thesaurus
Quick Summary
A thesaurus is a reference book that groups words with similar meanings together. The term originates from the Latin word thesaurus, meaning treasury. It was metaphorically applied to books containing a treasury of words or information.123
The English scholar Peter Mark Roget published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases in 1852, which listed semantically related words into categories. This publication led to the common acceptance of "thesaurus" referring to a book of words and their synonyms. The word also developed a meaning in word processing for a list of related terms used for indexing and retrieval.3
Unlike a dictionary, which defines words and may include pronunciation and etymology, a thesaurus focuses on synonyms and related terms.4
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dictionary…work is often called a thesaurus or synonymy. Such works, however, need an index for ease of reference, and it is unlikely that alphabetical order will be superseded except in specialized works.
Read More…work is often called a thesaurus or synonymy. Such works, however, need an index for ease of reference, and it is unlikely that alphabetical order will be superseded except in specialized works.
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…Peter Mark Roget with his Thesaurus, published in 1852 and many times reprinted and reedited. Although philosophically oriented, Roget’s work has served the practical purpose of another genre, the dictionary of synonyms.
Read More…Peter Mark Roget with his Thesaurus, published in 1852 and many times reprinted and reedited. Although philosophically oriented, Roget’s work has served the practical purpose of another genre, the dictionary of synonyms.
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