Rules For Synonyms

August 24, 2023

Synonyms Rules and Methods

The term synonyms means a phrase or word which means similar to another word or phrase in the same language. On this page we’ll see the Rules For Synonyms and understand how to answer questions based on the same.

rules for synonyms

Rules for Synonyms

A synonyms may have multiple meaning of the same word. However, always remember that any change in synonym is relative to its type – adjective, adverb, preposition, verb.

  • Verb – Jump and bounce
  • Preposition – in and within
  • Adverb – Comfortably and warmly
  • Adjective – Gorgeous and beautiful

Rule 1 – Building Word Families

Word families are like a family tree where you have the main word and then branch it out with other words that hold a same meaning. The meaning is somewhat similar to the parent or the root word. Let’s take an example below:

For Example:

  • Let the root word be Happy – now we have to associate more words that branch out from Happy:
    • Gay
    • Merry
    • Joyful
    • Jovial
    • Jolly
    • Delighted
    • Gleeful ……………..etc.

Build your vocabulary with this specially curated list of Most Important Words for Antonyms and Synonyms NOW!

Rule 2 – Associative Words

There exists a set of words that have the charge to associate itself with other words carrying a similar or closely related meaning. For these types of words few of the letters are same for all the associated words with the same meaning. For these words, a positive word will only associate with positive words and negatives will associate with negative ones.

For example:

  • Apple – Now you need to have words that you can associate with apple. As much as you think you will get a longer list. let’s say:
    • fruit, red, citrus, healthy, sour, sweet, brand, rotten, peeled, skewed, green, pie, flavor, chop, slice etc. This association helps you to get more words inside your head than you would normally do.
  • Dog – Let’s associate some words with dog:
    • breed, animal, faithful, domestic, pet,stray, shaggy, naughty, panting, chained, licked, bite, howl, bark, shout, sniff, paw, beware etc.

Rule 3 – Word Charge

In order to answer any question based on vocabulary, it is important that you know the charge that that the word is carrying first. For Synonyms the word charge will be the same for the question and the answer.

These charges can be:

  • Positive – words that give positive connotation. Example – help, joy, love, support, pride, etc.
  • Negative – words that give a negative connotation. Example – anger, disappointment, loss, hatred, hostility, crime, etc.
  • Neutral – Words that do not any predominant connotation. Example – weird, writing, dog, ship, fables, etc.

 

Rule 4 – Prefix and Suffix

Adding a prefix or a suffix to get several words that men the same is another rule that you can give you a book full of words easy to remember and use. Let’s see the list given below:

Below mentioned are some commonly used root/prefixes and suffixes with their respective key word, which will help to derive meaning of a variety of English words having similar meanings:

RootMeaningExample
1.       Actdo, actagent, counteract
2.       Agrfieldagriculture, agoraphobia
3.       Althighaltitude, alter
4.       Alterotheralternative, altercation
5.       Amfriendamity, amorous
6.       Aptfitadapt, aptitude
7.       Bengoodbenovelant, benefactor
8.       Biblbookbiblical, bibliography
9.       Biolifebiography, boiology
10.  Brevshortbrevity, abbreviation
11.  Chromcolourchromium, chromatic
12.  Chrontimechronology, chronic
13.  Cordheartcordial, accord
14.  cidkillsuicide, precision
15.  credbelieveincredible, credentials
16.  corpbodycorpulent, corpse
17.  cosmworldcosmic, cosmopolitan
18.  dempeopledemocracy, demographics
19.  dermskinepidermics, dermatologists
20.  dic/dictspeakindicate, contradict
21.  domainlord, masterdominate, indomitable
22.  dormsleepdormant, dormitory
23.  fortstrongfortitude, fortify
24.  formshapeconform, reform
25.  frag, fractbreakfracture, fragile
26.  genbirth,kindgeneration, generic
27.  graphwriteautograph, graphic
28.  gratpleasegratitude, congratulate
29.  hydrwaterhydration, dehydrated
30.  jectthrowinject, projection
31.  junctjoinconjunction, junction
32.  logword, studycatalogue, psychology
33.  magngreatmagnificent, magnitude
34.  manhandmanufacture, manual
35.  matermothermaternal
36.  megalargemegaphone, megaton
37.  mentmindmentality, mentally
38.  mergsinksubmerge, merge
39.  metermeasurechronometer, symmetry
40.  migrwandermigrate, immigration
41.  mirlookmirror, admire
42.  mortdeathmortality, immortality
43.  multmanymultitude, multifarious
44.  mutchangemutation, transmute
45.  natbornnatal, innate
46.  oculeyebinocular
47.  pedchildPediatrics, pedagogue
48.  petseekimpetus, petition
49.  phobfearclaustrophobia
50.  phonsoundphonic, phoenix
51.  potdrinkpotion, potable
52.  prehend/stake, graspapprehend, comprehend
53.  psychmindpsychic, psychology
54.  ruptbreakrupture, erupt
55.  sci, scioknowscience, conscious
56.  sent,sensfeelsentiment, sensible
57.  servkeepconserve, reserve
58.  sophwisdomsophisticated, philosophy
59.  somnsleepinsomnia, insomlonence
60.  tang, tingtouchtangent, contingency, contigeous
61.  teledistancetelegraph,
62.  termendterminal, terminate
63.  thermheatthermal, thermos
64.  tractdrawattract, extract
65.  urbcityurban, suburb
66.  vacemptyvacate, evacuate
67.  voc, vokcallrevoke, vocation
68.  vid, visseevisible, evident
69.  verbwordverbose, verbatim

Prime Course Trailer

Related Banners

Get PrepInsta Prime & get Access to all 200+ courses offered by PrepInsta in One Subscription

Get Prime

Also Check Out

Synonyms How To Solve Quickly
Synonyms Questions and Answers
Synonyms Shortcuts, tips, and tricks
Branding

Get over 200+ course One Subscription

Courses like AI/ML, Cloud Computing, Ethical Hacking, C, C++, Java, Python, DSA (All Languages), Competitive Coding (All Languages), TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Amazon, DBMS, SQL and others

Get Prime
Course List
Course List

Checkout list of all the video courses in PrepInsta Prime Subscription

Checkout list of all the video courses in PrepInsta Prime Subscription

Checkout
Checkout