DOCUMENTATION

Adding Synonyms

Introduction

Synonyms are words that are used interchangeably to convey the same intent or sentiment. In the context of search and virtual assistants, a synonym is a word or phrase that yields results that are either exactly or nearly the same, when queried with another word or phrase. For example, in a banking scenario, transfer funds, move money, pay dues, clear dues  all refer to the same intent of making payment.

Synonyms feature allows you to define a set of equivalent words or phrases that are considered to expand the scope of searching documents with equivalent words therefore improving the quality of search. 

The Search Assistant allows you to add multiple synonyms against a single word. Once created all synonyms are given the same weight as the original word and can be used interchangeably in the user utterances.

Synonyms in SearchAssist are further classified into:

  • Regular Synonyms – A regular synonym is a standard type of synonym where each word in a list of synonyms is replaced by the others. For example, consider a synonym list of [debit ⇔ pay, credit ⇔ receive, get paid]. A search for debit will find results with cards and a search for cards will find debit
  • One-way Synonyms – A one-way synonym is a word or phrase that yields the results exactly or nearly the same as another word, but not the reverse. For example, consider the search for a car. You can search for vehicles to find a car, but not the other way round. You don’t want a car search to find all vehicles i.e. a search for cars should not result in trucks. You can achieve this by defining one-way synonyms [transaction  -> payment]

Adding Synonyms

To add synonyms, take the following steps:

  1. Click the Indices tab on the top.
  2. On the left pane, under the Search Configuration section, click Synonyms.
  3. On the Synonyms page, click +Add Synonym.
  4. Under the Add Synonym section, select Synonym or One-way Synonym.
  5. In the text field, enter a synonym and click Enter to save and add multiple synonyms.
  6. In the case of a one-way synonym:
    • Add the search term.
    • Add the synonyms in the alternative text box given
  7. Click Save.

Manage Synonyms

You can:

  1. Order the synonyms by increasing or decreasing the alphabetical order of the term name.
  2. Filter based on the type of Synonym:
    • all
    • one-way
    • synonym
  3. Edit to add or delete terms from the synonym list.
  4. Delete a defined synonym if required.
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