thesaurus

thesaurus — noun

1. A reference book or website that groups words by their shared meanings, helping

1.名詞B1
釋義

A reference book or website that groups words by their shared meanings, helping you find other words that mean the same or nearly the same thing as a word you already know.

例句

Tendai used a thesaurus to find a stronger word for 'good' in her essay.

A print thesaurus sits on the reference shelf of most school libraries.

同義詞
  • synonym dictionary

    A less common, more literal term; 'thesaurus' is the standard name used by publishers and libraries.

  • word finder

    Emphasises the search function rather than the reference-book format; less formal.

  • synonym finder

    Directly describes what the book does; occasionally used as a subtitle but rarely as the main title.

用法筆記

Countable noun. The plural can be either 'thesauruses' (common and informal) or 'thesauri' (formal, especially in academic or library contexts). Unlike a dictionary, a thesaurus does not provide full definitions — it lists words of similar meaning.

常見錯誤

❌I looked up the meaning of 'sad' in a thesaurus.
✅I looked up the meaning of 'sad' in a **dictionary**. A thesaurus shows words with similar meanings, not definitions.
💡Confusing the function of a thesaurus with that of a dictionary.
❌The thesaurus says that 'big' and 'large' are the same.
✅The thesaurus lists 'large' as a synonym of 'big'.
💡A thesaurus does not 'say' things like a person; it simply groups related words.