Tag Archives: thesaurus

Nov 1 2010

SnappyWords Offers Visual Snap To Your Writing

Yet another cool writing tool, this one with a great deal of visual panache, SnappyWords (link here) is a free, online dictionary with a twist. Enter your desired word and get the word, and its synonyms and antonyms in a floating image. Hover over any of the  words and get the definition. A thesaurus and dictionary wrapped up into one graphic interface.

Once the words branch off the main query, you can double click a node to find other related words. Then, place the mouse cursor over a word to view the meaning, double click a node from the branch to view other related words, scroll the mouse wheel over words to zoom in or out. Click and drag a word or branch to move it around and explore other branches. Check it out – it’s a lot of fun. Plus it is a great resource to help you vary your written language in posts, articles, briefs, memos and papers.
Snappy Words queries the WordNet lexical database developed by Princeton University for students and language researchers. According to the site, “this dictionary groups synonyms into synsets through lexical relations between terms.” Uh huh. What it really means is that word meanings and semantic relationships are revealed graphically for your viewing pleasure. In a word: “cool.”
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Aug 26 2010

Grammar On The iPad

Grammar. It’s cool. And now it’s high tech, with a new iPad app. Terminology for iPad offers that “special something” for your writing just in time for the start of the school year. The app contains a searchable dictionary and thesaurus. They can be used off-line, in case you can’t hook into the ‘net for your word fix. But, if you do have Web access, you can find additional information on your desired word or phrase via Wikipedia and Wiktionary. Mark your favorite words for fast future searching. Best of all, the interface is simple and clean, making your lexicographically-inclined pursuits that much easier. Tighten up your next brief, business report, email or term paper, or simply pull out a killer word out for Scrabble or Words with Friends with Terminology.

Sep 8 2009

What Else Can Google Do For You? Replace Your Dictionary!

Well, not quite. But it seems the traditional dictionary is sorely in need of replacing. Outdated, insufficient and lacking context, more and more wordsmiths are eschewing the traditional lexicographical sources for on-line help.

Julia Angwin at the Wall Street Journal points out the flaws of the traditional method here. Angwin opines that Google has become “our database of meaning” and that the traditional sources – Merriam Webster, Oxford English, American Heritage – have become obsolete.

It sounds a bit fantastical to be asserting that the mish-mash of Google information is somehow more valid and usable than the carefully curated lists compiled by expert lexicographers at the publishing houses.  However, a Google search will yield a quick list of definitions from on-line dictionaries and links to examples using the term in context. In other words, you can quickly search out the background information lexicographers themselves use when compiling dictionaries.

Angwin points out the biggest hurdles dictionaries face in remaining relevant in the world of Google:  lack of usage examples, infrequent updates and space constraints. Google has none of these drawbacks. However, there also is a sometimes obvious lack of curatorship on-line, which can lead a researcher astray with out-of-date definitions and incomplete entries.

Angwin presents a third option that somewhat addresses the shortcomings of both traditional dictionaries and Google. Wordnik is an on-line resource started by the former editor-in-chief of the Oxford American Dictionary. Wordnik currently contains more than 1.7 million words and more than 130 million examples of word usage. Wordnik relies on the American Heritage Dictionary  of the English Language, Fourth Edition and Roget’s II, The New Thesaurus Third Edition, so Wordnik, in some ways, is no better than these original sources. Wordnik does equip the resource with lots of sample sentences, providing a better sense than traditional sources provide of proper usage .  Wordnik also is attempting to update its database more frequently than traditional resources, offering new words, definitions and usages as they become available.  Wordnik adds other information for words, such as related words, images, statistics, audio pronunciation, and user-contributed data.

Best of all, Wordnik is free, and not the nearly $300 per year on-line subscription price for the OED.

Another on-line resource to enhance your research experience!