Betty Kirkpatrick - Websters Word Power English Thesaurus: A-Z of Alternative Words

ENGLISH THESAURUS

This book is an accessible and comprehensive 'word-finder'. It provides over 150,000 synonyms (words that have similar meanings), arranged in AZ style.

Thesauruses are invaluable if you want to make your writing varied and interesting.

This thesaurus provides an alphabetical listing of 10,000 words with their related synonyms. Here's how to use the book: imagine you want to say that a joke is 'funny' but that you have used the word once before in your paragraph. Look up 'funny' in the thesaurus and it will tell you that you could also use the words 'amusing', 'comical', 'humorous', 'hilarious', 'entertaining', or a number of other words instead.

Many words have more than one sense or meaning. 'Funny', for example, does not only apply to things that make you laugh. It can also be applied to things or people that are rather odd, and under this meaning the thesaurus lists 'odd', 'peculiar', 'weird', 'bizarre', and so on.

funnyadj amusing, comic, comical, diverting, droll, entertaining, facetious, hilarious, humorous, jocose, jocular, witty. farcical, laughable, ludicrous. bizarre, curious, odd, peculiar, strange. n jest, joke. cartoon, comic.

In this book, you will find that those words that have more than one meaning have more than one list of synonyms and that these are numbered , , and so on. Thus, 'funny' meaning 'amusing' is under , 'funny' meaning 'deserving mockery' is under , and 'funny' meaning 'odd' is under . Some words have quite a few different synonym lists depending on the number of meanings attached to them.

Antonyms

Antonyms are the opposite of synonyms. They refer to words that have the opposite meaning. There are antonyms for some of the headwords in this book. You'll find them below the main entry, labelled with a part of speech.

abbreviatevb abridge, compress, condense, contract, cut, curtail, epitomize, reduce, retrench, shorten.

vb antonyms amplify, extend.

Other features:

Strict alphabetical order is followed. All compound words and hyphenated words are alphabetized as if they are one word.

Variant spellings appear in bold type next to the headword.

Parts of speech are indicated in italic, after the bold headword, by the abbreviations shown on the following page. Other parts of speech after the main headword are indicated by a full point (.) and .

Different senses within parts of speech are numbered. Parts of speech are separated by full points (.) and .

Words of different origins but with the same spelling are given separate, numbered entries.

Registers are indicated by the following labels: fml, inf, sl, derog, off.

Abbreviations

A

abackadv back, backward, regressively.

abandonvb abdicate, abjure, desert, drop, evacuate, forsake, forswear, leave, quit, relinquish, yield. cede, forgo, give up, let go, renounce, resign, surrender, vacate, waive. n careless freedom, dash, impetuosity, impulse, wildness.

vb antonyms continue, persist, support.

n antonym restraint.

abandonedadj depraved, derelict, deserted, discarded, dropped, forsaken, left, outcast, rejected, relinquished. corrupt, demoralized, depraved, dissolute, graceless, impenitent, irreclaimable, lost, obdurate, profligate, reprobate, shameless, sinful, unprincipled, vicious, wicked.

adj antonyms cherished, restrained.

abandonmentn desertion, dereliction, giving up, leaving, relinquishment, renunciation, surrender.

abasevb depress, drop, lower, reduce, sink. debase, degrade, disgrace, humble, humiliate.

vb antonyms elevate, honour.

abasementn abjection, debasement, degradation, disgrace, humbleness, humiliation, shame.

abashvb affront, bewilder, confound, confuse, dash, discompose, disconcert, embarrass, humiliate, humble, shame, snub.

abashmentn confusion, embarrassment, humiliation, mortification, shame.

abatevb diminish, decrease, lessen, lower, moderate, reduce, relax, remove, slacken. allow, bate, deduct, mitigate, rebate, remit. allay, alleviate, appease, assuage, blunt, calm, compose, dull, mitigate, moderate, mollify, pacify, qualify, quiet, quell, soften, soothe, tranquillize.

vb antonyms increase, strengthen.

abatementn alleviation, assuagement, decrement, decrease, extenuation, mitigation, moderation, remission. cessation, decline, diminution, ebb, fading, lowering, sinking, settlement. allowance, deduction, rebate, reduction.

abbeyn convent, monastery, priory.

abbreviatevb abridge, compress, condense, contract, cut, curtail, epitomize, reduce, retrench, shorten.

vb antonyms amplify, extend.

abbreviationn abridgment, compression, condensation, contraction, curtailment, cutting, reduction, shortening.

n antonyms expansion, extension.

abdicatevb abandon, cede, forgo, forsake, give up, quit, relinquish, renounce, resign, retire, surrender.

abdicationn abandonment, abdicating, relinquishment, renunciation, resignation, surrender.

abdomenn belly, gut, paunch, stomach, (inf) tummy.

abductvb carry off, kidnap, spirit away, take away.

abductionn carrying off, kidnapping, removal, seizure, withdrawal.

aberrantadj deviating, devious, divergent, diverging, erratic, rambling, wandering. abnormal, anomalous, disconnected, eccentric, erratic, exceptional, inconsequent, peculiar, irregular, preternatural, singular, strange, unnatural, unusual.