1. A method in a computer system for determining whether a queried semantic relation is valid, the queried semantic relation comprising two query words and a query relation type relating the meanings of the query words, comprising: identifying a first group of salient semantic relation paths relating the meanings of the two query words, the identified semantic relation paths each comprising an ordered chain of semantic relations, each semantic relation comprising two words and a relation type relating the meanings of the two words, such that each identified semantic relation path relates the meanings of the two query words via one or more intermediate words; among the first group of semantic relation paths, identifying a second group of one or more semantic relation paths in which the first or last semantic relation is of the query relation type; and for each of the second group of semantic relation paths: determining whether the intermediate word in the semantic relation of the semantic relation path having the query relation type and the query word not in the semantic relation of the semantic relation path having the query relation type have similar meanings, and if the intermediate word in the semantic relation of the semantic relation path having the query relation type and the query word not in the semantic relation of the semantic relation path having the query relation type have similar meanings, determining that the queried semantic relation is valid.