Synonyms aren’t.

Source: photo taken by the author.

English vocabulary is blessed with a plethora of synonyms that provide writers a rich palette for “painting” powerful and vivid images in words. As we all remember from elementary school, synonyms are different words that have the same meaning. We have so many of them because English is a “mongrel language” that began life as a Germanic tongue but was subsequently injected with French, Latin, various Scandinavian languages, and more recently, Spanish (among others). In the 1800s, Mr. Roget thoughtfully codified synonyms for us in his famous Thesaurus. Today, of course, students are much more likely to right-click in Microsoft Word to find a synonym in a pick-list than they are to thumb through a dog-eared Thesaurus, but either way, here’s a dirty little secret about synonyms …

They really aren’t. (Most of them, anyway.) They may have the same (or similar) denotation but most likely don’t have the same connotation. Denotation is the literal, primary definition of a word. If you’re writing directions for taking aspirin, then you’ll want to remain safely in the realm of denotation. Connotation, on the other hand, refers to what a word suggests or implies, oftentimes rooted in a word’s history (or etymology). For example, the word “sinister” means evil or wicked, but it’s also important to recognize that the word derives from the Latin word sinister, meaning left-handed. The nimble word “dexterity,” on the other hand (yes, pun intended), derives from the Latin word dexter, meaning right-handed. You can ruminate on the inherent unfairness of this distinction, but using these words effectively requires some understanding of their respective histories. The key to understanding words is to use a comprehensive dictionary that includes word roots, derivations and etymology. The gold-standard of dictionaries is the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), but any reputable hardcover dictionary is better than a paperback version good only for basic denotations.

Frequently, what a word connotes is charged with emotion. To use two simple examples, take “ground” vs. “earth” and “house” vs. “home.” Ground and earth can both describe the soil under your feet, but clearly you want to choose the word earth if you aim for an emotional connection with the reader. Earth implies growing crops and earthy smells: Mother Earth. Ground is merely ground. Similarly, the word home invokes emotional connotations of family and origin in a way that the sterile word house does not. Home is irreplaceable; house is interchangeable. Sometimes the connotation of "synonyms" can carry value judgments and reveal unfairness. In terms of sexism, consider the slang words "stud" and "'slut," both of which describe a person who sleeps around, but one is accusatory while the other is complimentary.

Diction, the process of making precise word choices, is essential to lively writing. There is ALWAYS one perfect word that will serve your purpose, and many others that will not. As Mark Twain memorably put it, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—’tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.” So find the absolutely precise words to match your meaning and let your writing strike like lightning!

© 2014 Bob Dial.  All rights reserved.