Lexic.us

Definition of Homonym

1. Noun. Two words are homonyms if they are pronounced or spelled the same way but have different meanings.

Definition of Homonym

1. n. A word having the same sound as another, but differing from it in meaning; as the noun bear and the verb bear.

Definition of Homonym

1. Noun. (semantics) (context: strict sense) A word that both sounds and is spelled the same as another word but has a different meaning. ¹

2. Noun. (context: loosely) A word that sounds or is spelled the same as another word but has a different meaning, technically called a (term homophone) (same sound) or a (term homograph) (same spelling). ¹

3. Noun. (taxonomy) A name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another name that belongs to a different taxon. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Homonym

1. a namesake [n -S] - See also: namesake

Medical Definition of Homonym

1. Each of two or more identical but independently proposed names for the same or different taxa. (09 Jan 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Homonym

Literary usage of Homonym

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Cactaceae: Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family by Nathaniel Lord Britton, Joseph Nelson Rose (1920)
"The name assigned to this plant being a homonym, we have renamed it for its discoverer, Franz Julius Ferdinand Meyen (1804-1840), a celebrated traveler and ..."

2. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1902)
"It has been held by some systematists that a homonym or second use of the same ... Once a homonym always a homonym ' or ' once a homonym always a synonym' ..."

3. A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy by Isaac Husik (1916)
"A homonym is a word which has more than one meaning; a word which denotes several things having nothing in common. Thus when I apply the word dog to the ..."

4. The Guide of the Perplexed of Maimonides by Moses Maimonides, Michael Friedländer (1885)
"... an admission which our philosopher would by no means make. 3 Lit., " and the ignorant take them according to some of the significations of that homonym. ..."

5. Check List of the Forest Trees of the United States: Their Names and Ranges by George Bishop Sudworth (1898)
"Those opposing the use of the latter name base their objection on the argument that it is founded on a synonym (Abies taxifolia) derived from the homonym ..."

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