What Are False Synonyms?
Just because two words are synonyms doesn't necessarily mean they're interchangeable. In fact, some substitutions can subtly — or seriously — impact your writing. Consider if Louis Armstrong's song "What a Wonderful World" were titled "What a Fantastic World." While "fantastic" has a similar definition to "wonderful," it conveys a
different meaning. In addition to the meaning "excellent; superlative," it has a connection to the fantasy world. It means "based on fantasy" or "marked by extravagant fantasy or extreme individuality.". "Wonderful" is more based in reality, with the definition "unusually good; admirable." Despite being listed as such in the thesaurus,...
