thesaurus
nounUK /θɪˈsoːɹəs/ · /θɪˈsɔːɹəs/
Etymology 16th century, borrowed from Latin thēsaurus, from Ancient Greek θησαυρός (thēsaurós, “storehouse, treasure”); its current English usage/meaning was established soon after the publication of Peter Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases in 1852. Doublet of treasure.
1
A publication that provides synonyms (and sometimes antonyms and other semantic relations) for the words of a given language.
- "Roget" is the leading brand name for a print English thesaurus that lists words under general concepts rather than just close synonyms.
- As reference books go, the thesaurus has had a somewhat checkered history, in fact, and has probably occasioned as much bad writing as good.2008 April 18, Charles Mcgrath, “The Keeper (See: Steward, Caretaker) of Synonyms”, in New York Times:
2
Archaic A dictionary or encyclopedia.
3
Computing, Engineering, Human sciences, Information science, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A hierarchy of subject headings: canonical titles of themes and topics, the titles serving as search keys.
- Derived terms
- metathesaurus, minithesaurus, thesaural, thesauric, thesauruslike
- Related terms
- ontology, Wiktionary's thesaurus