The Synonym Finder

This is an excellent and HUGE book full of English synonyms!

"The Synonym Finder" is a thesaurus in dictionary form. There are no word definitions or pronunciation guides. Words are listed alphabetically, as they would be in a dictionary, and an exhaustive list of synonyms is given for each definition of every word. Clarifications such as "informal", "slang", "archaic", etc. are provided where appropriate. There are 1.5 million words in "The Synonym Finder", including variations on the same root word. That's more than 4 times the number of words in "Roget's International Thesaurus". If you simply want to find synonyms, this is the book for you. It isn't as versatile as a thesaurus that is organized by subject, but it's more to the point and easier to use if you are simply looking for word alternatives. Roget's is a better research tool, but this is a better and far more efficient synonym finder, and I think that students will prefer it to Roget's. My one pet peeve about the book is that the hardback edition doesn't have a dust jacket. The publisher may have thought a dust jacket would just be a nuisance on a reference book, but I would have preferred one for protection. I only wish "The Synonym Finder" were also available as software, as I have limited space for books within arm's reach of my computer. I use "The Synonym Finder" more frequently than my dictionary, Roget's Thesaurus, and Random House Word Menu combined. I think any writer will find it indispensable, and it would make great gift for middle school, high school, and college students.

This review will be short but sweet. This is the BEST Synonym book around. I have bought a look in my search for the best, and this is my second copy of this book. It is a WRITER's MUST...if you don't have it, you are missing out.Everyone I have recommended this to have come back and thanked me for 'saving' them!!Easy to read print, EXTENSIVE listing of Synonym.Worth every penny and a bargin at that!!

When I bought the 1978 edition twenty years ago or so (am I really that old?), I just needed something to help me with my writing in college. To me it was just a thesaurus, and I needed a thesaurus. Over the years I have bought and used other thesauri and have discovered that none helps me find that elusive word as well as The Synonym Finder. I am not a writer, but I do value the quality of my writing. Frequently I find that I want to say something a certain way. I know there is a word that expresses the subtleties of what I want to say, but I cannot think of the word. I have found that the only book which can lead me to that word nearly every time is The Synonym Finder. No Thesaurus has ever been so consistently helpful to me. Recently I have found a stiff competitor (thesaurus.com) that works very well, but it is not a book. For anyone who wants a source that you can hold in your hand and find that word. This is your book.

I've had Rodale's Synonym Finder in my reference library for over ten years, and find that I use it at least ten times a month. There is simply no other book in the English language that is more comprehensive (the number of pages is an obvious give away) nor more helpful. As a lover of language, I frequently examine other such books, and always find that they come up short against this exhaustive resource. What makes this particular reference so valuable is that it recognizes each word usually has more than one meaning, and when it gives a synonym, it is by meaning, not simply by word. Moreover, the reference gives various examples when a word is used as an adjective or adverb, and either as a noun or a verb. It's this breadth and depth that makes this particular synonym finder so extraordinarily superior to the competition. My only lament is that it doesn't include antonymns, but then the book would probably be too large and too cumbersome. As it stands now, the words are clearly displayed, and the synonyms - in all their variety - are abundant.