What Does Thesaurus Mean?
A thesaurus is a book, or a website, that gives you words with similar meanings. If you are tired of the word big, a thesaurus can offer you huge, large, giant and enormous.
I looked in the thesaurus to find another word for happy.
It is a bit like a dictionary, but it does a different job. A dictionary tells you what a word means. A thesaurus helps you find a different word that means almost the same.
🔊 Pronunciation
thih-SOR-us
Three parts. The loud part is the middle one: thih-SOR-us.
The first part is quick, like thi in this. The middle part sounds like sore. The last part is quiet.
🗣️ Natural Examples
Use a thesaurus to find a stronger word than good.
The writer opened her thesaurus and found delighted.
My teacher said, "Don't use the same word three times. Try a thesaurus."
There is a free thesaurus on the school computer.
🛠️ How to Use It
Thesaurus is a countable noun. It has two plurals: thesauruses and thesauri. Both are correct, and thesauruses is easier.
- You look in a thesaurus, or you use one: I used a thesaurus.
- Words in a thesaurus are close in meaning, but they are not always the same. Happy and delighted are close, but delighted is stronger.
- Check the meaning in a dictionary before you use a new word from a thesaurus.
- You can also say online thesaurus for a website.
🤝 Common Word Partners
- look in a thesaurus
- use a thesaurus
- an online thesaurus
- a pocket thesaurus
- a thesaurus entry
- a dictionary and a thesaurus
👯 Similar and Related Words
- dictionary: tells you what a word means.
- synonym: a word with a similar meaning. A thesaurus is full of synonyms.
- antonym: a word with the opposite meaning. Many thesauruses list these too.
- treasure: gold, jewels or something very valuable. It is where the word began.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
Spelling. Look for the -aurus at the end.
❌ thesarus, thesaraus
✅ thesaurus
It is not a dictionary.
❌ I used a thesaurus to find out what the word means.
✅ I used a dictionary to find out what the word means, and a thesaurus to find a different word.
Similar is not the same. Check before you use a word.
❌ The soup was enormous. (instead of big)
✅ The soup was big, or the bowl was enormous.
💬 In a Conversation
Sam: I need another word for nice.
Mia: Look in the thesaurus.
Sam: It says pleasant, kind and delightful.
Mia: Nice find.
🕵️ Where Does It Come From?
Thesaurus is a Latin word that came from the Greek word thesauros. The Greek word meant treasure, treasury, storehouse or chest.
So a thesaurus is, in a way, a treasure chest of words.
The first modern English thesaurus was made by Peter Mark Roget and published in 1852. Its full title was a long one: Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, Classified and Arranged So As to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas. He had started collecting words arranged by meaning almost fifty years earlier, in 1805.
💡 The OddLingo Trick
Imagine a pirate chest. Open it, and it is full of sparkling words.
When you can't find the right word, open the chest: the thesaurus.