Merriam Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus (Hardcover)

~ Merriam-Webster (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Find the right word to enrich communication. Alphabetical lists include more than 340,000 synonyms, antonyms, related and contrasted words, and idioms. Brief definitions describe the meaning shared by synonyms. Thumb-notched, and jacketed. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Since 1937. Merriam-Webster is America's foremost publisher of language-related reference works. The company publishes a diverse array of print and electronic products, including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition – America's best-selling desk dictionary – and Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster can be considered the direct lexicographical heir of Noah Webster. In 1843, the company bought the rights to the 1841 edition of Webster's magnum opus, An American Dictionary of the English Language, Corrected and Enlarged. At the same time, they secured the rights to create revised editions of the work. Since that time, Merriam-Webster editors have carried forward Noah Webster's work, creating some of the most widely used and respected dictionaries and reference books in the world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 894 pages
• Publisher: Merriam-Webster; Ind Rei edition (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877791694
• ISBN-13: 978-0877791690
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,038 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #4 in	Books > Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > English (American)
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best single tool to improve your writing, July 7, 2001

By	Brian (NYC USA) - See all my reviews

Most other dictionary-format thesauri (Roget's II, for instance) simply won't give you what you want on the first try. If, for instance, you want a more decorous word for "smelly", you're brusquely told to "see MALODOROUS". This means that most of the words you are likely to be looking up require a time-wasting two step process: first find the word you want to replace, then find the main entry for that concept. By the time you've finished flipping back and forth through the pages you've forgotten what it is your looking for.

The Webster's version is a thousand times more convenient. If you look up a specific word, you're guaranteed to find about a dozen or so of the most common synonyms right there (funky, stinky, rank, etc.). This first entry is probably all you'll need, and it constitutes the main time-saving benefit of this edition. But there's more. The real verbomaniacs among us get referred to the main entry of the concept. Here you'll find the mother lode of words, often numbering into the dozens and ranging from the most commonplace to the ridiculously obscure (e.g. mephitic, olid, stenchful). You'll also find related terms (vile, rotten, pestilential), contrasting terms (fresh, clean, deoderized), and antonyms (fragrent, sweet) all in the same place, just as you would in Roget's conceptually arranged International edition. Like I said, most writers are sure to find what they need on the first try.

The only other thesaurus that approaches this one is the Random House Collegiate, but I don't think that one has definitions; this one does. I'm also pretty sure this one has more words than Random House, Roget's 21st Century, or any other. It's also inexpensive for a hardcover, so how can you lose?

65 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Merriam-Webster disappoints for once, March 28, 2002

By	Jmark2001 (Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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This will do if you only use a thesaurus occasionally but it won't do for the rest of us. The usually superlative Merriam-Webster product line missed the beat with this one. Although Roget's is a bit more time consuming to use, it is infinitely more rewarding than this volume. I was very disappointed at the small number of synonyms found for each entry in Merriam. In Roget, you can easily find many words that differ by only the slightest and most subtle shade of meaning. In this book, if it isn't an exact match, you won't know about it. I also saw no point to including antonyms in a thesaurus. I would have preferred many more synonyms included in the space used for antonyms.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars disappointed, September 13, 2005

By	Dolson "thatzme" (Bishop, CA) - See all my reviews

Having used and liked my friend's Roget's 4th Edition Thesaurus, I wanted one of my own. But apparently, Roget's changed the format after the 4th Edition. Rather than get the latest Roget's (6th Edition?), which several buyers didn't like, I went for the Merriam-Webster. For one, it boasted over 60,000 more entries than Roget's. And, it was supposidely easier to use. Well, I've barely used it and I'm really disappointed. Several words I consider fairly common weren't even there! For example, look up "anomaly" in Roget's and you get 5 catagories, each with numerous word-choices. In Merriam-Webster "anomaly" isn't even there!! Neither is "vested". I'm sure there are dozens more. I wish I could return it, but it is 2-weeks past the 30-day limit.