A synonym is a word that shares the same or very similar meaning with another word. These words are not spelled the same or pronounced the same way, they just have a similar meaning and can be interchangeable without significantly changing the meaning or tone of conversation.
A dictionary of synonyms is called Thesaurus, and some of these dictionaries also contain a list of antonyms (words that have the opposite meaning).
Here’s a list of a couple of examples that we put together by using a thesaurus:
- happy – cheerful, merry, delighted, ecstatic, glad, joyful, thrilled, pleased
- sad – bitter, heartbroken, pessimistic, sorry, hurting, low-spirited, heavyhearted
- delicious – appetizing, enjoyable, exquisite, heavenly, pleasant, tasty, yummy
- disgusting – awful, nasty, horrific, scandalous, shocking, outrageous, gross
If you’re writing a text, don’t be ashamed to use the dictionary to help you with expressing your thoughts by using the right words that are sometimes on the tip of your tongue but you just can’t remember at that particular moment. We do it all the time!