Synonym (SYN)

The CASTEMO data model recommends a strong understanding of synonymy. For two lexemes to be related with the Synonym Relation, they need to have the same Superclass (if there are more superclasses, they need to share all of them). Also, if they are related to a meaning bank, the meaning ID in the relevant meaning bank needs to be the same.

This strong understanding allows to consider synonymy as transitive: if A is synonym of B and B is synonym of C, then A is synonym of C. (In semantic network terms, this would be described as triadic closure.)

The Synonym Relation is also used for cross-language equivalence, e.g. C dog (English) - SYN - C Hund (German).

The Synonym relation helps to extend database queries and also include the Synonyms of Concepts and Actions queried. Through Concepts used in Classification, synonymy can also help build sets of entities for analysis (e.g. including all Living Beings classified either as "dog (English)" or as "hound (English)" or as "Hund (German)").