A corpus-based study of English synonyms: eager, keen, and enthusiastic

The purpose of this study is to investigate the similarities and differences of the synonymous adjectives eager, keen, and enthusiastic in terms of meanings, frequency of occurrence across genres, collocational patterns, and semantic preferences. Data were collected from the Collins English Dictionary, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE), and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). The findings reveal that while these three synonyms all express interest or excitement toward something, they carry subtle differences in meanings and applications. Eager emphasizes a strong desire to do something or excitement for something upcoming; enthusiastic implies the outward expression of excitement, enjoyment, or interest about something; and keen has the broadest meanings: it can be used to describe mental sharpness, strong desire, sharp senses, intense interest, deep emotion, strong interest or liking for something, and intense competition. It can also be used to show enthusiasm for a particular activity and putting a lot of time into it, as well as eagerness to work or learn. The frequency data across genres also show that the three synonyms are more common in written texts (e.g., magazines, newspapers, academic texts) than in spoken language. In terms of common noun and adverb collocates, it was found that these synonyms are unlikely to share the same noun and adverb collocates; each reflects distinct semantic preferences. Due to these differences, the three synonymous adjectives are best described as near-synonyms and cannot be interchangeable in all contexts. Therefore, careful consideration should be given when selecting synonyms for use. Implications derived from the findings are also discussed in the study.