English has the largest vocabulary and the most synonyms of any
language in the world. This richness is due to the fact that the English
language has grown over the centuries by constantly incorporating
words from other languages. Even before the Norman Conquest, the
Anglo-Saxon vocabulary included words borrowed from Latin (street,

mile, the suffix –chester in the names of towns), Greek (priest, bishop), Celtic (crag, bin) and Scandinavian (law, fellow, egg, thrall). After the Norman Conquest, the English vocabulary was virtually doubled by the addition of French words, especially those reflecting a higher standard of living and a more complex social life: for example, words connected with food (sugar, vinegar, boil, fry, roast), clothing (garment, robe, mantle, gown), law (plaintiff, perjury, legacy), religion (convent, hermitage, chaplain, cardinal) and social rank and organization (prince, duke, vassal, mayor, constable).

 While much of the new French vocabulary described new ideas and activities, much of it duplicated the pre-existing Anglo-Saxon  vocabulary, giving the writer or speaker a choice of synonyms: cure (French) or heal (Anglo-Saxon), table or board, poignant or sharp,labour or work, mirror or glass, assemble or meet, power or might. Sometimes the duplication of vocabulary was used to make distinctions: ox, swine, calf and deer were called, when killed a prepared for cooking, beef, pork, veal and venison; hitting, striking, stealing and robbing became, when viewed through they eyes of French law, assault, battery, larceny and burglary.

With the enormous expansion of classical learning in the Renaissance, there was a great influx of words of Latin and Greek origin into language, dictated by the demands of an enriched intellectual and cultural life. Also, the larger world discovered through travel (from the Crusades onwards) and exploration (especially in the Elizabethan period) was a great stimulus to culture and language. There also arose in the sixteenth century a fashion of ornamenting one’s discourse with what were then called "aureate" or "inkhorn" terms drawn from Greek and Latin. Shakespeare’s "multitudinous seas incarnadine" is a famous example, and what happened to these particular words in typical of the fate of this new vocabulary: multitudinous stayed in the language as one of several synonyms for many, while incarnadine is not heard any more except in this context. In brief, many words of classical origin introduced into the language during the Renaissance became permanent additions, but most were soon forgotten or were relegated to special technical contexts,like hebdemodary (weekly) and gressorial (having to do with walking).

The adventures of English-speaking people as they traded and fought and travelled around the world in modern times – in Europe, North America, India, Australia, Africa – also expanded to vocabulary. Words were borrowed from Dutch (tub, spool, deck), Spanish (sherry, armada, renade), American Indian (squash, toboggan, hickory), East Indian (cashmere, punch, shampoo), Afrikaans (veldt, trek), Italian (soprano, casino, macaroni), Mexican (chocolate, tomato), Australian (kangaroo, billabong), Japanese (kimono, rickshaw), Malay (amok, sarong), and many others.

Furthermore, the United States, as a separate nation with its own life and character and institutions, has added vastly to the English vocabulary since American colonial times. With the rise of the United States to a position of World influence in politics, science, industry, trade and the popular arts, American words and phrases have gained recognition and prestige everywhere. Ice cream, jeep and rock-and-roll are internationally known terms, as are containment, DEW-line and nuclear deterrent. Moreover, American terminology for many things exists side by side with an English terminology, placing another whole group of synonyms at our service: help (American) and servant (British), sidewalk and pavement, railroad and railway, elevator and lift, druggist and chemist, instalment plan and hire-purchase system, gasoline and petrol, checkers and draughts, trunk and boot (of a car) and so on through an almost interminable list.

Synonyms in English are therefore of many kinds. Some groups of synonyms, like foreword (English), preface (French), introduction (Latin) and prolegomenon (Greek), seem like a simple embarrassment of riches. Some, like plain (French), steppe (Russian), pampas (Spanish, from South American Indian), prairie (French voyageur), savannah (Spanish), tundra (Russian, from Lappish), refer to geographical variants of the same kind of thing. Others, like teach, educate, indoctrinate, instruct, school, tutor, differ from one another principally in degrees of abstraction: teach is certainly the most general word of this group, while the others are more specialized in application. Some words of quite similar meaning make distinctions at the concrete, descriptive level: tip, cant, careen, heel, list, slant, slope, till; screech, scream, clamour, yell, howl. These are truly synonyms only if translated into more general form, the former group into incline, the latter into outcry.

It can be argued that there really are no exact synonyms – no exact equivalences of meaning. Such a position can be upheld if by "meaning" we refer to the total range of contexts in which a word may be used. Contexts in which either might appear. But within a given context, there is often exact synonymy: I mislaid my wallet; I misplaced my wallet. In a slightly different context the two words are not interchangeable: it would not be idiomatic to say, I mislaid my suitcase – all of which may suggest that while misplace is applicable to both small objects and large, mislay applies only to small. Also, one may suffer disappointment because of misplace, but never mislaid, trust. This example shows again that words which are synonymous in one of their meanings may differ considerably in their other meanings. Some groups of words describe the same actions, but imply different relationships among the parties concerned. We accompany our equals; we attend or follow those to whom we are subordinate; we conduct those who need guidance, escort those who need protection, and chaperon those who need supervision; merchant ships are convoyed in time of war. Feminine, effeminate, womanly and womanish are much alike in referring to female characteristics, but the second applies only to males, and then in a derogatory sense.

Some differences in locution reveal differences in the degree of formality of the occasions described: a luncheon as distinguished from a lunch. Sometimes different locutions reveal differences not in the situations described but in the formality of discourse about them: He went to bed, for instance, as compared to He hit the sack.

Reference is made throughout this book to words which have legal implications. Since variations in their meanings may occur not only between one country and another but, as in Australia, even between the states, all such reference should be regarded not as hard-and-fast legal definitions but rather as explanations of generally accepted usage.

Semanticists and linguistic scholars continue to remind us that words change in meaning according to time and place and circumstance. The democracy of Sweden is not identical with that which bears the same name in Britain, Japan or the German Democratic Republic; and the democracy of any of these nations changes from decade to decade, from year to year. Such warnings are certainly not to be ignored and the editors of this work are well aware that, because of this changing nature of language, no one book can satisfy all users of English. Absolute agreement on every shade of meaning is not possible; all words at their various levels of use cannot be included, and a few of the listings may be considered superfluous by some reader.

Yet, with all the changes that go on both in language and in the world described by language, there are remarkable elements of stability in a vocabulary with as rich a literary and cultural history as English. The distinctions between bravery and foolhardiness, between weeping and whining, between fury and rage, between thought and deliberation, between desolate and disconsolate, have remained remarkably constant since Shakespeare’s day in all English-speaking countries. It is gratifying to call the reader’s attention to the many new words – even fad words – and new meanings discussed in the present volume. But the reader will find equal pleasure – perhaps more – in the continuities and constancies in the meanings of English words that persist despite changes of times and changes of scene.

Nothing is so important to clear and accurate expression as the ability to distinguish between words of similar, but not identical, meaning. There are occasions in which we have to make choices between transient and transitory, mutual and reciprocal, gaudy and garish, inherent and intrinsic, speculate and ruminate, pinnacle and summit, because in a given context one is certain to be more appropriate than the other. To choose wrongly is to leave the hearer or reader with a fuzzy or mistaken impression. To choose well is to give both illumination and delight. The study of synonyms will help the reader come closer to saying what he really wants to say.