homonymous

adjective

hom·​on·​y·​mous hō-ˈmä-nə-məs 

1

: ambiguous

2

: having the same designation

3

: of, relating to, or being homonyms

homonymously adverb

Did you know?

The "ambiguous" sense of homonymous refers mainly to words that have two or more meanings. Logicians and scientists who wanted to refer to (or complain about) such equivocal words chose a name for them based on Latin and Greek, from Greek hom- ("same") and onyma ("name"). In time, English speakers came up with another sense of homonymous referring to two things having the same name (Hawaii, the state, and Hawaii, the island, for example). Next came the use of homonymous to refer to homonyms, such as see and sea. There's also a zoological sense. Sheep and goats whose right horn spirals to the right and left horn spirals to the left are said to be homonymous.

Examples of homonymous in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adapting the material from Winnie Holzman’s book and Schwartz’s songs for the musical, which in turn was based on Gregory Maguire’s homonymous novel, screenwriters Holzman and Dana Fox (Cruella) stick close to the show’s template while fleshing out the story and characters in rewarding ways. —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Nov. 2024

The surprising appearance of the homonymous Dagestan component in India suggests a widespread presence of a common ancestry element. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 20 Dec. 2010

Breakfast and dinner are served in Biagio Pignatta, once the house of Ferdinando’s homonymous butler and just a few steps from the hotel. —Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes, 28 May 2022

The European Commission also defended the application saying that similar-sounding or homonymous names were not an adequate reason for rejecting a request. —Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes, 16 Sep. 2021

Etna is one of three active volcanoes in Italy, along with Stromboli on the homonymous island and Vesuvius near the southern city of Naples. —Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes, 25 May 2021

Bardonecchia, near Turin, is a mountainous town, for example, while Pantelleria lies on the homonymous island off the coast of Sicily. —Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2021

The country's most populous state, Sao Paulo, reported a record number of COVID-19 deaths for the second day running on Wednesday, even as its homonymous metropolis allowed shops to resume business and prepared to reopen its malls. —Matthew Bodner, NBC News, 11 June 2020

This means the news of Iggy collaborating with homonymous problematic cohort Azealia Banks puts a limp punctuation mark on this stage of Iggy’s second record. —Dale Eisinger, Billboard, 9 July 2017

Word History

Etymology

Latin homonymus having the same name, from Greek homōnymos, from hom- + onyma, onoma name — more at name

First Known Use

1621, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Medical Definition

homonymous

adjective

hom·​on·​y·​mous hō-ˈmän-ə-məs 

1

: affecting the same part of the visual field of each eye

right homonymous hemianopia

2

: relating to or being diplopia in which the image that is seen by the right eye is to the right of the image that is seen by the left eye