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.
NOTE:-According to linguistic studies, most of the English words are derived from Latin and Greek language. Each English word contains a root or a suffix or prefix, so all we have to do is to find that root, analyze whether it is of Greek or a Latin origin and then derive the meaning out of the word.
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:
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.
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:
Root
Meaning
Example
1.Act
do, act
agent, counteract
2.Agr
field
agriculture, agoraphobia
3.Alt
high
altitude, alter
4.Alter
other
alternative, altercation
5.Am
friend
amity, amorous
6.Apt
fit
adapt, aptitude
7.Ben
good
benovelant, benefactor
8.Bibl
book
biblical, bibliography
9.Bio
life
biography, boiology
10.Brev
short
brevity, abbreviation
11.Chrom
colour
chromium, chromatic
12.Chron
time
chronology, chronic
13.Cord
heart
cordial, accord
14.cid
kill
suicide, precision
15.cred
believe
incredible, credentials
16.corp
body
corpulent, corpse
17.cosm
world
cosmic, cosmopolitan
18.dem
people
democracy, demographics
19.derm
skin
epidermics, dermatologists
20.dic/dict
speak
indicate, contradict
21.domain
lord, master
dominate, indomitable
22.dorm
sleep
dormant, dormitory
23.fort
strong
fortitude, fortify
24.form
shape
conform, reform
25.frag, fract
break
fracture, fragile
26.gen
birth,kind
generation, generic
27.graph
write
autograph, graphic
28.grat
please
gratitude, congratulate
29.hydr
water
hydration, dehydrated
30.ject
throw
inject, projection
31.junct
join
conjunction, junction
32.log
word, study
catalogue, psychology
33.magn
great
magnificent, magnitude
34.man
hand
manufacture, manual
35.mater
mother
maternal
36.mega
large
megaphone, megaton
37.ment
mind
mentality, mentally
38.merg
sink
submerge, merge
39.meter
measure
chronometer, symmetry
40.migr
wander
migrate, immigration
41.mir
look
mirror, admire
42.mort
death
mortality, immortality
43.mult
many
multitude, multifarious
44.mut
change
mutation, transmute
45.nat
born
natal, innate
46.ocul
eye
binocular
47.ped
child
Pediatrics, pedagogue
48.pet
seek
impetus, petition
49.phob
fear
claustrophobia
50.phon
sound
phonic, phoenix
51.pot
drink
potion, potable
52.prehend/s
take, grasp
apprehend, comprehend
53.psych
mind
psychic, psychology
54.rupt
break
rupture, erupt
55.sci, scio
know
science, conscious
56.sent,sens
feel
sentiment, sensible
57.serv
keep
conserve, reserve
58.soph
wisdom
sophisticated, philosophy
59.somn
sleep
insomnia, insomlonence
60.tang, ting
touch
tangent, contingency, contigeous
61.tele
distance
telegraph,
62.term
end
terminal, terminate
63.therm
heat
thermal, thermos
64.tract
draw
attract, extract
65.urb
city
urban, suburb
66.vac
empty
vacate, evacuate
67.voc, vok
call
revoke, vocation
68.vid, vis
see
visible, evident
69.verb
word
verbose, verbatim
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