Q:

Commutative versus non-commutative synonyms?

Is there a term to distinguish between different kinds of synonyms?
I'm thinking of the contrast between the terms "borrowing" and loan word" (commutative) [raised here], where one item can directly replace the other in virtually all situations, as against "agree / concur" (non-commutative) where this isn't the case to the same degree, and where it's fairly easy to find situations where the two differ.  Agree/Concur Link

A:

It turns out that while there isn't, in linguistics, a single term to distinguish between two kinds of synonyms, there are at least two sets of terms which discriminate between degrees of synonymy.  The exact issue I was concerned with can be found dealt with COGNITIVE SYNONYMY: A GENERAL OVERVIEW.
There we find Cruse: 
 The scale which [Cruse] has set up consists of absolute synonymy, cognitive    
 synonymy and near-synonymy.

And Lyons:
 The scale presented by Cruse is the most general. There also are other 
 views. Lyons (1981:148) claims that there are absolute synonymy, complete 
 synonymy, descriptive synonymy and near-synonymy.

What may be of relevance is that I came on this paper earlier tonight while exploring the question, "Is synonym a linguistic term?"
The answer to that, incidentally, would seem to be that while the term "synonym" occasionally crops up in linguistics texts, it is not itself a linguistic term --  synonymy, yes, synonym no.  It may be treated as a figure of speech in manuals of rhetoric, but I haven't been able to confirm this.

