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Compact Oxford Thesaurus for Students

The right word for the right situation

The right word for the right situation

The order in which the synonyms in a thesaurus are arranged is an important indication of which ones are likely to be most useful to you (unless you are using a thesaurus that lists its synonyms in alphabetical order). There are other elements in thesaurus entries that can help you to pick the best word for a given situation and use it correctly.

Different types of English

The majority of the words and phrases in a thesaurus will be part of 'standard English', which means that they're suitable for most written and spoken situations. Of course, you still have to use them correctly, taking account of their shades of meaning and grammatical behaviour. But a thesaurus is also likely to contain some well-established words and phrases which are not appropriate in all situations. It's important to be able to identify these terms so that you don't inadvertently choose a word that appears out of place with the rest of your writing.

Both thesauruses and dictionaries use descriptive markers called labels to show that certain words and phrases are only appropriate for particular types of writing or in particular regional varieties of English. These labels are usually visually distinct from the rest of the entry in some way, which makes it easy to recognize that they are not synonyms (or, in a dictionary, not part of the definition). Take a look at the thesaurus entry for knowledgeable:

The word after the semi–colon, informal, is a label. It means that the following synonym, clued up on, is only suitable as a synonym for knowledgeable in spoken English, or informal everyday writing between friends. It would probably not create a good impression if you used it in an academic assignment or a job application.

The Victorians were surprisingly well informed about Afghanistan, despite its isolation.

The Victorians were surprisingly clued up on Afghanistan, despite its isolation. X

This type of label is known as a register label: it tells you what level of English a word or phrase belongs to. Make sure you understand the register labels used in your thesaurus. While no particular level of English is necessarily 'better' than any other, it is important to use vocabulary that is appropriate to the occasion. Using very formal language in an email to a friend would be as incongruous as using very informal terms in a job application (although the consequences might be different).

Here are the main register labels used in the Compact Oxford Thesaurus for Students:

• formal: formal language is used especially in academic journals and official documents where it can bring an extra degree of seriousness to the subject. Formal words are often longer than their standard English equivalents, for example:
  
  

  Standard	Formal
  hate	abominate
  drink	beverage
  food	comestibles
  fee	emolument

  
  It can be tempting to choose formal vocabulary in written assignments in the hope that it will make what you are saying sound more impressive or sophisticated. But you should be wary of this temptation, especially if you aren't completely familiar with the word you're considering. Using formal language could make your writing sound pompous or pretentious if you use it in the wrong context. You may even make what you've written sound unintentionally funny, as people sometimes use formal vocabulary to create a humorous effect.



• technical: all subjects have their own set of technical terms and it's important to show that you understand them and can use them correctly. On other hand, it's not a good idea to try to sound learned by using technical vocabulary in inappropriate contexts.
  
  For example, the following use of the specialist term gravid, meaning 'pregnant', is appropriate because the context is scientific:
  
  
  The number of gravid females peaks in April and once again in late summer.

But it wouldn't be appropriate to use gravid in more general contexts, unless you are setting out to amuse people:

His wife was pregnant with their second child.

His wife was gravid with their second child. X

• informal: informal language is mainly used in conversation, emails, and texting, by people who know each other well or by particular groups. You should generally avoid informal vocabulary in written work or job applications, unless you are quite sure that it's appropriate. It might give the impression that you aren't treating the subject seriously enough and there's also a danger that someone might not understand a word, as informal language can be exclusive to certain groups of people.
  
  
  They criticized the government for failing to allocate enough funding.
  
  They laid into the government for failing to allocate enough funding. X
  
  Most thesauruses do include a selection of informal vocabulary. This will generally be clearly indicated by descriptive labels (different thesauruses use informal, colloquial, or slang, or a combination of these three). Take care to use this type of language in situations and contexts for which it is appropriate.

These are the main levels of language to be aware of when you're using a thesaurus to help with writing for academic assignments or job applications, though you're likely to find other descriptive labels used (e.g. literary or old use). You may also find:

• geographical labels, showing that a word belongs to a variety of English that is mostly used in a particular part of the world

and

• subject labels, showing that a word is associated with a specific subject or activity.

You'll find a full list and explanation of all the different labels used in the Compact Oxford Thesaurus for Students in the introduction to the book itself.

Making sure a sentence works