[ 'hɛtərə(ʊ)nɪm ]
■ noun Linguistics
1》 each of two or more words which are spelled identically but have different sounds and meanings (e.g. tear 1 and tear 2 ).
2》 each of two or more words which are used to refer to the identical thing in different geographical areas of a speech community, e.g. nappy and diaper .
Derivatives
~ic adjective
~ous adjective