Synonyms Quotes

“A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.”
― Baltasar Gracián

“The dictionary is based on the hypothesis -- obviously an unproven one -- that languages are made up of equivalent synonyms.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

“Intoxicated? The word did not express it by a mile. He was oiled, boiled, fried, plastered, whiffled, sozzled, and blotto.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, Meet Mr. Mulliner

“For a dreamer, pain and pleasure are synonyms.”
― Manoj Arora, From the Rat Race to Financial Freedom

“It is sensible of me to be aware that I will die one of these days. I will not pass away. Every day millions of people pass away—in obituaries, death notices, cards of consolation, e-mails to the corpse’s friends—but people don’t die. Sometimes they rest in peace, quit this world, go the way of all flesh, depart, give up the ghost, breathe a last breath, join their dear ones in heaven, meet their Maker, ascend to a better place, succumb surrounded by family, return to the Lord, go home, cross over, or leave this world. Whatever the fatuous phrase, death usually happens peacefully (asleep) or after a courageous struggle (cancer). Sometimes women lose their husbands. (Where the hell did I put him?) Some expressions are less common in print: push up the daisies, kick the bucket, croak, buy the farm, cash out. All euphemisms conceal how we gasp and choke turning blue.”
― Donald Hall, Essays After Eighty

“I tried to find a word for it in my thesaurus, but there isn't one. At least, not one that doesn't belittle the plight of POWs and victims of famine. I guess we can just call it beyond suck. -Lulu Dark”
― Bennett Madison, Lulu Dark and the Summer of the Fox

“A teacher of mine once said there are no true synonyms.”
― Roy Peter Clark, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English

“Ewww gross! I can't believe you thought I'd copulate with him."

I cringe. "Please don't ever use that word again."

"Copulate? What's wrong with it?" I make a face at her.

"Nothing, just... never say it again in my presence."

"What about fornicate?"

Ugh , this is why I don't want kids. Was I this annoying as a teenager? "No."

"Coitus?"

"No."

"Intercourse?"

I glower at her. "It's fucking. Making love if you're into that wishy-washy bullshit, and sex if it's meaningless. No other terms."

"Not even boinking?”
― Marie Mistry, Traitor Witch

“Nothing holds back human progress as frequently as the misbelief that the words ‘impossible’ and ‘improbable’ are synonyms.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Unfortunately, 'accustomed to' here is really synonymous with 'damaged by'.”
― Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves

“Since language was increasingly believed to be the semiotic system which could be analyzed with the most profit […] and the system which could serve as a model for all other systems […] the model of the linguistic sign gradually came to be seen as the semiotic model par excellence. // By the time this conclusion was reached ( the definitive sanction took place with Saussure), the linguistic model was crystallized into its 'flattest' form, the one encouraged by the dictionaries and, unfortunately, by a lot of formal logic which had to fill its empty symbols only for the sake of exemplification as well. As a consequence, the notion of meaning as synonymy and as essential definition began to develop.”
― Umberto Eco, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language

“You married a man the opposite of your father but I need to say all men are synonyms none the word you're looking for”
― K-Ming Chang, Bestiary

“An ivory ripple of faces had turned toward me, their eyes plucking like fingers at every seam and pearl.”
― Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

“You’re telling me a purple pecker is always a purple pecker? It doesn’t have other names?” Dane asks.

“Purple thunder,” Valen suggests.

“Purple pricks.” I bite my bottom lip to fight off a laugh.

“Purple dicks,” Dane says.

“Purple nurple.”

Rippley frowns. “Wait, that’s not right.”
― Rory Miles, Twilight Terrors

“Synonyms for “strange”: unusual, odd, alien, abnormal, bizarre, fantastical… ooh! That led her to words like fantasy, weird stories, mythos, tales, folklore…
“Lore Club!” she blurted out.
“Lore?” Kate asked.
“Lore, like the history of our town— tall tales, strange occurrences. Like a history club.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“I think language is more than capable
of looking out for itself, don’t you? I mean, when was
the last time you looked at the list of synonyms for
baffled? They’re among the best in the English language:
puzzled, nonplused, discombobulated, flummoxed, stumped,
fogged, bewildered, buffaloed. Maybe we should just
shut up.”
― David Kirby