Places
Synonyms for source
Synonyms for source: beginning, reference, generator and reservoir. Every one of them is a hand audited pair from the Synonym Stack word bank, shown below in the sense it fits, in a real sentence, and beside the words that only look close.
The 4 synonyms for source
Interchangeable with source, one per sense
Audited under source's own entry, so the meaning quoted is the one source carries in that sense.
Recorded from the other side of the pair
These entries were written under the other word and name source as the true synonym, so the sense quoted is theirs.
Two directions, one standard: two audited under source and two under the partner word. Nothing here was expanded out of a thesaurus.
the place where something begins, where it springs into being
Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River.
source in 2 more sentences, same sense
- Investigators finally traced the electrical fire back to its source in the basement wiring.
- The chef discovered that the strange smell in the kitchen had its source in a forgotten pot of soup.
How it behaves: In this sense source typically follows a definite article and precedes an "of" phrase naming what originates, as in "the source of the problem," and pairs naturally with verbs like trace, pinpoint, and identify.
The true synonym
beginning
Same sentence, swapped: Pittsburgh is the beginning of the Ohio River.
Close but different
Wrong tiles, chosen to be tempting rather than absurd. The reason line above takes the nearest one apart; the rest fail the same sentence for their own reasons.
- author
- seed
- focus
Opposites, in this sense
destination and end reverse source as it is used in the sentence above. A different sense of source takes different opposites, which is why these sit inside the sense and not at the top of the page.
- destination
- end
a publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to
He spent hours looking for the source of that quotation.
The true synonym
reference
Same sentence, swapped: He spent hours looking for the reference of that quotation.
Close but different
Wrong tiles, chosen to be tempting rather than absurd. The reason line above takes the nearest one apart; the rest fail the same sentence for their own reasons.
- beginning
- author
- magazine
Where source turns up in the game
source is the word under test in two puzzles, spread across two difficulty tiers. It also sits on the board as one of the three wrong tiles in four other puzzles, where the answer is a different word entirely.
The puzzles where source is the trap
- beginningnoun, Tier 1, Foothills. The answer there is start, in the sense "the act of starting something", and source is one of the three tiles that lose.
- basisnoun, Tier 2, Treeline. The answer there is base, in the sense "the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained", so source is there to be ruled out.
- confluencenoun, Tier 2, Treeline. The answer there is junction, in the sense "the point where two rivers or streams join together", with source sitting one tile away.
- referencenoun, Tier 3, Ridgeline. The answer there is consultation, in the sense "the act of referring or consulting", and source is on the board beside it.
Play source
The bank on this page is the bank the game plays from, so source reaches you as a board rather than a definition: the sentence first, four tiles, and the meaning after you choose.
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Neighbours by theme before neighbours by difficulty, because places is the company source keeps.
Why the near miss missed, in the game as well as here
Synonym Stack plays from this exact bank. source carries 2 written reason lines, and the game shows them the moment a round ends, whichever tile you tapped.