---
toc_priority: 67
toc_title: NLP
---
# [experimental] Natural Language Processing functions {#nlp-functions}
!!! warning "Warning"
This is an experimental feature that is currently in development and is not ready for general use. It will change in unpredictable backwards-incompatible ways in future releases. Set `allow_experimental_nlp_functions = 1` to enable it.
## stem {#stem}
Performs stemming on a given word.
**Syntax**
``` sql
stem('language', word)
```
**Arguments**
- `language` — Language which rules will be applied. Must be in lowercase. [String](../../sql-reference/data-types/string.md#string).
- `word` — word that needs to be stemmed. Must be in lowercase. [String](../../sql-reference/data-types/string.md#string).
**Examples**
Query:
``` sql
SELECT arrayMap(x -> stem('en', x), ['I', 'think', 'it', 'is', 'a', 'blessing', 'in', 'disguise']) as res;
```
Result:
``` text
┌─res────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ['I','think','it','is','a','bless','in','disguis'] │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```
## lemmatize {#lemmatize}
Performs lemmatization on a given word. Needs dictionaries to operate, which can be obtained [here](https://github.com/vpodpecan/lemmagen3/tree/master/src/lemmagen3/models).
**Syntax**
``` sql
lemmatize('language', word)
```
**Arguments**
- `language` — Language which rules will be applied. [String](../../sql-reference/data-types/string.md#string).
- `word` — Word that needs to be lemmatized. Must be lowercase. [String](../../sql-reference/data-types/string.md#string).
**Examples**
Query:
``` sql
SELECT lemmatize('en', 'wolves');
```
Result:
``` text
┌─lemmatize("wolves")─┐
│ "wolf" │
└─────────────────────┘
```
Configuration:
``` xml
en
en.bin
```
## synonyms {#synonyms}
Finds synonyms to a given word. There are two types of synonym extensions: `plain` and `wordnet`.
With the `plain` extension type we need to provide a path to a simple text file, where each line corresponds to a certain synonym set. Words in this line must be separated with space or tab characters.
With the `wordnet` extension type we need to provide a path to a directory with WordNet thesaurus in it. Thesaurus must contain a WordNet sense index.
**Syntax**
``` sql
synonyms('extension_name', word)
```
**Arguments**
- `extension_name` — Name of the extension in which search will be performed. [String](../../sql-reference/data-types/string.md#string).
- `word` — Word that will be searched in extension. [String](../../sql-reference/data-types/string.md#string).
**Examples**
Query:
``` sql
SELECT synonyms('list', 'important');
```
Result:
``` text
┌─synonyms('list', 'important')────────────┐
│ ['important','big','critical','crucial'] │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┘
```
Configuration:
``` xml
en
plain
en.txt
en
wordnet
en/
```