Oxford Thesaurus of English

The word thesaurus comes from the Greek word thesauros, meaning 'storehouse' or 'treasure'. This is an apt description, because a thesaurus is a kind of treasure trove of the language, allowing you to explore its richness and variety.

By listing groups of words that have similar meanings to each other, a thesaurus offers a choice of alternative words (synonyms) that can be used in place of one that you already have in mind.

Look at how many words there are for the word peculiar, for instance:

peculiar
strange, unusual, odd, funny, curious, bizarre, weird, uncanny, queer, unexpected, unfamiliar, abnormal, atypical, anomalous, untypical, different, out of the ordinary, out of the way; exceptional, rare, extraordinary, remarkable; puzzling, mystifying, mysterious, perplexing, bafﬂing, unaccountable, incongruous, uncommon, irregular, singular, deviant, aberrant, freak, freakish; suspicious, dubious, questionable; eerie, unnatural; Scottish unco; French outré; informal ﬁshy, creepy, spooky; Brit. informal rum; N. Amer. informal bizarro.

By looking up words in a thesaurus, you can learn to express yourself more accurately and in more interesting and varied ways.

Who needs a Thesaurus? A thesaurus is an invaluable tool for anyone who writes, whether for memos and reports at work, essays and dissertations at school and college...	Why use an Oxford Thesaurus? All thesauruses contain lists of words that are linked by having a similar or related meaning, but the Oxford Thesaurus of English contains many other features as well...
What is Roget's Thesaurus? Peter Roget's thesaurus was the first ever thesaurus, but how is it different from other types of thesaurus?	Test your word power! Do you have a way with words? Think you'll never have need of a thesaurus? Find out in our word test.
Choose the right word See some of the entries from the 'Choose the right word' panels featured in the Oxford Thesaurus of English.