polyonymy means the use of many names for the same thing or person. It carries an Arena rating of 1420, earned across 42 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, polyonymy ranks #2,045 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #4,747 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #6,445 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #8,708 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
Why “polyonymy” is a great word
POLYONYMY — [Noun] The condition of a single referent bearing a multiplicity of distinct names. From Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, "many, much") and ὄνομα (ónoma, "name"). Unlike synonymy, which describes words sharing a general meaning, or tautonymy, which denotes the repetition of an identical name, polyonymy is the deliberate accrual of varied labels for one core entity. It is the litany of epithets for a deity—The Thunderer, Cloud-Gatherer, Father of Gods and Men; the dossier of aliases for a spy; the dozen folk names for a single woodland mushroom. We do not merely describe the world; we bury it under a gentle avalanche of our own making.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, “many, much”) and ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).
noun
- The use of many names for the same thing or person.e.g.“Near-synonyms: hypersynonymy, overlexicalization”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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