Roget's International Thesaurus [Paperback]

Robert L. Chapman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0062720376 | ISBN-13: 978-0062720375 | Edition: 5th

Only in Roget's International Thesaurus will you find 43 ways to say overjoyed and 39 ways to say dejected, 32 ways to be astonished, 59 ways to laugh and 23 ways to weep -- and even 58 words to describe the color yellow.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Barbara Ann Kipfer is a lexicographer and reviser of Roget's International Thesaurus, as well as author of 14,000 Things to Be Happy About.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1328 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 5th edition (August 24, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062720376
• ISBN-13: 978-0062720375
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,008,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

168 of 172 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for anyone who uses the English language, July 18, 2000

By 

GM Rieker - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Roget International Thesaurus Index 5E (Roget's International Thesaurus Indexed) (Hardcover)

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.

128 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget an alphabetically organized thesaurus, July 1, 2001

By 

Joseph G. Murray (Waterford, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Roget's International Thesaurus (5th Edition) (Library Binding)

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.

57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly fabulous book., December 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Roget's International Thesaurus (Hardcover)

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.