Can a word's inner life be revealed by the company it keeps? We set off this month to find out just that, examining April through the prism of the Visual Thesaurus and some other word investigation tools we keep in that big sideboard over against the wall of the Language Lounge.

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Orin Hargraves is an independent lexicographer and contributor to numerous dictionaries published in the US, the UK, and Europe. He is also the author of Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions (Oxford), the definitive guide to British and American differences, and Slang Rules! (Merriam-Webster), a practical guide for English learners. Click here to visit his website. Click here to read more articles by Orin Hargraves.