meaning, they differ in terms of usage. Thus, we 
cannot speak of total synonymy. 
Usually synonyms are words identical with respect to their central 
semantic features but different in their minor or peripheral features. In this case 
we deal with the so-called contextual synonyms which are interchangeable only 
in some contexts. 
Synonyms can appear in paradigmatic and syntagmatic sets. Dictionaries 
of synonyms include words on the basis of relatedness of their meaning. Here 
we deal with identity and differentiation, continuity and variability as the main 

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parameters. Usually in dealing with synonymy we pay attention to semantic 
distinctions between lexical units as these distinctions in meaning and usage are 
very important in choosing the right word in a particular context or speech 
situation. In dictionaries we find a paradigmatic description of synonyms where 
the main accent is laid on the points of difference between them. Special 
supplementary notes in lexicography ("obsolete”, derogatory”, “poetic”, 
“vulgar”, etc.) help us to limit the wrong usage of lexical items, to avoid stylistic 
mistakes in choosing area of situation. 
Words may be classified according to the concepts underlying their 
meaning. This classification is closely connected with the theory of conceptual 
or semantic fields. By the term “semantic fields” we understand closely knit 
sectors of vocabulary each characterised by a common concept. For example, 
the words 
blue, red, yellow, black,
etc. may be described as making up the 
semantic field of colours, the words 
mother, father, brother, cousin