Levels of Synonymy and TESOL

Theoretical literature on semantics has identified several levels or degrees of synonymy. Terminology differs, but following Cruse (1986) one can speak of absolute synonyms (identical in every type of meaning), cognitive synonyms (identical only in denotation, but not in e.g. connotation or social meaning), and plesionyms (close, but not identical, in denotation). Absolute synonyms are very rare or non-existent; an example of cognitive synonyms is couch and sofa, and an example of plesionyms is misty and foggy (Cruse 1986:285). It may be difficult to make judgements about identity or closeness in meaning, but Cruse (1986) provides a linguistic test to distinguish plesionyms from cognitive synonyms and non-synonyms.Such

Reference

Cruse, D. A. (1986) Lexical Semantics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.