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The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

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to the supermarket, land abutting the supermarket, land bordering<br />

the supermarket, and land next to the supermarket.<br />

As this is intended as a synonym book and not a work on English<br />

collocations, the treatment <strong>of</strong> idiomaticity cannot be taken<br />

further.<br />

c. <strong>The</strong>re are other reasons why direct substitutability is not always<br />

possible within a single semantic concept. <strong>The</strong> following extract<br />

demonstrates this:<br />

possess v.... 3 dominate, control, govern, consume, take<br />

control <strong>of</strong>, preoccupy, obsess; charm, captivate, enchant,<br />

cast a spell on or over, bewitch, enthral: What possessed<br />

her to think that I could help? He behaves as if he is<br />

possessed by the devil.<br />

Here, two aspects <strong>of</strong> the same sense have been divided by a<br />

semicolon, with the synonyms preceding the semicolon illustrated<br />

by the first contextual example and those following it by the<br />

second. While it may be argued that in this instance the synonyms<br />

following the semicolon, with their illustrative sentence, might<br />

better have been listed in a separately numbered set, the close<br />

semantic association <strong>of</strong> the two groups would thereby have been<br />

lost.<br />

d. Sometimes, where the sub-sense is familiar enough not to require<br />

its own example yet needs to be set <strong>of</strong>f from the other synonyms<br />

because <strong>of</strong> a subtle or aspectual semantic distinction, a semicolon<br />

is inserted among the synonyms and only one example is provided:<br />

practice n.... 2 exercise, discipline, drill, practising,<br />

repetition, rehearsal, training, preparation, workout,<br />

warm-up; application, study: She needs more practice on<br />

the beginner`s slope before going down the main piste.<br />

the idiomatic usage <strong>of</strong> this sense <strong>of</strong> 'study' and 'application' is<br />

sufficiently familiar not to require separate example.<br />

On the other hand, a second example is needed for the next sense<br />

<strong>of</strong> practice:<br />

...3 pursuit, exercise, work, pr<strong>of</strong>ession, career,

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