The American Heritage College Thesaurus [antikvár]

PrefaceSince the pubUcation of its first edition in 1969, The American Heritage Dictionary has built a reputation for authority, accessibility, and innovation in the art of lexicography. The editors of the American Heritage dictionaries are now pleased to present another first editionThe American Heritage College Thesaurusprepared with the same high lexical standards and the same emphasis on the user's convenience that have become the hallmarks of American Heritage reference works.Most people would agree that a good thesaurus is one of the most usefvd resources a writer can own. No one can be expected to have at immediate disposal all the word choices available in a language, and no one can count on just the right term unfailingly materiahzing in every situation. Whether to avoid repetition, liven up a sentence, or pin down a nuance, even gifted writers can profit from a trip to the thesaurus. At the same time, many would also agree that a typical thesaurus can be frustrating or confusing to consult. In designing The American Heritage College Thesaurus, we took into account the most common criticisms leveled at thesauruses by users as well as by teachers and academics.First and foremost, we focused our synonym lists around a clear central meaning rather than, as in many thesauruses, grouping them loosely, in large numbers, under a broad category or a vaguely glossed general idea. Every sense of every entry in this Thesaurus is associated with a concisely worded definition, and the synonyms that follow are all chosen with that meaning in mind. For example, if you look up the verb linger in most thesauruses, you will find a single undifferentiated list of synonyms having to do generally with the idea ofremaining behind. In The American Heritage College Thesaurus, however, you will find two distinct senses of this verb. If the meaning you are looking for is "to continue to be in a place," you will be directed to synonyms such as bide, tarry, and wait. Or, if your meaning is "to go or move slowly so that progress is hindered," you will be directed to a different list of synonyms such as dawdle, dillydally, and drag. Thus the design prompts you to think first in terms of meaning; once you determine the meaning that best fits your context, the choice of an appropriate synonymfrom a list that has been focused specifically around that meaningis that much easier.Our second goal was to provide a wide selection of current and useful synonyms without including so much extraneous material that the simple act of choosing a word becomes a chore. The American Heritage College Thesaurus has 20,000 headwords with more than 140,000 synonyms in all. Traditional thesauruses are often criticized for their over-long lists full of obscure and dated terminology. We have steered clear of the kind of vocabulary that is rarely if ever seen outside thesauruses themselves and concentrated instead on the terms that are most likely to fit the needs of contemporary writers. In crafting our Usts, however, we have by no means restricted our synonyms only to mainstream vocabulary, since one of the main reasons writers turn to a thesaurus is in search of a colorful or striking alternative to the word they have in mind. Thus we have made a point of including a generous selection of informal, slang, and regional terms as well as numerous idioms, with each category clearly labeled, because the choice of the right level of