Like many four-letter words, poll is versatile. Where did it come from, and how did it come to be associated with voting?  Continue reading...

We were, needless to say, absolutely thrilled to learn that the Visual Thesaurus has inspired a short film, fittingly titled, "Word Cloud." The film was created by Claire Scholz of Rapid City, South Dakota, and stars Claire and her granddaughter Anna. It was prepared for a local family-run film festival, and we're honored to feature it here on our site as well.  Continue reading...

The latest issue of the literary magazine Lapham's Quarterly has as its theme "Means of Communication," and the closing piece, by VT editor Ben Zimmer, is a reconsideration of the thesaurus as a tool for modern writers. He finds many reasons to remain optimistic about the thesaurus as a reference work (and not just because of the Visual Thesaurus!). Read his piece here.

The Visual Thesaurus has been nominated as one of the best websites about the English language, as part of Macmillan Dictionary's Love English Awards for 2011. Want to show your fandom for the VT? Vote here! And thanks for your support.

Ed-tech guru Jamie McKenzie has published a fascinating new book entitled Lost and Found: A Guide to Discovery Learning through Purposeful Wandering. In this excerpt adapted from the chapter "Finding the Best Words," McKenzie explains how tools like the Visual Thesaurus can "expand our thinking palette."  Continue reading...

Creating individual account logins for teachers, students and administrative staff.  Continue reading...