The phrase "as synonym" isn't a complete or typical expression on its own. Usually, we'd say something like "X as a synonym of Y" or "X used as a synonym for Y", where X is the word being considered as the alternative for Y.
Let's break it down a bit further:
"As"
- "As" is a very versatile word in English. Here, it's being used to show a relationship of identity or function. It's indicating that the thing that follows (the word we're thinking of as a synonym) is going to be in the role or have the identity of a synonym. For example, in the sentence "We can use 'happy' as a synonym of 'glad'", "as" is connecting "happy" to the idea of being a substitute or equivalent word for "glad". It's like saying that "happy" is going to function in the way a synonym does for "glad".
"Synonym"
- A synonym is a word that has a similar meaning to another word. So when we talk about using one word as a synonym of another, we're essentially saying that the first word can be used in place of the second word without changing the overall meaning too much. For example, "big" and "large" are synonyms. If we say "This is a big house" or "This is a large house", the basic message is the same. When we say something like "We can consider 'huge' as a synonym of 'big'", we're suggesting that in many contexts, "huge" can be used instead of "big" to convey a similar sense of size.
However, as I mentioned earlier, the more common and proper way to talk about synonyms is with expressions like "the synonym of", "a synonym for", or "is synonymous with". For example:
- "The synonym of 'begin' is 'start'."
- "We need to find a synonym for 'difficult'."
- " 'Happy' is synonymous with 'glad'."
These expressions make it clearer that we're specifically identifying a word as being a synonym in a more straightforward and grammatically correct way. But understanding how "as" relates to the concept of a synonym helps us when we might want to show that a word is being used or considered in the role of a synonym in a particular sentence or context.