Okay, so I have to boost this book a bit: Roget’s Thesaurus of Words for Intellectuals. You may have noticed it is the source of the last two weekly words (or not…I usually don’t notice that kind of stuff). It is awesome.
It is a great resource for writers for several reasons.
First, it has an amazing assortment of unique, specific, and useful words (plaudit, myopic, and anamnesis are just a few examples).
Unique in that you certainly don’t hear them every day; specific in that they are much more pointed and meaningful than praise, nearsighted, and recollection; and useful in that they are colorful, educational, and valuable additions to your writing (and vocabulary!). Imagine: you’ll sound so intelligent when you speak plaudits about politicians who aren’t myopic in their views, and share anamneses about them to prove your point!
Second, its organization is incredibly convenient.
It contains broad words (like serious, travel, and writing) as categories in alphabetical order like a dictionary. Within each of these categories are more specific, related words like gravitas, peregrinate, and limn. You can either look up a broad category word, or look through the more specific words (all found in an index in the back with the broad ones in bold for quick and easy finding).
Additionally, each broad word has synonyms and antonyms. So if you want something that means the opposite of embarrass, you can look up the broad word and see words that mean something similar, or something completely different!
It’s like an awesome combination of a dictionary and a thesaurus.
Third and final, the words it does have are new enough not to be outmoded or anachronistic. They can be found in modern conversation (or could be if more people spread them around). They are useful and relevant. They are just plain cool.
Do you want to add this book to your library yet? I’ll make it easy for you! You can find it here at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. *do it, do it*
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