rubber (American English) | English |

nope

Explanation:
The latest Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus (the big one) has no listing for a synonym of “rubber” in the sense in which you use it. In this discrepancy between this colleague and you, I would say that you are correct.

Good luck!

-Dan

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Note added at 2003-10-06 16:04:35 (GMT)
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In response to Jack Bowman\’s response to my \”disagree\” to his answer above:

Granted, but either way, it\’s not the same and cannot be used as a synonym. When was the last time you saw an automobile tire made of latex? When was the last time that the doctor snapped on gloves made of the same material as bicycle tires before an examination? Latex does not equal rubber, it is only related to it. It\’s like the relationship between iron and steel.

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Note added at 2003-10-06 17:39:40 (GMT)
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Augmenting what I have to say just above:

So, you say that tapped rubber tree material is a raw natural resource that is a part of latex, which is in turn part of manufactured rubber which may or may not be vulcanized. Well, I sure did learn a lot about rubber and latex just now. And yet, they still don\’t strike me as synonymous, just related.

Daniel Mencher
United States
Local time:

03:02

Native speaker of:
PRO pts in pair:

United StatesLocal time:Native speaker of: EnglishPRO pts in pair: 19