2024 年第一学期

英语词汇学磨课
 Objectives

By the end • Define and identify synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms,

and meronyms, demonstrating an understanding of
of this their meanings and uses.
• Differentiate between the various types of synonyms
lesson, (e.g., strict and loose synonyms) and antonyms (e.g.,
gradable, complementary, and converse antonyms).
students will • Enhance vocabulary skills by using synonyms and
antonyms to express ideas more clearly and creatively

be able to: in both written and spoken English.

5.1 Introduction
The meaning of a word can be understood and learnt in terms of its
relationship with other words in the language. In this chapter, we are going
to explore various types of semantic relations that may hold between words,
both within the vocabulary as a whole and in use in sentences.
5.2 Characteristics of Sense Relations
Sense relations are relations between word meanings and hold between
words within the vocabulary.
The meaning of one item can be related to the meaning of others. There
are various relationships. Some of the main relationships are synonymy,
antonymy, hyponymy and meronymy.
What are the types of sense
relations?
？？
Sense Relations

Types of sense relations

• Synonymy( 同义关系 )---semantic similarity
• Antonymy( 反义关系 )---semantic opposition
• Hyponymy( 上下义关系 )/meronymy （整体部分关系）
---semantic inclusion
5.3 Synonymy
Types of synonyms
◦ Strict synonyms: words which are identical in meaning in all its aspects, i.e.
both in grammatical and lexical meaning, including conceptual and associative
meaning. Such synonyms are rare in natural languages.
◦ Malnutrition and undernourishment
◦ Gorse and furze ( 荆棘 )
Synonymy
Types of synonyms
◦ Loose synonyms: words which are similar or nearly the same in denotation,
but embrace different shades of meaning or different degree of a given quality.
It is this type of synonyms we shall deal with here.
◦ Advantage-benefit ()-profit (monetary)
◦ Allow (authority)-permit (formal)- let
◦ reply-respond (thoughtful)
◦ Beautiful-pretty( 精致 )-handsome
 Native French Latin

Synonymy time age epoch

Sources of synonyms
◦ Borrowing
belly stomach abdomen

fire flame conflagration

ask question interrogate

Synonymy
Sources of synonyms
◦ Dialects and regional
English
 Formal Word Informal Word
Request Ask
Synonymy Assist Help
Sources of synonyms
◦ Formal and informal
Purchase Buy
Utilize Use
Commence Start
Terminate End
Inform Tell
 Difference in denotation
• ------look: stare, gaze, eye, peep,
glance
Discrimination • ------laugh: smile, chortle, chuckle,
giggle
of synonyms • ------extend, increase, expand
• -------make one’s way: thread one’s
way, dig one’s way, break one’s way,
push one’s way, shoulder one’s way,
elbow one’s way, worm one’s way
Synonymy

• Differ in emotional coloring

Difference • Differ in stylistic coloring
in • Child---neutral in emotion and style
• Kid---colloquial style without any emotion
associative • Brat---also colloquial but with pejorative
meaning meaning
Start (commence) Implement (carry out)
Wrap up (conclude) Articulate (express)
Help (assist) Ascertain (determine)
Get (acquire) Mitigate (reduce)
Need (require) enhance (improve)
Use (utilize)
Change (amend)
Synonymy
Difference in collocation
• -----accuse….of, charge…with, rebuke…for, reproach…with/for
• -----a lump of sugar, a sheet of paper, a slice of meat/bread, a cake of
soap, a chunk of wood
• -----a flock of sheep/goats/birds, a herd of
cows/elephants/zebras/antelopes, a school of fish/whales/dolphins, a
swarm of ants/bees/wasps/locusts
• ---Don’t disturb the sleeping old man
• ---Don’t disturb the old man asleep.
Synonymy
abolish, cancel, extinguish, eliminate
• The company implemented new strategies to
______ inefficiencies in their production eliminated
process..
Discrimination • Firefighters a big fire. extinguished
of synonyms • The meeting has been
the flu.
cancelled because of

• The government the tax on alcohol.

abolished
Synonymy accuse, charge, rebuke

• The boss rebuked him strongly for

his negligence
Discrimination • The police accused him of
of synonyms theft.
• The police charged him with
murder.
Synonymy Acute (severe), critical (necessary), crucial, urgent

• An acute lack of food brought hunger to the

Iraqi people.
• It is critical that you study hard for the exam or
Discrimination you will fail it.
• Improved consumer confidence is crucialto an
of synonyms economic recovery.
• We have an
urgent need for help; we are
running out of water.
5.4 Antonymy
• Antonymy is concerned with
The semantic opposition. Antonyms can
definition be defined as words which are
opposite in meaning. They are a
of variety of “oppositeness”. They can
antonymy be classified into four major groups.
Antonymy

• Gradable antonyms
Types of • Complementary antonyms
antonym • Converse antonyms/relational
s antonyms
 1. Gradable antonyms 可分级反义词
Antonyms of this type are best viewed in terms
of a scale running between two poles or
extremes. The two opposites are gradable ( 可分
Antonymy 级 ).

◦ hot, warm, cool, cold

◦ beautiful, pretty, good-looking, plain, ugly
◦ old-young, open-close, big-small, poor-rich
 2. Complementary antonyms 二元反义词
These antonyms truly represent oppositeness.
They are so opposed to each other that they are
Antonymy mutually exclusive and admit no possibility
between them (non-gradable 不可分级 ).
词义完全相互排斥，互相否定，无中间状态。
e.g.
dead-alive, present-absent, male-female, true-false,
approval-disapproval, capable-incapable,legal-
illegal,regular-irregular,possible-impossible,able-unable
Prefixes: dis-, in-, il-, ir-, im-, un-……
 3. Converse antonyms( 换位反义词 / 关系反义词 )

◦ Converse antonyms are two-way contrasts that

are interdependent.
Antonymy
◦ Husband-wife, fiancé-fiancée, employer-
employee, debtor-creditor
◦ Above-below, in front of-behind, up-down
◦ Buy-sell, give-receive, go-come, gain-lose
Antonymy
A word can have more than one
antonyms
◦ Fresh bread------stale bread （过期的面包）
◦ Fresh air-----stuffy air （沉闷的空气）
◦ Fresh flowers-----faded flowers
◦ Fresh look----tired look
Antonymy
Stylistic purpose of the use of antonyms
◦To achieve emphasis by putting contrasting ideas
together, to express economically the opposite of a
particular thought.
◦This technique can also invite deeper reflection,
prompting the reader or listener to delve into the
complexities of the ideas being presented.
Antonymy
Stylistic purpose of the use of antonyms （反义词放在一起用：相得益彰、对比强烈、
形象鲜明之效果） 写作文可以参考 *
◦ United we stand, divided we fall.
◦ Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
◦ More haste, less speed.
Could you write a sentence with
antonyms inside?
1. The bright sun cast a dark shadow over the white snow.
2. The sweet bitterness of the chocolate left a lasting impression.
Antonymy
Stylistic purpose of the use of antonyms （反义词连用，强烈的修辞效果）
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it
was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the era of
incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the
Spring of Hope, it was the Winter of Despair; we had everything before us, we
had nothing before us; we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going
direct the other way.
(Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)
◦ Oxymoron – a figure of speech of using antonyms
◦ Visible darkness, a victorious defeat, a clever fool, an open secret,
painful pleasure, cruel kindness
◦ OLD NEWS, DEAFENING SILENCE, ORGANIZED CHAOS
5.5 Hyponymy
• Hyponymy deals with the relationship of semantic
The inclusion. It refers to the relationship which obtains
between the general lexical item and the specific
definition lexical items.
• The general lexical item is called the superordinate
of term ( 上义词 )/hypernym.
hyponymy • The specific word is known as the hyponym( 下 义
词 ).
Hyponymy
literature

prose fiction drama poetry

novel novelette short story

 Hyponymy
sports

swimming ball games athletics gymnastics

weight-lifting wrestling running race boxing

running hurdle race

long-distance race sprinting relay

5.6 Meronymy
Meronymy is the
part-whole relation
in any pair of items.
Please draw a hyponymy or
meronymy tree diagram
Collocation
◦Collocation refers to words that are commonly used together
in a specific way, like “strong coffee” or “make a mistake”.
◦Free combination, however, involves words that can be paired
together more flexibly without strict usage patterns, such as
“blue car” or “happy dog”. In free combinations, the words
don't have a predictable or fixed relationship.
Grammatical or Lexical Collocations
interested in  make a decision
good at  strong coffee
capable of  break the news
adhere to  run a business
rely on
5.8 Metaphorical Extension
A metaphor is an extension of the use of a word beyond its primary meaning to
describe referents that bear similarities to the word’s primary referents. It refers
to cases where a word appears to have both a literal and a transferred meaning.

The root of the problem = the origin of the problem

She built a bridge between two communities. Bridge = the connection
 Summary (What do we learn today?)
Synonyms are words with similar meanings, categorized into strict
(interchangeable in all contexts) and loose (not always
interchangeable).
Antonyms are words with opposite meanings, divided into gradable (on
a continuum), complementary (one excludes the other), and converse
(different perspectives on a relationship).
Hyponyms are specific terms within a broader category, and
meronyms, which denote parts of a whole.
Collocations can be divided into fixed (always together) and free (can
vary) collocations, as well as grammar (structure-based) and lexical
(meaning-based) collocations.
Metaphor extension means that a word’s use expands beyond its literal
meaning to describe similar concepts, highlighting its dual meanings.
Synonym/ game
Set a timer for 60 seconds or a minute for them to shout out synonyms or antonyms for that
word.