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Roget's International Thesaurus
The revolutionary achievement of Dr. Peter Mark Roget's first edition in 1852 was the development of a brand new principle: the arrangement of words and phrases according to their meanings. Dr. Roget's system brings together in one place all the terms associated with a single thought or concept; it allows a wide–ranging survey of language within a book of relatively modest size, without the space–consuming repetitions that so severely limit the scope of thesauruses arranged in a dictionary format with A–to–Z entries. This brilliant organization makes Roget's International Thesaurus® both the most efficient word finder and a cutting–edge aid in stimulating thought, organizing ideas, and writing and speaking more clearly and effectively. This revised and updated sixth edition features thousands of new words and phrases, including the newest slang words and expressions that color and inform everyday language. It retains all of the hallmarks that have made Roget's International Thesaurus® an enduring classic: more than 330,000 words and phrases organized into 1,075 categories. A pinpoint reference system that directs the user quickly from a comprehensive index to the numbered category of the right word. Thousands of cross–references throughout lead to other helpful categories. Hundreds of supplemental word lists that supply the names of things which have no synonyms (measurements, wines, weapons, animals, state mottoes, and more) as well as hundreds of quotations that amplify the meanings of selected words. Generations of students, writers, editors, and speakers have made Roget's the most popular word reference book next to the dictionary. Continuing a legacy that dates back more than 150 years, Roget's International Thesaurus® is an indispensable work for everyone who wants to use the English language with clarity and precision.
1248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1911
About the author
Barbara Ann Kipfer
132 books253 followersDr. Barbara Ann Kipfer (born in 1954) is a lexicographer,as well as an archaeologist. She has written more than 60 books, including 14,000 Things to be Happy About (Workman), which has more than a million copies in print and has given rise to many Page-a-Day calendars. The 25th anniversary edition of the book was published in October 2014. She is the editor of Roget's International Thesaurus.
Kipfer is Chief Lexicographer of the company Temnos. She has worked for such companies as Google, Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, Answers.com, Ask Jeeves, Bellcore/Telcordia, Federated Media Publishing, General Electric Research, IBM Research, idealab, Knowledge Adventure, Textdigger, The Chicago Tribune, and WolframAlpha. Barbara holds a PhD and MPhil in Linguistics (University of Exeter), a PhD in Archaeology (Greenwich University), an MA and a PhD in Buddhist Studies (Akamai University), and a BS in Physical Education (Valparaiso University).
(from Wikipedia)
Kipfer is Chief Lexicographer of the company Temnos. She has worked for such companies as Google, Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, Answers.com, Ask Jeeves, Bellcore/Telcordia, Federated Media Publishing, General Electric Research, IBM Research, idealab, Knowledge Adventure, Textdigger, The Chicago Tribune, and WolframAlpha. Barbara holds a PhD and MPhil in Linguistics (University of Exeter), a PhD in Archaeology (Greenwich University), an MA and a PhD in Buddhist Studies (Akamai University), and a BS in Physical Education (Valparaiso University).
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
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June 4, 2020I got a personal message on Goodreads the other day by somebody spruiking his new book site. It was great, he said, you can chat to people about books on it. After making the obvious point that he was telling me that on a site where people chat about books, he enthusiastically assured me that if I just went and had a look, I'd see....
So I did. Book-talks.com You need a login to see chat rooms, but you can see books and their blurbs without that. I zeroed in on The Great Gatsby on account of how it's more or less my favourite book. And this is what I read:
Something odd is going on here. It's either been written by a non-native person with a thesaurus...or an algorithm? I put a sentence into google and discovered the answer.
The blurb has been taken lock stock and barrel from wiki's The Great Gatsby entry and a thesaurus loving algorithm has changed some words to make it 'original'. The comparisons between the two are hilarious. It would make a nice lesson for school kids on understanding what a thesaurus is and the dangers of using it.
So I did. Book-talks.com You need a login to see chat rooms, but you can see books and their blurbs without that. I zeroed in on The Great Gatsby on account of how it's more or less my favourite book. And this is what I read:
The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel composed by American creator F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the anecdotal towns of West Egg and East Egg on prosperous Long Island in the late spring of 1922. The story essentially concerns the youthful and baffling mogul Jay Gatsby and his eccentric energy and fixation on the excellent previous debutante Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby investigates topics of debauchery, vision, protection from change, social change and abundance, making a representation of the Roaring Twenties that has been depicted as a useful example in regards to the American Dream.
Something odd is going on here. It's either been written by a non-native person with a thesaurus...or an algorithm? I put a sentence into google and discovered the answer.
The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional towns of West Egg and East Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. Many literary critics consider The Great Gatsby to be one of the greatest novels ever written.[1][2][3][4]
The story of the book primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession with the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval and excess, creating a portrait of the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary[a] tale regarding the American Dream.[5][6]
The blurb has been taken lock stock and barrel from wiki's The Great Gatsby entry and a thesaurus loving algorithm has changed some words to make it 'original'. The comparisons between the two are hilarious. It would make a nice lesson for school kids on understanding what a thesaurus is and the dangers of using it.
August 21, 2012
A desk without a good thesaurus is like a house without windows.
June 23, 2010
Besides being a "use-full" book, I consider Roget's a sort of "holy" book. I could write a book about this book; not a biography of the author, but, how this book can change one's life..., how it can guide and order a life. It has so much power. Perhaps I'll take on the project of explaining the way I perceive this book; how I use it. I've tried, verbally, but always fail and leave the listener yawning. I will work on it, and change this review when its done.
For now, let it suffice... get the oldest edition possible. I've collected quite a few. Make sure you have the preface, dedication and Roget's own preface to the first edition (it's great reading what the man who wrote the book on words wrote)(and so humble, too!) and of course the listing/synopsis of the Categories. One can order one's life with this list.
Through Goodreads' suggestions I find "The Man Who Made Lists" (Roget's biography) by Joshua Kendall and plan to read it right away. Thanks!
Does anyone know of a [study:] of the Synopsis of Catagories?
For now, let it suffice... get the oldest edition possible. I've collected quite a few. Make sure you have the preface, dedication and Roget's own preface to the first edition (it's great reading what the man who wrote the book on words wrote)(and so humble, too!) and of course the listing/synopsis of the Categories. One can order one's life with this list.
Through Goodreads' suggestions I find "The Man Who Made Lists" (Roget's biography) by Joshua Kendall and plan to read it right away. Thanks!
Does anyone know of a [study:] of the Synopsis of Catagories?
January 14, 2015
Just got this, and it's still the best - "The original Roget's", as the dust jacket says. The way it's organized is counter-intuitive, at least for me, but it works better than anything else I've found. I've been accumulating - collecting sounds too organized - dictionaries and thesauruses (thesauri?) since I was a teenager, and I always come back to the original-format Roget's. Believing that using exactly the right word is important, for me this book would be worth buying at twice the price.
June 12, 2009
Yes, I literally read the thesaurus. Twice. I'm not pretentious, I just love words!
March 12, 2010
synonums, but also antonyms
Roget's Thesaurus of synonums & antonyms
Easy to use
Complete Index
Many New Words
Over 100,000 words
Select the Right Word
Classification of Words
Key Words in Bold Type
Roget's Thesaurus of synonums & antonyms
Easy to use
Complete Index
Many New Words
Over 100,000 words
Select the Right Word
Classification of Words
Key Words in Bold Type
October 27, 2021
At first, I thought the back index was a cumbersome extra step to accommodate a poor organizational choice.
Absolutely wrong on my part. This thing is beautifully done.
There have been a few things I tried to find so far and couldn’t, but what is there is superb. The inclusion of phrases gives it a leg up on other thesauruses. Reading it feels traveling a current. Each group of concepts flows into the next, and there are shiny, unexpected pebbles all over the river bed. You could happily drown in it.
Highly recommend for anyone who worries that they’ve exhausted the finite combinations of words in the English language.
Really, really outstanding and inspiring to use. 💛
Edit to add: I suspect it’s thick enough to kill a man, if thrown properly, which is a sure hallmark of any decent printed thesaurus.
Absolutely wrong on my part. This thing is beautifully done.
There have been a few things I tried to find so far and couldn’t, but what is there is superb. The inclusion of phrases gives it a leg up on other thesauruses. Reading it feels traveling a current. Each group of concepts flows into the next, and there are shiny, unexpected pebbles all over the river bed. You could happily drown in it.
Highly recommend for anyone who worries that they’ve exhausted the finite combinations of words in the English language.
Really, really outstanding and inspiring to use. 💛
Edit to add: I suspect it’s thick enough to kill a man, if thrown properly, which is a sure hallmark of any decent printed thesaurus.
December 23, 2007
It worked for Sylvia Plath!
April 9, 2016
Hard to read. Just kept saying the same thing over and over but in different words.
December 17, 2021
The book has been reprinted and expanded incalculable times, making it one of the typical desk reference works for students, teachers and writers of all kinds. The latest edition contains over 250,000 words.
Millions of copies of the book remain in use.
Every day thousands of people consult Roget’s Thesaurus. It has a place on the bookshelves of English speakers around the world. When one peruses the reference section of any bookshop or the databases of internet booksellers one finds dozens of current editions of a work that was first published more than a century and a half ago.
International Roget’s Thesaurus, Students’ Roget’s, Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Pocket Roget’s Thesaurus.The inventory goes on and on.
The authority of Roget’s Thesaurus has extended from the work of academic linguists and computer scientists to the dead parrot sketch in Monty Python’s Flying Circus, in which much of the humour derives from John Cleese running through a catalog of synonyms for ‘dead’ that has fairly obviously been culled from the famous reference book.
When Peter Mark Roget was born, George III was 19 years into his 60-year-long reign. When he died, Queen Victoria was 32 years into her even longer period on the throne.
During the 90 years he was alive, Britain and the world changed radically. At the time he was born, the country was fighting an eventually
ineffective war to keep control of its most prized colonies in North America and prophets of doom were proclaiming the end of the nation’s greatness.
When he died, Britain was the centre of a vast worldwide empire, on the verge of an expansion into Africa that would make it even vaster.
Like others in his family, he often suffered from sessions of despair, some of it stemming from a shocking incident in which his beloved uncle had committed suicide by slashing his throat in the young man’s presence.
Yet he was a high achiever, gaining election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1815 and serving as that organization’s secretary for over 20 years.
He also held many other esteemed posts.
As the author of countless scientific papers on a host of subjects, Roget was never one to sit indolently by, however, and in an effort to keep himself on track and flee from melancholia, he became an obsessive list-maker.
Obsessed with compiling indices, tables, catalogues and sorting schemes of many sorts, he was chiefly influenced by Carl Linnaeus’s zoological classification system.
Blessed with a voracious appetite for knowledge and an infinite craving for work, Roget always strived to use the precise word for what he wished to convey.
To aid himself in this task, in order to ‘supply my own deficiencies’, in 1805 he set about expanding this list-making to create a system whereby he could organize his word lists by meaning in order to efficiently find the right word when he needed it.
He worked excitedly on the scheme for a year, calling the finished manuscript his ‘thesaurus’ from the Greek word for treasury or storehouse.
Over the next 44 years, Roget often consulted his personal categorization system of related words and found it useful in his writing. But he never shared the system with other writers.
When he turned 70 his daughter suggested that he publish the document as a retirement project and he agreed.
Three years later in 1852 Roget published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Classified and Arranged so as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas and Assist in Literary Composition.
The book listed 15,000 words. Roget did not consider them synonyms because he believed every word was unique, but over time, the very name Roget would come to signify synonym for many readers.
A remarkable man and a remarkable book!!
Millions of copies of the book remain in use.
Every day thousands of people consult Roget’s Thesaurus. It has a place on the bookshelves of English speakers around the world. When one peruses the reference section of any bookshop or the databases of internet booksellers one finds dozens of current editions of a work that was first published more than a century and a half ago.
International Roget’s Thesaurus, Students’ Roget’s, Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Pocket Roget’s Thesaurus.The inventory goes on and on.
The authority of Roget’s Thesaurus has extended from the work of academic linguists and computer scientists to the dead parrot sketch in Monty Python’s Flying Circus, in which much of the humour derives from John Cleese running through a catalog of synonyms for ‘dead’ that has fairly obviously been culled from the famous reference book.
When Peter Mark Roget was born, George III was 19 years into his 60-year-long reign. When he died, Queen Victoria was 32 years into her even longer period on the throne.
During the 90 years he was alive, Britain and the world changed radically. At the time he was born, the country was fighting an eventually
ineffective war to keep control of its most prized colonies in North America and prophets of doom were proclaiming the end of the nation’s greatness.
When he died, Britain was the centre of a vast worldwide empire, on the verge of an expansion into Africa that would make it even vaster.
Like others in his family, he often suffered from sessions of despair, some of it stemming from a shocking incident in which his beloved uncle had committed suicide by slashing his throat in the young man’s presence.
Yet he was a high achiever, gaining election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1815 and serving as that organization’s secretary for over 20 years.
He also held many other esteemed posts.
As the author of countless scientific papers on a host of subjects, Roget was never one to sit indolently by, however, and in an effort to keep himself on track and flee from melancholia, he became an obsessive list-maker.
Obsessed with compiling indices, tables, catalogues and sorting schemes of many sorts, he was chiefly influenced by Carl Linnaeus’s zoological classification system.
Blessed with a voracious appetite for knowledge and an infinite craving for work, Roget always strived to use the precise word for what he wished to convey.
To aid himself in this task, in order to ‘supply my own deficiencies’, in 1805 he set about expanding this list-making to create a system whereby he could organize his word lists by meaning in order to efficiently find the right word when he needed it.
He worked excitedly on the scheme for a year, calling the finished manuscript his ‘thesaurus’ from the Greek word for treasury or storehouse.
Over the next 44 years, Roget often consulted his personal categorization system of related words and found it useful in his writing. But he never shared the system with other writers.
When he turned 70 his daughter suggested that he publish the document as a retirement project and he agreed.
Three years later in 1852 Roget published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Classified and Arranged so as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas and Assist in Literary Composition.
The book listed 15,000 words. Roget did not consider them synonyms because he believed every word was unique, but over time, the very name Roget would come to signify synonym for many readers.
A remarkable man and a remarkable book!!
November 12, 2008
I forget the precise point in my life where I finally got my hands on this magnificent volume; it was either late in high school or in the ramp-up to college. But whenever it was, it was a watershed moment.
This is definitely a tool that takes some getting used to, particularly if you have already been using an alphabetical-entry thesaurus. The Roget's, with its categories and its massive index (it must be a third of the page count) was very daunting and a bit unfriendly to a young user. But once I figured out how the book worked, I was in word heaven. I could not imagine not having this within arm's reach while doing writing of any sort now.
This is definitely a tool that takes some getting used to, particularly if you have already been using an alphabetical-entry thesaurus. The Roget's, with its categories and its massive index (it must be a third of the page count) was very daunting and a bit unfriendly to a young user. But once I figured out how the book worked, I was in word heaven. I could not imagine not having this within arm's reach while doing writing of any sort now.
Read
February 22, 2010Roget's unique categorical organization of words makes it an enduring classic. It was, perhaps, slightly more difficult to figure out how to use when I was a child than alphabetically-organized thesauri, but once I understood the system, Roget's helped engender a love of words in me that assured me top marks on the SAT, GRE, and the verbal sections of all other standardized tests. I actually read this thesaurus for fun![return][return]It seems odd to be so passionate about a reference book, but the fact remains: no other thesaurus will ever be allowed in my house.
December 29, 2007
maybe one of the few books on my shelves really deserving the five-star rating.
indispensable.
i'm not sure if this edition has the format i prefer: a dictionary in the back, and the front arranged with synonyms opposite antonyms all arranged by concept (from abstract to specific)
not only indispensable but for anyone reading english as a second-language, required
indispensable.
i'm not sure if this edition has the format i prefer: a dictionary in the back, and the front arranged with synonyms opposite antonyms all arranged by concept (from abstract to specific)
not only indispensable but for anyone reading english as a second-language, required
August 18, 2011
A friend of mine scoffed at my high school era thesaurus, as she vastly preferred the older 1946 edition. Tracking down a copy for myself was the first step in what has turned into a collection of Roget's Thesauri. It's definitely different from the later editions. I can't say it's better or worse, but I do like checking between them from time to time when I'm not finding quite the right word.
March 6, 2008
I don't know who this Roger guy is, but I have to say, this book confused the hell out of me. If there’s a plot, I couldn’t find one, or any main characters. Also, it seems awfully repetitive, and where the hell was the Minotaur?
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April 7, 2020Whew I finally flipped through all half a million words and 1,350 pages...sike! Though I did spend half an hour learning about this behemoth and how to use it, and I feel strong about my acquisition and future choices of my written words.
August 22, 2007
the alphabetical versions are for cowards-- wrestle with the numbering system as a steppingstone to understanding the semantic web, etc
September 16, 2011
Roget is my hero. A marvel of hierarchies.
September 25, 2011
Best thesaurus ever! I own an old and battered third edition, but you couldn't pay me to part with it.
February 9, 2023
EXPERIENCED WRITERS SHOULD AVOID THESE "VERSIONS"...
"Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus" (subtitle: "in dictionary form")
"Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus in Dictionary Form"
It's telling that Amazon (@2023FEB) offers no "look inside" teaser for this pretender. Most likely this hides the inherent inadequacy of the dictionary form.
"New American Roget's College Thesaurus in Dictionary Form"
This DOES have a look-inside feature - and it confirms my fear - that the concept-based organization (used in the various International versions) is destroyed. Grouping by concept offers a rich set of alternate ideas that can cause the writer to abandon "the word" and use other ideas to enrich the narrative.
I found this, which states the contrast very well:
Roget's original organization is so much richer. Roget's format (non-dictionary) provides 50-times more synonyms and surrounds entries with pages of context. Dictionary format only provides several synonyms - period - no context, only a very limited and flat view.
TO BE "FAIR"
It seems likely that there is a "market" for the dictionary form thesarus. IF one is not a reader, with the attendant consequence for one's writing, this type may well fill the bill.
Others should FIRST try the full-strength versions. When I encountered Roget's International Thesaurus, 4th Edition , it was immediately plain that THIS, concept-ordered thesaurus is the superior one to acheive nuance and to refine style.
EDITION FIVE
Many copies are available for six dollars - go get one!
October 28, 2018
The gold standard for all thesauruses.
February 28, 2019
As gripping a literary work as could be produced without plot or characters!
September 8, 2019
Regardless of the vast options for internet resources on how to write well, a hard copy of a Thesaurus is invaluable. It was useful for school and useful for writing today.
March 22, 2022
Less repetitive than I feared.
March 4, 2024
Just learned 5 different ways to say “holy shit”
May 29, 2014
Usually I read a book twice, to be sure, before reviewing. This one, however, I haven't read through even once.
Roget's International Thesaurus was not designed to be read. It's wonderful for browsing, though.
The real charm to it is that it is organized by topic, not alphabetically. You can drill down from the overarching concepts or look up the section in the index in the back. But once you have gotten to it -- well, in an alphabetical one, since they have to repeat the synonyms for each word, they have to limit their size. For this one, under "Light" they have nearly two pages covering nouns -- shine, glitter, flash, daylight, iridescence -- verbs -- shine, luminesce, illuminate -- and adjectives -- bright, flashing, illuminating -- each of which words is beginning of a paragraph of closely related words, among many such clumps.
It's not a book for reading, but anyone in love with words will find it a nice book for browsing.
Roget's International Thesaurus was not designed to be read. It's wonderful for browsing, though.
The real charm to it is that it is organized by topic, not alphabetically. You can drill down from the overarching concepts or look up the section in the index in the back. But once you have gotten to it -- well, in an alphabetical one, since they have to repeat the synonyms for each word, they have to limit their size. For this one, under "Light" they have nearly two pages covering nouns -- shine, glitter, flash, daylight, iridescence -- verbs -- shine, luminesce, illuminate -- and adjectives -- bright, flashing, illuminating -- each of which words is beginning of a paragraph of closely related words, among many such clumps.
It's not a book for reading, but anyone in love with words will find it a nice book for browsing.
October 15, 2018
An online thesaurus is convenient but lacking the nuances of an actual hardcopy of this spectacular international thesaurus, which makes users look up words (ideas) in the index where we will find its closest synonyms. When we choose the closest synonym, we are sent to a numbered section filled with more words - heaven!
Long ago, I inherited my dad's paperback version of this book. It fell apart over time. I rescued this hardcover from book sale donations.
A downloadable version is available through Project Gutenberg.
Long ago, I inherited my dad's paperback version of this book. It fell apart over time. I rescued this hardcover from book sale donations.
A downloadable version is available through Project Gutenberg.
July 1, 2009
Yes, I read an entire thesaurus, thank you. I unpretentiously but diligently devoured it cover to cover in approximately 4 hours and now I am not bragging about it, but merely informing you of my accomplishment. Ah, the review. I found it trite, convoluted, and absurd. It was ingenuous in its rare attempts at humor.
January 15, 2012
Even though I've had this book since I graduated from high school in 1989 (thanks Ms. Delcarpio!), I have not read the whole thing. Show me someone who has read the enitre Roget's Thesaurus, and I will applaud that person for being a bigger word geek than I am.
This book has helped me so much with my writing. When I need a new word, this book is where I turn. I love it!
This book has helped me so much with my writing. When I need a new word, this book is where I turn. I love it!
April 11, 2008
A gift from my dad--was it seventh grade? Sometime in middle school. And I took it to college with me. Forget Merriam-Webster online--this is one of my most valuable possessions! It's full of not just synonyms, but literary references and turns-of-phrase.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews