What is a thesaurus

A thesaurus gives alternative meanings for words.

If you find yourself using the same word too often, use the thesaurus to find a replacement.

Microsoft Word has a built-in thesaurus that you can use at any time.

How do I use the thesaurus

To find an alternative for a word:

• place the cursor in the word

• either from the Tools menu select Language then Thesaurus OR

• use the keyboard shortcut of Shift key + F7 key

• select one of the words from the Replace with Synonym list on the right (stunning in the example shown on the right)

• click the button

• OR

• if the words in the list are not suitable try clicking on another word in the Meanings list on the left(lovely in the example shown on the right). This usually produces a different list of words to choose from

• OR

• For an even greater choice click the button which will look up the meaning of the word selected in the replace list. Roll mouse over the picture to the right to stunning.

• click the button to return to the previous list (in the example on the right, the list for beautiful)

Roll mouse over to Look Up "stunning"

Exercise

Download the Microsoft Word file Thesaurus.doc and make the changes.