Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus

By Joshua Ferris

Book Overview

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.

This book 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

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195342844
• ISBN13: 9780195342840
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 1128 Pages
• Weight: 3.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 2.3" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

An excellent work

A detailed piece of work. Marvelous

Best thesaurus I have seen

If you are looking to buy a good thesaurus with practically every word in the english language then this is the way to go. The writers give you both formal and informal synonyms to the words that you look up. So far, there has not been a single word that I wanted to look up that was not in the thesaurus. The only thing the writers of this book included that was somewhat corny were short 5-6 sentence blurbs that do nothing but take up paper (only some words have these blurbs). For example for the word sexy, the blurb talked about how if someone calls you sexy, then you have it all. Other than that, this thesaurus if flawless.

A new and thought-provoking tool for writers

I was given this as a gift and it was the best present I've received in years. The combination of essays and synonyms makes you want to rummage through the pages. The more words you run across the richer and more expressive your writing will be, and this thesaurus really introduces you to a glorious many. I really like the personal tone of the writers' essays -- it takes what could be a forbidding, boring reference book and makes it like taking a class with these writers. (Where is it written that reference books have to be overserious killjoys to be authoritative? This one manages to be both readable and responsible.) If you are still using a skimpy paperback thesaurus, upgrade! You'll be glad you did.

A New Concept, More Complete than Most

Gustave Flaubert said, "All talent for writing consists after all of nothing more than choosing words." And how can that be wrong. Even as I write this review, I am only choosing words. But to say exactly what I mean is sometimes difficult. I want to say something, I know there is a word that expresses exactly what I want to say, but I can't think of it. Hence a thesaurus. This new thesaurus carries things a lot further. Rather than just providing a list of alternative words, here are real-life example sentences, explicit distinctions for the most commonly used synonyms and many additional features. As an example, here is the entry for the word dramatize: dramatize verb 1. the novel was dramatized TURN INTO A PLAY/MOVIE/MOTION PICTURE/FILM, adapt for the stage/screen. 2. the tabloids dramatized the event EXAGGERATE, overdo, overstate, hyperbolize, magnify, amplify, inflate; sensationalize, embroider, color, aggrandize, embellish, elaborate; informal blow up (out of all proportion).