{"id":1602,"date":"2014-07-28T13:52:48","date_gmt":"2014-07-28T19:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1602"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:54:25","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:54:25","slug":"the-best-thesaurus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/the-best-thesaurus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Thesaurus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever needed a better word than the only one that comes to mind? Nowadays, the easy solution is to type that word plus \u201csynonym\u201d into your Google search box. Call me old-fashioned, but I turn to a book: the Oxford American Writer\u2019s Thesaurus<\/em>. Anyone serious about writing needs this book\u2014a quantum leap in thesauruses (thesauri?), and so much more besides.<\/p>\n

Every writer but the most gifted needs a resource for synonymous words and phrases, but for years all I ever saw was something called Roget\u2019s Thesaurus<\/em>. Call me a nitwit, but I just couldn\u2019t figure the damn thing out. Why couldn\u2019t I just look up a word and find a list of synonyms after it?<\/p>\n

Then in 1978 came J.I. Rodale\u2019s Synonym Finder<\/em>. At last, a thesaurus that worked like a dictionary. I still have my copy, and it still comes in handy, but the OAWT is even better. The front cover says, \u201cFor the writer in everyone.\u201d An excerpt on the back dismisses utilize<\/em> as a pretentious way of saying use<\/em>. Yes! I liked this book before I even opened it.<\/p>\n

The OAWT is the Swiss Army knife of wordbooks. Though it\u2019s a straight Rodale-style thesaurus most of the way, there\u2019s a lot more after the last entry (zoom<\/em>, which can mean both \u201ccharge\u201d and \u201cenlarge\u201d). There is a handy 24-page refresher course on the rules of grammar, followed by a spelling guide that includes a substantial list of commonly misspelled words (e.g., inoculate<\/em>, minuscule<\/em>, Philippines<\/em>) and familiar foreign-language terms (rou\u00e9<\/em>, serape<\/em>, Zeitgeist<\/em>), after which comes a capitalization and punctuation guide. Taken as a whole, these breezy, easy-to-understand sections provide a solid understanding of how our language works.<\/p>\n

The most fun comes at the very end: a list of clich\u00e9s and, better yet, a collection of redundancies. Writers will squirm at the clich\u00e9s, knowing they\u2019re guilty of having used several of them: acid test<\/em>, all in all<\/em>, done deal<\/em>, duly noted<\/em>, in the near future<\/em>, touch base<\/em>, wreak havoc<\/em>, and so many, many more. The redundant phrases are startling: many seem fine until you think about them: advance warning<\/em>, brief moment<\/em>, climb up<\/em>, empty space<\/em>, false pretenses<\/em>, plan in advance<\/em>, whether or not<\/em>, written down<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Here are a few features that I think make OAWT the thesaurus of the 21st century: Unlike Rodale, OAWT uses your word correctly in a sentence or phrase before offering alternatives. If a word has two or more meanings, each gets its own paragraph of synonyms\u2014easy<\/em>, for instance, has seven paragraphs, from uncomplicated<\/em> to promiscuous<\/em>. You\u2019ll find notes on \u201cEasily Confused Words\u201d throughout, like after founder<\/em> or rack<\/em>, to alert you about flounder <\/em>and wrack.<\/em> \u201cThe Right Word\u201d sections deal with fine distinctions, helping writers choose between, say, riddle<\/em> and conundrum<\/em>. \u201cWord Banks\u201d are comprehensive lists of everything from amphibians to knitting terms to wine grapes. \u201cWord Notes\u201d and \u201cUsage Notes\u201d explain the finer points and pitfalls of common words and phrases.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hard-core word nerds will have beefs. I wasn\u2019t thrilled with the hedging on media<\/em> (it\u2019s plural, OK?). There are opposing points of view on the validity of the disinterested<\/em>–uninterested<\/em> dichotomy (to me there\u2019s no question disinterested<\/em> means \u201cunbiased,\u201d not \u201capathetic\u201d). On the other hand, I found terrific passages on troublemakers like comprise<\/em>, data, impact<\/em>, and like<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Memo to smart alecks: the OAWT indeed does offer synonyms for synonym <\/em>\u2026 and for thesaurus.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014Tom Stern<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can you spot the commonly misspelled words? (gleaned from the Oxford American Writer\u2019s Thesaurus<\/em>)
\nSuggested answers are at the bottom of the newsletter.<\/p>\n

1. We will be happy to accomodate all those in attendence.
\n2. The chauffer flinched when the lightening struck the limouzine.
\n3. Stealing the promissory note was a heinious act.
\n4. The mechanic sat in the restaurant feeling susceptible to melancholy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. We will be happy to accommodate<\/em> all those in attendance<\/em>.
\n2. The chauffeur<\/em> flinched when the lightning<\/em> struck the limousine<\/em>.
\n3. Stealing the promissory note was a heinous<\/em> act.
\n4. All correct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever needed a better word than the only one that comes to mind? Nowadays, the easy solution is to type that word plus \u201csynonym\u201d into your Google search box. Call me old-fashioned, but I turn to a book: the Oxford American Writer\u2019s Thesaurus. Anyone serious about writing needs this book\u2014a quantum leap in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-definitions","category-effective-writing"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}