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For instance, in Spanish the term aerogenerador is used together
with the calque aeroturbina, from the English expression “wind
turbine”, though the last one is used much less frequently.
Synonyms for a single concept, however, do not always
correspond to absolute equivalents, but rather manifest a range of
possible cases. Sometimes there is synonymy between two
semantically equivalent units in which one form is derived from
the other. This sort of relationship occurs between:
a. Initialisms and their full form
laser = light amplification by stimulated emission of
radiation
b. Abbreviations or clippings and their full form
metro = metropolitan railway
In other cases, two designations are synonymous only in a
very narrow linguistic sense and are not synonymous in a
pragmatic sense. There are many cases of two synonymous units
that belong to two different registers of the same language, but this
does not usually appear in a single specialized dictionary. This
dissymmetry occurs in cases like the following:
a. Between a scientific name and its popular name
Antirrhinum majus = snapdragon ротики
b. Between a standard form and dialectal forms
sweet pepper = bell
In those cases in which two synonymous units might affect
the unambiguous sense of terms, terminology tends to reduce
concurring forms designating the same concept to just one
designation. This tendency is justified in order to achieve
unambiguous communication among subject field experts. Here
again the goals of terminology and lexicography diverge.
Terminologists search for semantic clarity, the elimination of
factors that disturb communication, and the updating of reference
in specialized discourse; this leads them to avoid multiple forms,
and as a result, to a reduction in the expressive richness of a
language.

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