Each of the writers - whether it be a primary school student or a venerable writer - had to deal with this phenomenon. It is just as interesting - from a linguistic and psychological point of view - how difficult it is to describe. After all, if synonyms in general are words that are similar in meaning, belonging to the same part of speech, differing either in stylistic coloring or shades of meaning, then contextual synonyms cannot be described.
In a specific text, everything depends not so much on the capabilities of the language as on the intentions of the author. It is the author who is engaged in verbal balancing, practicing originality and originality. It is the author who turns
contextual synonyms into words that are similar in meaning. Let us give an example: “unspeakable, blue, tender” - this is from the lyrics of the great Sergey Yesenin. It would seem that there is something in common between the designation of color, a sensual attitude, and “unexpressed words”?
However, these adjectives in this poem provide an example of what contextual synonyms are. They come together in meaning only and exclusively by the will of the author. His individual interpretation of the word, his metaphors and associations do not obey the logic of the language. Or another example: “thin lemon moonlight” - “lemon” and “moonlight” in this case also are contextual synonyms.
Why are such expressive means used ? Contextual synonyms are needed primarily in order to avoid tautology. For example, the “statue of Peter I”, “The Bronze Horseman” and “He” will be synonyms that can be used to replace each other. Common language synonyms are words of one part of speech, which differ in both spelling and sound, but have the same or very close lexical meaning.
Stylistic synonyms can differ from each other in stylistic coloring: “eyes” - “eyes” - “countersinks” - “blinkers” are all about the same organ of vision, only with different stylistic means. But, let’s say, if in the text we meet “her blue eyes, these two aquamarines” - then we have contextual synonyms. Since in the language of “eyes” and “aquamarines” are absolutely not close in meaning. When a hero is said about “our hero” - “Maxim” - “he” - “reckless daredevil” - these will also be contextual synonyms. Thus, the author can avoid unnecessary and unjustified repetitions and enrich his speech.
It is worth noting other types of synonyms. We have already mentioned stylistic ones. Along with them there are also semantic synonyms, that is, words that are close in meaning, but which, however, have a unique connotation of meaning. For example, can the words “crimson” and “scarlet” be considered synonyms? Yes, only semantic: crimson is a thick dark red color, and scarlet is bright red, rather light. But the word “poppy” or “wine” is a contextual synonym, which will not necessarily have the meaning “red”, but will get it only in a specific sentence. For example: “this ruby, wine dawn” or “scarlet, poppy shawl”.
Along with semantic and stylistic in the language there are absolute synonyms: spelling is the same as spelling, linguistics is the same as linguistics. Mastering the synonymous wealth of the Russian language is necessary for all writers, and a good help in this would be a dictionary of synonyms.