100
WEBSTER
IAN
SYNONYM
CHAINS
A.
IWSS ECKLER
Morristown,
New
Jersey
In
Beyond
Language
(Scribner's,
1967),
Dmitri
Borgmann
presents
two
synonym
chains
in
"Beauty
in
Ugliness"
on
pages
38-9
and
191:
black~dark-obscure-hidden-concealed-snug-comfortable-easy
simp
le-pu
re-wh
i
te
ugl
y-offen
s i
ve-ins
u1
tin
g-insolen
t-p
roud-lordly-st
a
tely-grand-
gorgeous-bea
ut
iful
1n
each
chain,
each
word
1S
alleged
to
be
a
synonym
of
the
one
immediately
preceding
or
folloWing
it,
yet
the
ends
of
the
chain
are
opposites.
He
doesn't
specify
his
sources
for
synonymy,
other
than
"dictionary
investigation".
The
first
chain
can
be
constructed
using
a
combination
of
the
Merriam-Webster
Second
and
Third
edi-
tions,
although
neither
one
alone
suffices:
Webster's
Third
does
not
allow
bl
ack-da
rk,
snug-concealed,
or
pure-White
as
synonyms,
and
Webster's
Second
does
not
allow
pure-simple,
simple-easy,
or
easy-comfortable
(although
it
does
equate
the
nouns
ease
and
com-
fort).
Some
of
the
links
are
less
than
perfect:
for
instance,
Web-
ster's
Second
lists
dark
as
a
synonym
of
black,
but
does
not
list
black
as
a
synonym
of
dark.
The
topiC
of
synonym
chains
is
also
mentioned
in
A.
K.
Dewdney'
s
August
1987
"Computer
Recreations"
column
in
Scientific
American
magazine.
He
report
s
work
by
Ron
Hardin,
a
research
scientist
at
the
Murray
Hill,
New
Jersey
branch
of
Bell
Telephone
Labora-
tories,
who
used
a
digital
computer
to
construct
several
thousand
synonym
chains
based
on
The
New
Collins
Thesaurus.
Apparently
the
Collins
definition
of
a
synonym
is
looser
than
the
Websterian
one,
for
Hardin
I s
chains
are
typically
only
a
few
steps
long
(four
to
seven
for
the
ten
examples
given
in
the
article,
but
the
"great
majority"
are
no
longer
than
three).
1t
is
time
to
introduce
a
greater
degree
of
exactness
and
rigor
to
such
investigations.
Specifically,
it
is
desirable
to
restrict
a
synonym
chain
to
a
single
dictionary;
further,
one
should
take
into
account
that
synonym
chains
are
not
necessarily
reversible,
and
construct
a
chain
not
only
leading
from
Word
A
to
Word
B,
but
a
second
one
leading
from
Word
B
to
Word
A
to
complete
the
demonstration
of
synonymy.
We
illustrate
what
can
be
done
by
us-
ing
the
Merriam-Webster
Collegiate
Dictionary,
Ninth
edition,
re-
stricting
ourselves
to
boldface
adjectives
flush
left
in
the
column.
Such
adjectives
have
two
types
of
synonyms
listed:
1)
Synonyms
introduced
at
the
end
of
the
entry,
indented
a
sin-
gle
spa
followed
are
in
t
by
a
sil
two-way-
A,
then
2)
Synonym
tals
fol"
numbere,
two-way
Word
B
is
proba
In
the
folIo
a
nd
two-way
true-just=fa
false-unwisE
real-ge
bad-poor-me
cunnin~
good=clever~
sharp-t
incorre,
light-bright
da
rk=obscur
Several
ques
ble
to
constr
Second,
do
t
quest
ions
mi.
tal
computer
in
H'.3.chine-r,
More
genel
onyms,
with
a
small
pac
apart,
in
tl
word
with
tr
mum-length
(
{These
wordE
sential
for
a
The
examp
similar
ques
with
their
di
