Product Description

This reference contains over 1,000,000 synonyms arranged alphabetically, including clearly labelled slang and other informal words and expressions, as well as rare, archaic, scientific and other specialized terms.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #125816 in Books
• Published on: 1995-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1361 pages

Customer Reviews

The best, friendliest thesaurus available in English.
I have used _Rodale's Synonym Finder_ for a number of years in preparing lectures and sermons, as well as in writing. A few years ago, I introduced it to a colleague while he was writing a book. His response? "This book saved my life!" This past year, I introduced my [homeschooled] 13-year-old to it in order to give some help with writing a novel. The response? "This book is great, Dad! Thanks for telling me about it!" Needless to add, it is now a necessary part of our writing. I cannot recommend it too highly.

The alphabetical approach makes it extremely easy to use, and removes the step of consulting an index. The [numerous] synonyms are listed alphabetically in categories (e.g., casual/slang); it is difficult to see how Rodale could have made it easier to use--or more useful. I recommend _The Synonym Finder_ most highly it to all of my students, and to anyone who writes.

The only one you need
I've been after a thesaurus that's both comprenehensive and easy to use for a long time, and always found the offerings in local bookshops (Roget/Oxford/Collins) to be wanting. For me, this one fits the bill perfectly (okay, ideally I'd like to have its contents online, searchable, etc. but as a book it's hard to see how a thesaurus could be done any better than this).

Here are the key points:

- more than 1.5 million synonyms, according to the introduction, spread over 1361 pages of fairly dense 2-column text, which means it's one to keep by your writing desk, not to carry around in a satchel. Type size is small but readable -- a little smaller than the paperback novel I'm reading at the moment.

- No-frills A-Z layout that makes it easy to find the entry you're looking for (should appeal to those who find Roget overly clunky in use).

- sensible headword choices keep the thing to a manageable size (thus likely look-up candidates such as "thin" and "emaciated" are headwords while the possibly more rarefied "bony" only appears *within* the entries.

This Book is Amazing...
There is only one way to improve on this book... It needs to be on CD-Rom. I'm a writer and love to be portable which I am, except for this huge writing tool called the Synonym Finder. I can't work without it, so it goes where I go. Maybe someday....