Rating: 
Summary: worth the money
Review: These days it's tempting to believe that you can do without a printed thesaurus. Thesauri are available on the web and there are even thesauri built into word processors. But these are pale substitutes for Roget's sixth edition.It is much more comprehensive than other Thesauri, but it is still very easy to use. The index in the back contains an alphabetical list of words, and with each, an associated list of finer-grained definitions. For example, suppose you want to describe someone as "mopey" but that word doesn't seem quite right. When you look it up in the index you'll find "sullen" "glum" and "unsociable." Obviously, these have somewhat different characters. Next to each there is a reference to an entry to synonyms organized by category (instead of alphabetically). These lists make up the bulk of the book. Thus, the entry for "sullen" will lead you to a list of words similar in meaning to "sullen," and so on. What makes this thesaurus easy to use is that the index at the back of the book is complete, so you seldom if ever have the experience of trying to look up a word and then find that it's not there, so you have to try to think of a synonym yourself to gain entry to the thesaurus. Second, there are 330,000 words in the listing of synonyms by category. Considering that the average college student's vocabulary is 60-80,000 words, this thesaurus should satisfy you. One final note: if you really hate to shell out the money for this book, at least consider getting a used copy of the 5th edition, which came out in the early 90's and it still servicable.
Rating:
Summary: A must for anyone who uses the English language
Review: When I was a freshman in college, my creative writing instructor insisted that we buy this book. Really, it has been the most useful, most-used book in my entire library--even surpassing my OED. As a professional writer, it is invaluable--I CANNOT write without it. I have one for home and work, and wish they made a portable edition to keep in my car. 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.
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