Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus [Hardcover]

Christine A. Lindberg (Compiler), Rick Moody (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195342844 | ISBN-13: 978-0195342840 | Publication Date: November 11, 2008 | Edition: 2

This new edition of the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus is more exceptional than ever, solidifying its place as the one thesaurus every writer (or aspiring writer) will want to have. It provides more than 300,000 synonyms and 10,000 antonyms, with copious real-life example sentences and careful selection and ordering of the most relevant synonyms. Additional features include notes on American English usage and word spectrums showing the shades of meaning between polar opposites. The text is enhanced with thoughtful mini-essays on favorite words by ten noted contemporary writers--David Auburn, Michael Dirda, David Lehman, Erin McKean, Stephin Merritt, Francine Prose, Zadie Smith, Jean Strouse, David Foster Wallace, and Simon Winchester.
This new edition has been updated and enhanced, including a new foreword by award-winning author Rick Moody. Additionally, the second edition introduces new Word Toolkits, which use an exciting visual display of information to demonstrate the nuances in meaning and use of closely related words. Also new to this edition is a center section including thematic word lists, as well as a comprehensive language guide with writing tips. The new features are based on findings from Oxford's groundbreaking language research program and the Oxford English Corpus.
The Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus is truly (surely, certainly, unquestionably) the perfect tool for discriminating writers of all varieties looking for the perfect word.

Praise for the first edition:

"The best new array of synonyms around."
--William Safire, The New York Times Magazine

"The only problem in consulting this book could be that the original purpose soon is lost while the reader becomes immersed in one fascinating passage after another." --Richmond Times Dispatch

"Practice writing sharper essays with just the right words from the new Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus."-Parade

"A person looking up a word may continue reading for another 15 minutes or so just out of interestThis is probably the best thesaurus yet."--Desert News

"Written by writers for writers, this innovative thesaurus truly advances the time-honored word source."--American Libraries

"A title that breathes fresh life into a genre very much in need of CPR. This work breaks away from the traditional format of simple lists of synonyms and antonyms by offering a number of ingenious and helpful features set within boxes in the text.... Highly recommended."--Library Journal (Starred Review)

"In the jargon of sportscasters The Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus is a triple threat: It's a freshly conceived guide to finding just the right word, it's published by the greatest name in English reference books, and it offers thoughtful, amusing and provocative mini-essays on 240 favorite words by nine distinguished contemporary writers."
--Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize winning critic and longtime journalist for The Washington Post

"This very readable reference will help writers find the most precise word for their needs.... Current, thoughtful, and attractively formatted, this is an indispensable tool for writers."
--School Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Perhaps the thesaurus's most fascinating feature is lengthy lists of words that link opposites--fat and thin, comic and tragic, interesting and boring. With this book close at hand, no one will call you the thesaurus's ultimate synonym for writer: a hack."
--Village Voice

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

An improvement over sterile word books and scattered online reference works, this succinct and focused thesaurus offers 300,000 synonyms and 100,000 antonyms, with pedagogy sprinkled along the way. A readable layout blends boldface entries and italicized models among word lists and limits dingbats to arrows. The text favors a variety of users. For the beginning writer or student of composition, “Choose the Right Word” notes encourage contrast, such as sterile versus sanitary. “Word Links” advance readers to alternate listings, for example, from reptile to herpetology. “Word Spectrum” sidebars offer a word continuum, as with the scale of terms from plain to fancy, and new “Word Toolkits,” a form of cross-referencing, connect the reader to close synonyms, such as daunting and formidable. Signed commentary under “Word Notes” offers insight into how and why connotations collect around words. Some, such as David Lehman’s analysis of foundation garments, stray from pedagogy to a cutesy irrelevance. Michael Dirda’s definition of patriotic implies that lovers of their homeland are all male. For this edition, the thematic tables of words from architecture, cooking, geography, and other areas have been collected in a “Wordfinder” section in the center of the volume along with a three-page list of archaic terms and a two-page compilation of such artsy terms as troublous and espy.  Although the thesaurus does not seem to have grown, and updating appears to be minimal, this edition is easier to read. Recommended for most libraries that did not acquire the first edition as well as for libraries where the first edition is dog-eared.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1128 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (November 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195342844
• ISBN-13: 978-0195342840
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.2 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Thesauruses

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could be better, February 11, 2010

By 

Ralph A. Muench (Calgary, AB) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus (Hardcover)

I bought this thesaurus along with The Synonym Finder and compared the two. I found The Synonym Finder far superior in all cases. While the Oxford Writer's was good, it wastes valuable space with unnecessary 'tips' and stories from contributing authors. In order to make space for these, it also saves space by deferring readers to other similar words in a few cases in stead of listing all synonyms for each and every word.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than first edition, October 18, 2008

By 

DorothyFan1 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus (Hardcover)

The new edition of the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus is superior for several reasons...several of which were left out of the editorial review listed above.

1. I noticed the listing of the words have been updated. The listing of words are now printed in a slightly bolder typeface - making it easier to pick out the meaning.

2. The word headings themselves are slightly larger...again making it simpler to locate definitions on the page.

3. The page layout seems to be cleaner. When you open up any page...you'll quickly notice how much nicer the structured plan is for showing words.

There is one more caveat I'd like to mention. I believe this new version, although labeled "Second Edition", should be considered a revision to the first one and not realistically a new printing. I say this because the jacket description mentions the same number of words are incorporated, namely the listing of 300,000 synonyms. There is no mention of "new" synonyms added to this "Second" printing. Otherwise the editors of this edition would have mentioned the addition of newer synonyms added to this edition. Remember, The Synonym Finder, another good resource, has a much higher listing of synonyms than the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus...about 1.2 million.

Overall, the Second Edition to the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus is a much cleaner, easier version to use.

25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars EH, it's just a thesaurus, January 11, 2009

By 

theskeptic "theskeptic" (Jersey) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus (Hardcover)

OK, it's a decent thesaurus. I have a few different ones, and this one seems fine. I don't know what makes it a "writer's" thesaurus per se... it's just an ordinary thesaurus as far as I can see. But it's OK.

However, it doesn't seem to even remotely approach Rodale's "The Synonym Finder" in completeness, so I don't understand why other reviewers are waxing batty over this one. It has a pleasant layout, nice on the eyes, but I still find myself turning to "The Synonym Finder" as my first choice. It's just bigger, bolder, and broader. "The Synonym Finder" is the real "writer's" thesaurus, if any one is.