Search for synonyms using the Visual Thesaurus

The Visual Thesaurus is an online thesaurus and dictionary of over 145,000 words that you explore and visualize using an interactive map.

Type in a word and the Visual Thesaurus will show you a map of synonyms, antonyms, and definitions.

Unlike Roget's Thesaurus, the Visual Thesaurus contains over 39,000 proper nouns and American and British spellings and pronunciations.

It's a tool for people who think visually. Look up your word now!

Word Routes

Exploring the pathways of our lexicon

Backronym of the Week: "Ex-PATRIOT Act"

May 18, 2012
By Ben Zimmer
When news emerged that Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin was renouncing his American citizenship to avoid taxes related to Facebook's IPO, two senators reacted by proposing legislation that would go after the likes of Saverin. Senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey said it was time to "defriend" Saverin, and they announced a bill called the Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy Act, or the Ex-PATRIOT Act for short.  Continue reading...
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Teachers at Work

A column about teaching

Vocabulary Is Where You Find It

May 17, 2012
By Bob Greenman
Long-time teacher Bob Greenman recalls how he he used objects encountered in everyday life as the inspiration for enjoyable and effective vocabulary instruction.  Continue reading...
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Candlepower

Ad and marketing creatives

Campaign Lingo 2012

Premium content available only to Visual Thesaurus subscribers.May 16, 2012
By Nancy Friedman
The U.S. presidential election is six months away, but the Republican debates and primary contests have already gone on for more than a year. The long campaign has meant plenty of exposure to that special genre of language known as political speech.  Continue reading...
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Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

Pleasing the Reader

Premium content available only to Visual Thesaurus subscribers.May 15, 2012
By Michael Lydon
What keeps writing alive? The truth of life. Getting the truth into words is our only hope for immortality. Writing that speaks falsely about life dwindles down to death in a matter of decades.  Continue reading...
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VOCABGRABBER

Automatically create lists of vocabulary from any text using the Visual Thesaurus VocabGrabber.
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SPELLING BEE

Think you are a good speller? Take the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee and find out!
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Blog Excerpts

Lexicon Valley Takes On Singular "They"

May 15, 2012
The podcast Lexicon Valley tackles knotty language issues in an engaging manner. Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield finish a three-part series on language and gender by looking at the struggles over the absence of a gender-neutral pronoun in English. They talk to University of Michigan professor Anne Curzan about the case for singular "they" to fill the gap. Listen to the podcast here, and catch our own interview with Curzan here.
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Blog Excerpts

It's Passive Voice Day. Let It Be Celebrated.

April 27, 2012
A holiday has been created out of thin air and promoted by a blogger named Shaun McCance: Passive Voice Day, to be celebrated by one and all today. Appreciation for the passive voice can be shown by using the hashtag #passivevoiceday on Twitter. As has been said by Shaun, "It's just enjoyed when things are taken to an absurd extreme." Attention has been paid from San Francisco to Australia. More can be read here.
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Wordshop

Vocab activities for your classroom

Teaching Verbs and Confronting the Skunk
May 15, 2012

Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

How to Handle Criticism of Your Writing
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 14, 2012 - 7 Comments

Word Routes

Exploring the pathways of our lexicon

Wild Words of Children's Literature, from "Runcible" to "Rumpus"
May 11, 2012 - 4 Comments

Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

Outlook: Cloudy
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 10, 2012 - 8 Comments

Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

It Is to Be Hoped That You'll Agree
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 9, 2012 - 4 Comments

Teachers at Work

A column about teaching

Stop the Madness: A Plea for Grammar Laxity
May 8, 2012 - 9 Comments

Word Routes

Exploring the pathways of our lexicon

It's Getting "Meta" All the Time
May 7, 2012 - 5 Comments

Blog Excerpts

The Name Game: An Online Forum
May 4, 2012 - 7 Comments

Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

Locution, Locution, Locution: Fewer Words Take up Less Real Estate
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 3, 2012 - 8 Comments

Evasive Maneuvers

Euphemisms old and new

Non-Thinking-Type Think Pieces
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 2, 2012 - 4 Comments

Language Lounge

A Monthly Column for Word Lovers

Jes Lurn 2 Spel
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 1, 2012 - 17 Comments

Teachers at Work

A column about teaching

The Power of One Good Book
April 30, 2012 - 8 Comments

Teachers at Work

A column about teaching

Unfriendly Prefixes?
April 26, 2012 - 3 Comments

Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

Tweet Level Orange
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers April 25, 2012 - 4 Comments

Candlepower

Ad and marketing creatives

Fashion Tribes
April 24, 2012 - 1 Comment

Word Routes

Exploring the pathways of our lexicon

Tracking Down the Roots of a "Super" Word
April 23, 2012 - 7 Comments
Click here to browse all the articles in our archive by date.
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RECENT COMMENTS FROM OUR SUBSCRIBERS

Backronym of the Week: "Ex-PATRIOT Act"
Mike P. said, "Adam Freedman writes entertainingly about the history of "named" laws in his book "The Party of the First Part: The Curious World of Legalese." A..." - Today, 2:19 AM
Vocabulary Is Where You Find It
mac said, "so many thoughts to be shared but i'll just say thanx for confessing about the unread book. i feel less guilty now." - Yesterday, 6:24 PM
Pleasing the Reader
Susan C. said, "Lovely and wise, both!" - Yesterday, 2:47 PM
Vocabulary Is Where You Find It
begum F. said, "Enjoyable suggestions from Mr. Greenman! I agreed previously that I wait eagerly week wise to read articles from almost all VT writers, Mr. Greenman..." - Yesterday, 8:58 AM
yudy S. said, "itz a great idea!! I plan to plagiarize it when I start teaching!!!" - Yesterday, 5:37 AM
Hope I. said, "That was a very innovative way to teach new words!! I myself didn't know the meaning of effervescent and after reading your little story I can gather..." - Yesterday, 4:20 AM
ThomasK said, "Thanks for your column. I do think your starting-point is great: every-day life. It reminds me of something I love to do myself: exploring the..." - Yesterday, 4:04 AM
Stop the Madness: A Plea for Grammar Laxity
surya T. said, "I enjoy when other people write,but seldom write my comments because I am always unsure about my punctuation and grammar.My mother tongue is not..." - Wednesday May 16th, 6:48 PM
Reading Jane
Christine G. said, "Had an exam on pride and prejudice today - I'm in love with the story, the characters, everything. David Nicholls's "One Day" is the only book I've..." - Wednesday May 16th, 4:29 PM
Campaign Lingo 2012
Jason H. said, "Another great article! I finally broke down and purchased a Visual Thesaurus subscription recently, and I must say, I'm enjoying the blog just as much..." - Wednesday May 16th, 11:55 AM

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Lesson Plans

Put the VT to work in your classroom

A Pre-Reading Activity for "The Hunger Games"

April 10, 2012
How can categorizing words from Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games help introduce students to the major themes of the novel?  Continue reading...
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Contest

The Visual Thesaurus Crossword Puzzle: April Edition

Premium content available only to Visual Thesaurus subscribers.April 27, 2012
Happy Arbor Day from everyone at the Visual Thesaurus! We're celebrating with an arboreal crossword puzzle. Solve it and you could win a Visual Thesaurus T-shirt!  Continue reading...
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Announcements

Visual Thesaurus Expands to the iPad and iPhone

June 9, 2011
We've just released a new version of the Visual Thesaurus that works for the iPad and the iPhone, at no extra cost to subscribers. And whether you're using the VT in your Web browser, on your iPhone, or on your iPad, you'll enjoy lightning-fast load times.  Continue reading...
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Self Promotion

Now Wear This!

November 8, 2006
Give your favorite somebody your favorite word map! Now you can order a Visual Thesaurus word map on a t-shirt, mug, even a postage stamp. Simply search for a word, click on the "Share" button on top right hand of the Visual Thesaurus window, and follow the easy steps. We can't think of a better gift -- or a gift to yourself, for that matter! (Hey, we're biased!)
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Webmasters

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Visual Thesaurus Everywhere

Incorporate the Visual Thesaurus into your blog or website, add it to your home page, or use it from Microsoft Word. Learn all the ways that we offer to make the Visual Thesaurus more convenient to use and easier to share with your friends, family, and colleagues: Continue reading...