In theory, a thesaurus is a great reference aid, but the reality tends to be quite different. That “eureka“ moment we all hope for when consulting a thesaurus (“that’s just the word I need!“) occurs for too rarely. Most thesauruses today exist primarily just to remind us of words we already knew but have temporarily forgotten. The Thinkers Thesaurus is therefore intended to be a genuine improvement over existing thesauruses for the benefit of casual and serious writers alike who want to be able to use just the right word for a given occasion.
Conventional thesauruses suffer from two primary flaws. The first is that, no matter how many synonyms they offer for a given word, those synonyms or typically basic words which the user will have considered and rejected before even consulting the thesaurus. These thesauruses tend to shy away from more interesting and less commonly used synonyms. The second problem is that all the sources start with one word–the base word–and then list multiple synonyms for that one word. What if, however, the would-be synonym does not easily lend itself to a single base word. For example, “nephew“ requires reference both to “son“ into “sister“ or “brother“; “claustrophobia“ requires reference to both “fear“ and “confined spaces.“ Thus, there is no one-word synonym for nephew or claustrophobia. Similarly, the efinition of “elopement“ is flight with a lover with the intention of getting married. However, It is obviously not a synonym for “flight“ or “marriage“ standing alone.
The more serious problem with the single base word system is it’s complete inability to deal with nuances. Take for example the word “smile.“ Most thesauruses will list “grin,“ “smirk,“ “snicker,“ and “grimace“ as potential synonyms for this word. However, each of them means something totally different from the others. “Embezzlement“ is a type of theft. But one does not break into a stranger’s house and “embezzle“ her belongings. Or, what happens if a word is an adjective one one which relates to a noun? For example, the word “matutinal” means “of or relating to morning or daybreak” but because it is an adjective, a regular thesaurus could never list it as a synonym for “morning”, The word “megalopolis” is a noun refers to a large and crowded city, but it could not properly be used as a synonym for “crowded”, standing alone (which in any event is an adjective and not a noun) or for “city”, which is not necessarily large or crowded. These were significant problems that had to be solved.
After consulting numerous thesauruses, I realized that no thesaurus like the one I really wanted existed. On one side or traditional thesauruses the tend to avoid inclusion of hard words and which are limited to a single base word. On the other side or numerous hard word books and websites to delight in presenting unusual or rare words, but which do not give the user any logical system they wish to find them. Also, most of the words in these books are archaic and have not been used for over 100 years.
To fill the void between conventional thesaurus is in rare book words, this thesaurus offers three features, each of which makes it unique.
First, all of the synonyms, while legitimate and non-archaic, or harder or more sophisticated words than one would find in a regular thesaurus.
Second, to address the problem that most English words involve a degree of nuance, or because they cannot be properly defined with a single base word, I use what I call a “parenthetical clarifier” with respect to about 75 percent of the entries in my thesaurus. This allows for the inclusion of thousands of words as synonyms that either cannot be found at all in regular thesauruses or are used imprecisely,
Finally, because the synonyms are more interesting and more unusual than those found in conventional thesauruses, each one contains an actual example from current books, periodicals or magazines. These examples not only demonstrate how the words are properly used, but they also show that these are real words currently used by real writers in the real world, and not obsolete words which have fallen into disuse ages ago. Moreover, in each instance, the word in question tends to be the perfect word for the occasion, used within the natural flow of the passage; that is, the author is not straining to use the word artificially or forcing it or artificially forcing it on the reader. It is hoped they’re giving actual real life examples of the synonyms makes for a more interesting presentation and will help the user remember the words in the future.
The public has clearly agreed that The Thinker’s Thesaurus is a better mousetrap. It is now in its third edition and has sold over 100,000 copies. While all of the daily synonyms presented on this website are taken from the book (which contains over 15,000 entries), for those who simply want to be introduced to a great new word each day, feel free to subscribe to the website!