Braving Synonymy: From Data to Dictionary

This paper approaches synonymy in lexicography from a corpus perspective, using the English adjectives brave and courageous, valiant, intrepid and plucky as a basis for discussion. I begin by looking briefly at points made in the semantics literature about synonymy, and then at what Wierzbicka and Cruse have to say about brave, etc. Next I review corpus evidence (from the Bank of English) for the five words before examining their treatment in three learners' dictionaries of English. In the concluding remarks I comment on gendering in these words.