January 18 is National Thesaurus Day. So it seems a perfect moment to honor the most important writing tool an author can have: The Thesaurus.

The thesaurus is a type of dictionary that focuses on synonyms for the words listed. Writers has been relying on thesauruses to find just the right word for a long time. The very first is believed to have been produced by 1st century writer, Philo of Byblos, a Phoenician who wrote in Greek.

The first collection of synonyms actually called a thesaurus was that of Peter Mark Roget. He began work on it in 1805 and published it in 1852. Roget’s was the first thesaurus I owned, and I relied on it for many years. Even today, I consult it at times.

However, looking up words can be a tedious process. To speed it up, Franklin Electronics released a handheld Roget’s Thesaurus in the late 1980’s that made looking up words much faster. Today these are collector’s items. But they were a great pathway to the online thesaurus.

Contemporary Thesauruses

With the advent of the Internet, huge online thesauruses became possible. The Moby Thesaurus developed by Grady Ward was placed in the public domain in 1996, just in time for the writing of my first textbook. It contains over two million synonyms. This is my go-to thesaurus. I especially love the slightly off-kilter offerings that often inspire me to write more creatively. Here are the first few lines of the listing for blithe. Each word in the listing is linked to other synonyms. Click on some to check them out.

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However, the disadvantage to the Moby Thesaurus is that it does not give you the part of speech for the entries or organize them in any way. For that, I recommend Word Hippo. Word Hippo not only groups synonyms by part of speech, but also gives the pronunciation in audio. Clicking across the tabs at the top provides definitions, rhyming words, sentences, and more.

Here is a partial view of the synonyms for blithe as presented by Word Hippo.

Tips for Using a Thesaurus

Check the meaning: A word’s synonyms are not an exact match and cannot just be substituted on a one-to-one-basis. In selecting a substitute, make sure you doublecheck the meaning and part of speech by looking it up in a dictionary so you use it correctly in the sentence.

Wait to consult a thesaurus until the end of the revision process: During drafting, the goal is to write as fast as possible in order to get the ideas down on paper. Put down the first word you think of. Save dressing up your prose until you are sure your plot, characters, and setting are clear. Now go through and look for weak, common words to exchange for stronger ones.

Select the most powerful word: Replace any word that is overused, ordinary, or awkward-sounding with more specific, meaningful ones that relate to and amplify the story. For example, house might be replaced with cottage or bungalow or brownstone walkup depending on the story.

Listen the sound of the word: Not only consider meaning when selecting a replacement word. Read the sentence aloud with the new word and make sure it flows, and if possible, enhances the sensory element. For example, the word walked can be replaced with words that mirror the sound of that walking, such as trod, stomped, or trotted.

Avoid overusing unusual words. Readers will notice a word they are unfamiliar with or rarely hear. Check that these types of words, such as halycon or unrepining are used only once in your manuscript.

Links to Other Online Thesauruses

Here are some others to check out.

Cambridge Dictionary Thesaurus https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/thesaurus/

Collins Thesaurus https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english-thesaurus/

Thesaurus.com https://www.thesaurus.com

Visual Thesaurus https://www.visualthesaurus.com

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