thesaurus means A publication that provides synonyms (and sometimes antonyms and other semantic relations) for the words of a given language. It carries an Arena rating of 1560, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, thesaurus ranks #216 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,396 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,681 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #4,715 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
thesaurus is pronounced /θɪˈsɔːɹəs/.
Why “thesaurus” is a great word
A reference work that organizes words by conceptual likeness, cataloging synonyms and antonyms within a shared semantic field. Its name derives from the Latin thēsaurus ("treasury, storehouse, treasure"), from the Ancient Greek θησαυρός (thēsaurós, "storehouse, treasure"), with its modern English meaning established following the 1852 publication of Peter Roget's *Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases*. Unlike a dictionary, which defines and traces lineage alphabetically, or a glossary, which deciphers terms for a specific text, a thesaurus maps the lush, tangled relationships between ideas. It is the drawer of ribbons sorted by hue, the cabinet where "melancholy" rests beside "lugubrious" and "wistful," the spectral proof that for any feeling there exists a constellation of approximations—a quiet monument to the poverty of language and the richness of the mind that seeks to overcome it.
Etymology
16th century, borrowed from Latin thēsaurus, from Ancient Greek θησαυρός (thēsaurós, “storehouse, treasure”); its current English usage/meaning was established soon after the publication of Peter Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases in 1852. Doublet of treasure.
noun
- A publication that provides synonyms (and sometimes antonyms and other semantic relations) for the words of a given language.e.g.“"Roget" is the leading brand name for a print English thesaurus that lists words under general concepts rather than just close synonyms.”
- A dictionary or encyclopedia.
- A hierarchy of subject headings: canonical titles of themes and topics, the titles serving as search keys.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
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