Roget's International Thesaurus, 6th Edition

The revolutionary achievement of Dr. Peter Mark Roget's first edition in 1852 was the development of a brand–new principle: the arrangement of words and phrases according to their meanings. Dr. Roget's system brings together in one place all the terms associated with a single thought or concept; it allows a wide–ranging survey of language within a book of relatively modest size, without the space–consuming repetitions that so severely limit the scope of thesauruses arranged in a dictionary format with A–to–Z entries. This brilliant organization makes Roget's International Thesaurus both the most efficient word finder and a cutting–edge aid in stimulating thought, organizing ideas, and writing and speaking more clearly and effectively. This revised and updated sixth edition features thousands of new words and phrases, including the newest slang words and expressions that color and inform everyday language. It retains all of the hallmarks that have made Roget's International Thesaurus an enduring classic: 埍ore than 330,000 words and phrases organized into 1,075 categories. 埁 pinpoint reference system that directs the user quickly from a comprehensive index to the numbered category of the right word. Thousands of cross–references throughout lead to other helpful categories. 埈undreds of supplemental word lists that supply the names of things which have no synonyms (measurements, wines, weapons, animals, state mottoes, and more) as well as hundreds of quotations that amplify the meanings of selected words. Generations of students, writers, editors, and speakers have made Roget's the most popular word reference book next to the dictionary. Continuing a legacy that dates back more than 150 years, Roget's International Thesaurus is an indispensable work for everyone who wants to use the English language with clarity and precision.

Don't waste your money and time buying a thesaurus in dictionary form. In this edition, the words are grouped categorically by meaning, so you can find all the subtle variations and neighbors of "happy."

Every poet and writer should have one of these.

This makes a great gift for college students.


Forget an alphabetically organized thesaurus   July 1, 2001
 113 out of 118 found this review helpful

Although one's search begins with an alphabetized listing, the main body of this thesaurus (its original concept) is organized by category. This means that to find a synonym for e.g., "trouble", you will not simply be presented a list all the possible meanings of the word but you can choose your search depending upon the sense you are looking for. If you mean "annoyance" you will be sent one place for synonyms (nouns, verbs, adj, adv); if your meaning is more "presume upon" you will be sent somewhere else. In the case of "trouble" there are about a dozen places to go in the thesaurus depending upon the subtlety of meaning you are looking for. If you are a writer, this reference work is a sine qua non. Look no further than here for the best thesaurus in the world.


A truly fabulous book.   December 6, 1998
 41 out of 41 found this review helpful

This book will make you think about words in a way that you never have before. It is an absolute must for anyone who endeavors to communicate well in the English language.

If you can think of a word to start out with, but want to search for a better one, you can look the word up in the alphabetically arranged index. There, you will find listed several different faces of the word, some representing subtle variations in the word's meaning that you may have never considered before. Then, after thinking about what aspect of the word most closely resembles your intended meaning, you can look up the word's various implications in the main body of the book. There, you'll discover a plethora of other words of similar meaning.

You'll find the body of the book organizes all of human experience into categories..."the body and the senses", "feelings", "place", "measure and shape", etc.. If you want to describe something intangible, such as an emotion, and cannot even think of one word to begin with, you can wander through the categories of human emotion... pleasure, excitement, contentment... sadness, regret, lamentation...until you find what you are trying to describe. This process helps stimulate thought about exactly what you want to say. A merely alphabetical thesaurus could never offer anything like this.


The new catagorical orgainization severely damages this edition.   July 16, 2005
 40 out of 40 found this review helpful

An earlier reviewer, John L. Pope, is right on the money about this. The organizational arrangement used for the editions up to and including the 4th was a sublime and beautiful exploratory exposition of the English language. The new editions suffer from the idea that simplistic presentation, aimed at the "average" user, will be more "user-friendly". In fact, the opposite is true, as those who are most likely to use this work are precisely those most likely to be frustrated by this 'dumbing down' of what is an unparalleled and irreplaceable reference tool. I pray that Roget's recognize the folly of this course eventually, for I, too, have returned to the 4th edition, which means that I don't get the benefit of the new words & phrases that have been added in the two published since.

Those who claim that a thesaurus in dictionary form is better have no idea what they are talking about. If you don't realize that an indexed type is infinitely superior, it's because you don't know how to use it properly. A thesaurus is not meant as a dictionary replacement, but is meant to be used in concert with a dictionary. Each is arranged in the way most proper for its purpose.

The fact is, this thesaurus does have an alphabetical listing, and that is properly the place where one starts when using it -- it's called the index, and it takes up about 1/4 or more of the entire volume. When looking for a synonym or related word, one goes to the index and looks up the word one wants a synonym for in the alphabetical listing. Several senses of the word will be presented, with a different page listing for each.

Choosing a sense of the word, you now proceed to the page referenced in the index for that sense. There, the word you looked up will be found in a block of words with similar meaning.

But what makes this type so much better than those in "dictionary form" is that, if you don't find the word you're looking for right away, you can "spiral" outward from where you first looked -- because the words are arranged by concept, and so various shades of meaning of the word or idea you're looking for will be found grouped closely to one another. The word groups have a decimal arrangement, so that the group labelled 4.18.3 is a subset of 4.18; this arrangement allows one to skim through the groups in 4.18 to see whether there's a sense that is closer to what you're looking for than is the group that you originally were directed to by the index. This, in turn, might send you back to the index with a newer, closer word, which will direct you to a group with a different common component than was the one shared by those in the block you searched previously. As this process continues, you get closer and closer to finding the ideal word to convey your feeling or idea. Along the way, you gain insight into the conceptual and historical relationships between the words, and clarify for yourself precisely how this idea lies in relation to the similar ideas which surround it. The fine grain of its differentiation lends to increased appreciation of the unique character of individual words and phrases.

If you are considering buying a thesaurus, absolutely get one that is indexed. Before passing judgement on it, take 15 or 20 minutes to read the guide at the front on how to use it. I guarantee that you won't be disappointed. Anyone who has properly used an indexed thesaurus will know beyond doubt that other formats cannot possibly approach its power and utility.


Not just a synonym dictionary   August 16, 2003
 32 out of 33 found this review helpful

If you just need a different word that is easier to spell or say, a dictionary of synonyms will usually suffice. And that is all that an alphabetically organized thesaurus is. Their advantage is that you only have to do one lookup in the book instead of two, making them quicker and easier. A true thesaurus requires that you look the word up in an index to find a numeric index, then look up that numeric index in the body of the book to get a choice of synonyms.

But the true thesaurus will give you a better supply of answers. First, the numeric entries either preceding or following frequently are opposing concepts. That means that if you go forward or backward two entries, you may strike on a subtle change in meanings that fits your intent much better. This had happened to me several times when I couldn't quite get the right word. It was because I didn't quite have the right meaning. Second, because all of the 'answers' are printed once, there is room for more of them. In a simple example, assume 5 words are considered synonyms. For a dictionary of synonyms, that means 5 entries listing 5 words each (the entry and its four synonyms), for 25 words. A true thesaurus lists an entry number in the main body with 5 words, and 5 entries of one-word-one-number in the index. Counting each number as a word, that is 16 words. That I can add 3 more synonyms (3 words in the entry in the body, 3 word-number pairs in the index) in the same amount of space. For larger groupings of words, the difference is much more significant. So now I get 7 choices (8 less the original word) instead of 4 (5 less the original word).

Mark Twain claimed that the difference between a good word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. Lightning strikes more often with a true thesaurus than a dictionary of synonyms.