# Exact Synonyms **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847 "2003-08-22T02:58:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/1 "2003-08-22T02:58:42Z")
There aren’t many; when a set appears, one or the other of the words tends to drop out of use or take on new meaning. I submit: unmercifully/mercilessly ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/2 "2003-08-22T03:17:51Z")
What would be the point in a language that contained extraneous words that meant the exact same thing? At that point, wouldn’t one or the other of the words take on a separate connotation that would distinguish it from the other word? Would one cease to exist, or become archaic? There’s quite a host of questions about the evolution of language here. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/3 "2003-08-22T05:03:43Z")
You mean like flamable / inflamable ? ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/4 "2003-08-22T05:06:43Z")
There you go. Except “inflammable” carries the modern, “incorrect” meaning of “not burnable”, which is why it’s not used as a warning anymore when something IS burnable. A shade of nuance between the words. I’m looking for pairs with no shades of nuance; they mean exactly the same thing to nearly everyone. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/5 "2003-08-22T06:15:12Z")
drawing pin / thumb tack completely interchangeable where I live. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/6 "2003-08-22T06:30:27Z")
OTTOMH: frightened/scared moisten/dampen eyeglasses/spectacles footpath/sidewalk ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/7 "2003-08-22T06:50:00Z")
rise / arise ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/8 "2003-08-22T08:07:46Z")
iterate/reiterate alogical/illogical ---
**Author:** ![sanja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@sanja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sanja)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/9 "2003-08-22T08:20:24Z")
the meaning of a word is relative to and dependent on the rest of the vocabulary and grammar of that language, so no word has a fixed, autonomous and unambiguous “meaning.” so for two words to have the same exact meaning is not possible – as no one word has an exact meaning. the pair of words in the OP are not synonyms, they are two inflectional forms of the same word. ---
**Author:** ![sanja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@sanja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sanja)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/10 "2003-08-23T03:52:17Z")
guess i dropped a wrecking ball on this thread … ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/11 "2003-08-23T03:57:45Z")
Don’t worry about it in the least; I’m going for a record for lowest thread/post ratio, or Whose Threads Die Fastest. 🙂 I don’t know the word “alogical”. Is that a real one? ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/12 "2003-08-23T04:20:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by masonite \* > Don’t worry about it in the least; I’m going for a record for lowest thread/post ratio, or Whose Threads Die Fastest. 🙂 I’m trying to do my best to help that ratio along! 😉 When I think of most of these pairs of words, I get a slightly different general impression from each word. Then again, maybe I’m defining words incorrectly. (For example, moisten/dampen: I think of something moistened as being wetter than something dampened.) ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exact-synonyms/196847/13 "2003-08-23T04:25:26Z")
Yes, there’s kind of a continuum, isn’t there - dampen - moisten - wet - saturate - soak - enliquidinate - What?