Synonyms are two or more words belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeable in some contexts.

The existence of the so-called absolute synonyms (e.g. looking-glass/mirror, fatherland/homeland, etc.) is a very rare phenomenon because in the course of language development numerous old names for the same object underwent the process of differentiation and the words came to have either a different shades of meaning or usage.

The words face, visage, countenance have a common denotational meaning "the front of the head" which makes them close synonyms. Face is the dominant, the most general word; countenance is the same part of the head with the reference to the expression it bears; visage is a formal word, chiefly literary, for face or countenance.

1.Ideographic synonyms denote different shades of denotational meaning or different degrees of a given quality. beautiful - fine - handsome –pretty 2.Stylistic synonyms differ in the connotational component of meaning face – visage, girl – maiden 3.Total synonyms can replace each other in any given context, without the slightest alteration in denotative or emotional meaning. fatherland – motherland, noun - substantive

4. Relative synonyms denote different degree of the same notion or different shades of meanings and can be substituted only in some contexts like - love – adore 5. Contextual or context-dependent synonyms are similar in meaning only under some specific conditions buy – get

6.Dialectal synonyms denote the same meaning in the different variants of the language (dialects), e.g. lift-elevator, lorry-track. 7.Phraseological synonyms are identical in their meanings and styles but different in their combinability with other words in the sentence, e.g. to visit museums – to attend classes.

 Borrowings from French, Latin and Greek  Dialectical words which come from local dialects and are used in the English vocabulary as regular  Word-forming process which is productive in the language at a given time of its history.  Euphemisms and vulgarisms employed for certain stylistic purposes  Synonyms connected with the non-literal figurative use of words in pictorial language