III. Key Wordnet Terminology

• Synset: A synonym set; a set of words that are interchangeable in some context.

  Typing "wn data -g -synsn" from the command line returns:

  
  Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun data
  
  1 sense of data
  
  Sense 1
  data, information -- (a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn; "statistical data")
         => collection, aggregation, accumulation, assemblage -- (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)
  
  Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun datum
  
  1 sense of datum
  
  Sense 1
  datum, data point -- (an item of factual information derived from measurement or research)
         => information -- (knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction)
  
  

• Gloss: Definition and/or example sentences for a synset. (option -g adds the gloss to result set.)
• Hypernyms: The generic term used to designate a whole class of specific instances. Y is a hypernym of X if X is a (kind of) Y.
  Fruit is a hypernym of apple because apple is a type of fruit.
  -hype(n | v) Recursively display hypernym (superordinate) tree for searchstr (searchstr IS A KIND OF _____ relation).
  *Example: wn fruit -hypen
  -tree(n | v) more recursive.
  *Example: wn apple -treen
  
• Hyponym: The specific term used to designate a member of a class. X is a hyponym of Y if X is a (kind of) Y.
  Apple is a hyponym of fruit.
• Meronym: The name of a constituent part of, the substance of, or a member of something. X is a meronym of Y if X is a part of Y.
  Finger is a meronym of hand.

Quick glance of more terms:

adjective cluster
    A group of adjective synsets that are organized around antonymous pairs or triplets. An adjective cluster contains two or more head synsets which represent antonymous concepts. Each head synset has one or more satellite synsets.
attribute
    A noun for which adjectives express values. Ex: The noun weight is an attribute, for which the adjectives light and heavy express values.
base form
    The base form of a word or collocation is the form to which inflections are added.
basic synset
    Syntactically, same as synset. Term is used to help explain differences in entering synsets in lexicographer files.
collocation
    A collocation in WordNet is a string of two or more words, connected by spaces or hyphens. Examples are: man-eating shark, blue-collar, depend on, line of products. In the database files spaces are represented as underscore (_) characters.
coordinate
    Coordinate terms are words that have the same hypernym.
cross-cluster pointer
    A semantic pointer from one adjective cluster to another.
cousin
    Senses whose hyponyms bear a specific relation to each other.
direct antonyms
    A pair of words between which there is an associative bond built up by co-occurrences. In adjective clusters, direct antonyms appears only in head synsets.
entailment
    A verb X entails Y if X cannot be done unless Y is, or has been, done.
exception list
    Morphological transformations for words that are not regular and therefore cannot be processed in an algorithmic manner.
group
    Senses deemed similar by the cousin, sister or twin relations.
gloss
    Definition and/or example sentences for a synset.
head synset
    Synset in an adjective cluster containing at least one word that has a direct antonym.
holonym
    The name of the whole of which the meronym names a part. Y is a holonym of X if X is a part of Y.
hypernym
    The generic term used to designate a whole class of specific instances. Y is a hypernym of X if X is a (kind of) Y.
hyponym
    The specific term used to designate a member of a class. X is a hyponym of Y if X is a (kind of) Y.
indirect antonym
    An adjective in a satellite synset that does not have a direct antonym has an indirect antonyms via the direct antonym of the head synset.
lemma
    lower case ASCII text of word as found in the WordNet database index files.
lexical pointer
    A lexical pointer indicates a relation between words in synsets (word forms).
monosemous
    Having only one sense in a syntactic category.
meronym
    The name of a constituent part of, the substance of, or a member of something. X is a meronym of Y if X is a part of Y.
part of speech
    WordNet defines "part of speech" as either noun, verb, adjective, or adverb. Same as syntactic category.
participial adjective
    An adjective that is derived from a verb.
pertainym
    A relational adjective. Adjectives that are pertainyms are usually defined by such phrases as "of or pertaining to" and do not have antonyms. A pertainym can point to a noun or another pertainym.
polysemous
    Having more than one sense in a syntactic category.
polysemy count
    Number of senses of a word in a syntactic category, in WordNet.
postnominal
    A postnominal adjective occurs only immediately following the noun that it modifies.
predicative
    An adjective that can be used only in predicate positions. If X is a predicate adjective, it can be used in such phrases as "it is X".
prenominal
    An adjective that can occur only before the noun that it modifies.
satellite synset
    Synset in an adjective cluster representing a concept that is similar in meaning to the concept represented by its head synset.
semantic concordance
    A textual corpus (Brown Corpus) and a lexicon (WordNet) so combined that every substantive word in the text is linked to its appropriate sense in the lexicon via a semantic tag.
semantic tag
    A pointer from a text file to a specific sense of a word in the WordNet database. A semantic tag in a semantic concordance is represented by a sense key.
semantic pointer
    A semantic pointer indicates a relation between synsets (word meanings).
sense
    A meaning of a word in WordNet. Each sense of a word is in a different synset.
sense key
    Information necessary to find a sense in the WordNet database. A sense key combines a lemma field and codes for the synset type, lexicographer id, lexicographer file number, and information about a satellite's head synset, if required. See senseidx for a description of the format of a sense key.
sister
    Matching strings that are both the immediate hyponyms of the same superordinate.
subordinate
    See: hyponym.
superordinate
    Same as hypernym.
synset
    A synonym set; a set of words that are interchangeable in some context.
troponym
    A verb expressing a specific manner elaboration of another verb. X is a troponym of Y if to X is to Y in some manner.
twin
    Synsets having at least three words in common.
unique beginner
    A noun synset with no superordinate.