Sense relations
words would not exist without their
meanings
 The specific field of linguistics that studies
meanings is semantics.
 synonymy, hyponymy and antonymy

SYNOMYMY

Synonymy is the relationship between two words that have the
same sense. This is a strict definition of synonymy – the
identity of sense. Some linguists, however, consider synonymy
a similarity of meaning.

EXERCISE: Do the following pairs have the same sense:
The thief tried to CONCEAL / HIDE the evidence.
I am going to PURCHASE / BUY a new coat.
These tomatoes and LARGE / RIPE.
This is a very LOOSE / SHORT definition.
You have my PROFOUND / DEEP sympathy.
It is a very WIDE / BROAD street.
EXERCISE: Are these sets of words
synonymous:
He comes to see us every AUTUMN / FALL.
Nothing is more precious to us than our
FREEDOM / LIBERTY.
The body was found in the BOOT / TRUNK of the
car.
We’ve just bought a new HOUSE / APARTMENT.
How do they differ? Which ones have dialectal,
stylistic or social associations /differences?

At least one meaning identical
Deep/profound
You have my deep / profound sympathy.
The lake is deep / profound.
 Wide/broad
She speaks with a very wide / broad Scottish accent.
The river is very broad / wide at this point


Most often, synonyms share at least one meaning, while
with the change of context, they both change their
meaning, and lose their referential identity with the other
member of the pair.
Polysemy and conversion
My head hurts.
He is the head of the family.
Let’s head out.
Keep you head on your shoulders.
Lets hide from mommy!
The thief hid the money upon leaving the
crime scene
Paraphrase
A similar relationship can be found at the
sentence level, where a synonymous
sentence is actually a paraphrase:
 John is the parent of James.
 James is the child of John
A paraphrase is to a sentence what a
synonym is to a lexeme
HYPONYMY



Hyponymy is a
sense relation
between lexemes
such that the
meaning of one
lexeme is included
in the meaning of
the other.
hyperonym
hyponym
plants
flowers
rose
trees
carnation
weeds
Pig
 Virtue
 Tree
 Emotion
 Family
 Institutions
 Furniture
 Color

ANTONYMY
Antonymy is a sense relation in which oppositeness of
meaning is observed.
 Exercise: What are the opposites of:
hot
thick
buy
lend
male
dead
lunch
liquid
Antonymy can be:




BINARY ANTONYMY
CONVERSENESS
GRADABLE ANTONYMS
CONTRADICTION
BINARY ANTONYMY
Binary antonyms come in pairs and
between them exhaust all the relevant
possibilities. If one is applicable, the
other cannot be, and vice versa.
 true – false
 dead – alive
 married – unmarried
 same – different
Four-way contrast
Male
Female
Adult
Man
Woman
Non-adult
Boy
girl
Some other terms
complementarity
 complementary antonyms


Multiple incompatibility
CONVERSENESS
If a lexeme describes a relationship between two things (or
people) and some other lexeme describes the same
relationship when the two things are mentioned in the opposite
order, then the two lexemes are CONVERSES of each other
Exercise: Are the following pairs of expressions converses?
1. below – above
2. grandparent – grandchild
3. love – hate
4. conceal – reveal
5. greater than – less than
6. own – belong to
GRADABLE ANTONYMS
Two lexemes are GRADABLE antonyms if they
are at opposite ends of a continuous scale of
values (a scale which typically varies
according to the context of use).
EXERCISE: Are the following gradable antonyms:
tall –short
long – short
clever – stupid
top – bottom
love – hate
EXERCISE
Classify the following pairs as binary antonyms,
multiple incompatibles, converses or gradable
antonyms:
 cat – dog
 easy – difficult
 good – bad
 better than – worse than
 deciduous – evergreen
 pass – fail
 urban – rural