\Syn*on"y*mous\, a. [Gr. ?; sy`n with, together + ?,
?, name. See {Syn-}, and {Name}.]
Having the character of a synonym; expressing the same thing;
conveying the same, or approximately the same, idea. --
{Syn*on"y*mous*ly}, adv.
      These words consist of two propositions, which are not
      distinct in sense, but one and the same thing variously
      expressed; for wisdom and understanding are synonymous
      words here.                              --Tillotson.
Syn: Identical; interchangeable. -- {Synonymous},
     {Identical}. If no words are synonymous except those
     which are identical in use and meaning, so that the one
     can in all cases be substituted for the other, we have
     scarcely ten such words in our language. But the term
     more properly denotes that the words in question
     approach so near to each other, that, in many or most
     cases, they can be used interchangeably. 1. Words may
     thus coincide in certain connections, and so be
     interchanged, when they can not be interchanged in other
     connections; thus we may speak either strength of mind
     or of force of mind, but we say the force (not strength)
     of gravitation. 2. Two words may differ slightly, but
     this difference may be unimportant to the speaker's
     object, so that he may freely interchange them; thus it
     makes but little difference, in most cases, whether we
     speak of a man's having secured his object or having
     attained his object. For these and other causes we have
     numerous words which may, in many cases or connections,
     be used interchangeably, and these are properly called
     synonyms. Synonymous words ``are words which, with great
     and essential resemblances of meaning, have, at the same
     time, small, subordinate, and partial differences, --
     these differences being such as either originally and on
     the ground of their etymology inhered in them; or
     differences which they have by usage acquired in the
     eyes of all; or such as, though nearly latent now, they
     are capable of receiving at the hands of wise and
     discreet masters of the tongue. Synonyms are words of
     like significance in the main, but with a certain
     unlikeness as well.'' --Trench.