Word of the Day

: September 18, 2007

thesaurus

noun thih-SOR-us

What It Means

1 : treasury, storehouse

2 a : a book of words or of information about a particular field or set of concepts; especially : a book of words and their synonyms

b : a list of subject headings or descriptors usually with a cross-reference system for use in the organization of a collection of documents for reference and retrieval

thesaurus in Context

The drill sergeant had a thesaurus of insults, and any recruit who stepped out of line became the immediate recipient of one of his zingers.

Did You Know?

In the early 19th century, archaeologists borrowed the Latin word "thesaurus" to denote an ancient treasury, such as that of a temple. Soon after, the word was metaphorically applied to a book containing a "treasury" of words or information about a particular field. In 1852, the English scholar Peter Mark Roget published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, in which he listed a treasury of related words organized into numerous categories. This work led to the common acceptance of the term "thesaurus" for "a book of words and their synonyms." Finally, during the 1950s, "thesaurus" began being used in the field of word processing to refer to a list of related terms used for indexing and retrieval.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.