Thesaurus

What is Thesaurus

1. a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms.
2. any dictionary, encyclopedia, or other comprehensive reference book.
3. a storehouse, repository, or treasury.
4. Computers.
a. an index to information stored in a computer, consisting of a comprehensive list of subjects concerning which information may be retrieved by using the proper key terms.
b. a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms stored in memory for use in word processing.




How to Use a Thesaurus

A thesaurus helps you avoid repetition in your writing and helps you find a word for an idea you have in mind. You can use it to increase your vocabulary as the typical thesaurus has synonyms for more than 100,000 words.


Steps

Get to know the features of your thesaurus. By understanding the parts of the entries and any changes in typography, you will grasp the nuances of the reference book's text. Thesauri may also contain antonyms, wordlists, and other interesting features.

Choose synonyms carefully. You will soon recognize that few words are exactly interchangeable. Use the thesaurus in conjunction with a good dictionary whenever selecting a word or phrase unfamiliar to you.

Each headword in the A-to-Z listing of Thesaurus is offered with its part of speech. Concise definitions accompany the headwords, supplying users with a basic reference point and helping them to evaluate synonym choices. thesaurus has separate entries for different parts of speech and for different "meaning cores" for a word. Therefore, an entry word represents one meaning and a group of words considered synonymous with it in that sense. The synonyms may have other meanings as well, but they have at least one meaning in common with the entry word and the other synonyms in the list. The definition that comes before the synonym list tells you what meaning is shared by the words in the list.

The numbers that appear in superscript after the part of speech serve to distinguish the different meanings of a word. On thesaurus, words with multiple meanings are sorted by frequency of use, with more common meanings appearing before less common meanings. In the example below, abandoned with the sense "deserted" is more common than abandoned with the sense of "bad."



Tips

Use the thesaurus to avoid repeating words within a sentence and avoid beginning successive sentences or paragraphs with identical words.

A thesaurus groups words that are similar in meaning. Usually, you reach for a thesaurus when you have a word in mind and you are looking for a word that is like it (synonym) or one that means the opposite (antonym).

Remember that no two words mean exactly the same thing. No two words are directly interchangeable. It is the subtle nuance and flavor of particular words that give the English language its rich and varied texture. We turn to a thesaurus to find different, more expressive ways of speaking and writing, but we must turn to a dictionary, a sophisticated semantic tool, to determine meaning. Always consider synonyms in their desired context and consult a dictionary if you have any doubt about the application of a word or phrase. In order to make an informed selection from words clustered under a thesaurus concept, you should check the word in a dictionary and be sure to substitute the synonym in an example sentence to see if it sounds right and conveys the desired meaning.

An entry may also list antonyms, words that are in direct contrast with the entry word and synonym group. There may also be "contrasted words" that are almost opposite the entry word, but not quite. These words may be stronger or weaker in meaning and may not mean the exact opposite of the entry word. You can see that the help of a dictionary is important when you are looking up antonyms, too.

Latin and Greek Word Elements

English is a living language, and it is growing all the time. One way that new words come into the language is when words are borrowed from other languages. New words are also created when words or word elements, such as roots, prefixes, and suffixes, are combined in new ways.

Many English words and word elements can be traced back to Latin and Greek. Often you can guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word if you know the meaning.

A word root is a part of a word. It contains the core meaning of the word, but it cannot stand alone. A prefix is also a word part that cannot stand alone. It is placed at the beginning of a word to change its meaning. A suffix is a word part that is placed at the end of a word to change its meaning. Often you can guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word if you know the meaning of its parts; that is, the root and any prefixes or suffixes that are attached to it.


Click here for the guide of prefix and suffix usage.

Latin Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

Latin was the language spoken by the ancient Romans. As the Romans conquered most of Europe, the Latin language spread throughout the region. Over time, the Latin spoken in different areas developed into separate languages, including Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. These languages are considered “sisters,” as they all descended from Latin, their “mother” language.

In 1066 England was conquered by William, duke of Normandy, which is in northern France. For several hundred years after the Norman invasion, French was the language of court and polite society in England. It was during this period that many French words were borrowed into English. Linguists estimate that some 60% of our common everyday vocabulary today comes from French. Thus many Latin words came into English indirectly through French.

Many Latin words came into English directly, though, too. Monks from Rome brought religious vocabulary as well as Christianity to England beginning in the 6th century. From the Middle Ages onward many scientific, scholarly, and legal terms were borrowed from Latin.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, dictionary writers and grammarians generally felt that English was an imperfect language whereas Latin was perfect. In order to improve the language, they deliberately made up a lot of English words from Latin words. For example, fraternity, from Latin fraternitas, was thought to be better than the native English word brotherhood.

Many English words and word parts can be traced back to Latin and Greek. The following table lists some common Latin roots



Latin root ------ Basic meaning ---------Example words

-dict- --------------to say ------------contradict, dictate, diction, edict, predict

-duc- --------to lead, bring, take ------------- deduce, produce, reduce

-gress- -----------to walk ------------------- digress, progress, transgress

-ject- ------------to throw ---------------eject, inject, interject, project, reject, subject

-pel- -------------to drive --------------------compel, dispel, impel, repel

-pend- -----------to hang --------------append, depend, impend, pendant, pendulum

-port- ------------to carry ---------comport, deport, export, import, report, support

-scrib-, -script- -----to write ------------describe, description, prescribe, prescription, subscribe, subscription, transcribe, transcription

-tract- ------to pull, drag, draw ------------attract, contract, detract, extract, protract, retract, traction

-vert- ------------to turn ------------------convert, divert, invert, revert



From the example words in the above table, it is easy to see how roots combine with prefixes to form new words. For example, the root -tract-, meaning “to pull,” can combine with a number of prefixes, including de- and re-. Detract means literally “to pull away” (de-, “away, off”) and retract means literally “to pull back” (re-, “again, back”). The following table gives a list of Latin prefixes and their basic meanings.




Latin prefix --------- Basic meaning ------------Example words

co- -----------------together -------------------coauthor, coedit, coheir

de- ------------away, off; generally ------------deactivate, debone,
defrost,
-----------indicates reversal or removal in English ----- decompress, deplane

dis- not, not any disbelief, discomfort, discredit, disrepair, disrespect

inter- -----------between, among ------------international, interfaith, intertwine, intercellular, interject

non- -------------- not ------------nonessential, nonmetallic, nonresident, nonviolence, nonskid, nonstop

post- -------------- after ---------------postdate, postwar, postnasal, postnatal

pre- ------------before ----------------preconceive, preexist, premeditate, predispose, prepossess, prepay

re- ----------again; back, backward ----------rearrange, rebuild, recall, remake, rerun, rewrite

sub- ------------under -----------submarine, subsoil, subway, subhuman, substandard

trans- ---------- across, beyond, through -----------transatlantic, transpolar



Words and word roots may also combine with suffixes. Here are examples of some important English suffixes that come from Latin:



Latin suffix ------- Basic meaning --------- Example words

-able, -ible forms -----adjectives and means ------ likable, flexible
--------------------- “capable or worthy of”

-ation ------------forms nouns from verbs --------creation, civilization, automation, speculation, information

-fy, -ify ---------forms verbs and means “to make --- purify, acidify, humidify
------------------- or cause to become”

-ment ------------forms nouns from verbs -------entertainment, amazement, statement, banishment

-ty, -ity ---------forms nouns from adjectives ---------subtlety, certainty, cruelty, frailty, loyalty, royalty; eccentricity, electricity, peculiarity, similarity, technicality





to be continued

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Greek Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

The following table lists some common Greek roots.

Greek root --------- Basic meaning --------- Example words

-anthrop- --------------human ---------misanthrope, philanthropy, anthropomorphic

-chron- -----------------time ------------anachronism, chronic, chronicle, synchronize, chronometer

-dem- ----------------people ----------democracy, demography, demagogue, endemic, pandemic

-morph- ------------- form ------------ amorphous, metamorphic, morphology

-path- ----------feeling, suffering -----------empathy, sympathy, apathy, apathetic, psychopathic

-pedo-, -ped- -------child, children -----------pediatrician, pedagogue
-philo-, -phil- -----having a strong affinity or love for ---------philanthropy, philharmonic, philosophy

-phon- -------------- sound ---------------- polyphonic, cacophony, phonetics


The following table gives a list of Greek prefixes and their basic meanings.


Greek prefix ------- Basic meaning ------------ Example words

a-, an- -------------without ---------achromatic, amoral, atypical, anaerobic

anti-, ant- ---------opposite; opposing ---------anticrime, antipollution, antacid

auto- ---------------- self, same -------------autobiography, automatic, autopilot

bio-, -----------bi- life, living organism ------------ biology, biophysics, biotechnology, biopsy

geo- ----------Earth; geography -------------geography, geomagnetism, geophysics, geopolitics

hyper- --------- excessive, excessively ---------- hyperactive, hypercritical, hypersensitive

micro- ---------------small -------------microcosm, micronucleus, microscope

mono- ------------one, single, alone -----------monochrome, monosyllable, monoxide

neo- ----------- new, recent ------------ neonatal, neophyte, neoconservatism, neofascism, neodymium

pan- -------------- all --------------- panorama, panchromatic, pandemic, pantheism

thermo-, therm- --------- heat ----------- thermal, thermometer, thermostat



Words and word roots may also combine with suffixes. Here are examples of some important English suffixes that come from Greek:




Greek suffix ---------- Basic meaning --------- Example words

-ism ------------forms nouns and means -------criticism, optimism, capitalism
-------------“the act, state, or theory of”

-ist -----------forms agent nouns from ----------conformist, copyist, cyclist
-----verbs ending in -ize or nouns ending in -ism and is used like -er

-ize ----------- forms verbs from nouns and adjectives --------formalize, jeopardize, legalize, modernize, emphasize, hospitalize, industrialize, computerize

-gram ------something written or drawn, a record ------cardiogram, telegram

-graph ------ something written or drawn; an instrument -------monograph, phonograph, seismograph
-----------for writing, drawing, or recording

-logue, -log ------- speech, discourse; to speak -------monologue, dialogue, travelogue

-logy ----------- discourse, expression; --------phraseology, biology, dermatology
---------------science, theory, study

-meter, -metry ------- measuring device; measure -------spectrometer, geometry, kilometer, parameter, perimeter

-oid ----------- forms adjectives and nouns and means------ humanoid, spheroid, trapezoid
------------------“like, resembling” or “shape, form”

-phile ----------one that loves or has a --------- audiophile, Francophile
----------------strong affinity for; loving

-phobe, -phobia ------- one that fears a specified thing; ------agoraphobe, agoraphobia, xenophobe, xenophobia
---------------------an intense fear of a specified thing

-phone -------------sound; device that receives or -----homophone, geophone, telephone, Francophone
---------------------emits sound; speaker of a language

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