STILL, A THESAURUS DOES HAVE USES, FUNCTIONS, PURPOSES,
AND APPLICATIONS
A the sau rus can be help ful—if you use it prop er ly.
The best way to use a thesaurus is as a supplement to
your dic tio nary, as a reference work that can help you find
the word that expresses precisely what you are trying to say.
A good thesaurus is intended to help a speaker or writ er dis-
tinguish the shades of difference between words of sim i lar
meaning.
HOW TO USE THE THESAURUS: AN EXAMPLE
Let’s say you’re trying to describe Randolph, someone
who never lends money to anyone. Randolph examines his
month ly bank state ment with a calculator to make sure that
his interest has been properly computed to the penny. Ran-
dolph is someone who, like Jack Benny, would have to think
long and hard if a mugger pre sent ed him with the dilemma
“Your money or your life.”
The first word that comes to mind in de scrib ing Randolph
may be cheap. Being the careful writer you are, you de cide
to see whether cheap is the most precise word you can come
up with.
In The Random House Roget's College The sau rus, you find
the following en try:
cheap adj. 1. Chicken is not as cheap as it was:
in ex pen sive, low-priced, economical, rea son able.
2. Talk is cheap: effort less, costless, easy. 3. The
coat may be expensive, but it looks cheap: shoddy,
shabby, inferior, worthless, poor, sec ond-rate,
trashy, mea ger, pal try, gim crack, flashy, gaudy,
in bad taste, tawdry, tacky, com mon, inelegant.
4. Spreading gossip is a cheap thing to do: contempt-
ible, pet ty, des pi ca ble, sordid, ignoble, wretch ed,
mean, base. Slang two-bit; vul gar, im mor al, inde-
cent. 5. He’s too cheap to pick up the check: tight,
stingy, miserly, pe nu ri ous, tightfisted, close.
WORD SMART
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