Thesaurus

For other uses, see Thesaurus (disambiguation).

A thesaurus (pl.: thesauri or thesauruses), sometimes called a synonym dictionary or dictionary of synonyms, is a reference work which arranges words by their meanings (or in simpler terms, a book where one can find different words with similar meanings to other words),[1][2] sometimes as a hierarchy of broader and narrower terms, sometimes simply as lists of synonyms and antonyms. They are often used by writers to help find the best word to express an idea:

...to find the word, or words, by which [an] idea may be most fitly and aptly expressed

— Peter Mark Roget, 1852[3]

Synonym dictionaries have a long history. The word 'thesaurus' was used in 1852 by Peter Mark Roget for his Roget's Thesaurus.

While some works called "thesauri", such as Roget's Thesaurus, group words in a hierarchical hypernymic taxonomy of concepts, others are organised alphabetically[4][2] or in some other way.

Most thesauri do not include definitions, but many dictionaries include listings of synonyms.

Some thesauri and dictionary synonym notes characterise the distinctions between similar words, with notes on their "connotations and varying shades of meaning".[5] Some synonym dictionaries are primarily concerned with differentiating synonyms by meaning and usage. Usage manuals such as Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage or Garner's Modern English Usage often prescribe appropriate usage of synonyms.

Writers sometimes use thesauri to avoid repetition of words – elegant variation – which is often criticised by usage manuals: "Writers sometimes use them not just to vary their vocabularies but to dress them up too much".[6]

  1. ^ "thesaurus, n.", OED Online, Oxford University Press, retrieved 2023-01-21
  2. ^ a b Oxford thesaurus of English. Maurice Waite (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2009. ISBN 978-0-19-956081-3. OCLC 321014234.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ Roget, Peter. 1852. Thesaurus of English Language Words and Phrases.
  4. ^ The Merriam-Webster thesaurus. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster. 2005. ISBN 978-0-87779-637-4. OCLC 57506786.
  5. ^ American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2011, ISBN 9780547041018, p. xxvii
  6. ^ Edwin L. Battistella, "Beware the thesaurus", OUPblog, "Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking World", February 11, 2018