What’s In a Word?

Near the beginning of my writing journey I was in a second-hand store, and as I always do, was looking at the piles of books. I checked out the non-fiction section, looking for “how-to” books on writing, and I came across what has turned out to be one of my favourite and most-used writing tool.

I present to you, with small fanfare, the big red book of deliciousness:

The Synonym Finder was first published in 1961, this book is the 1978 revised edition. It was written by J.I. Rodale, who was a publisher, editor, and playwright. He actually is more well known for his early advocacy of sustainable agriculture and organic farming in the U.S. rather than his writing, however. His publishing empire, Rodale, Inc., published many magazines including Prevention magazine and is still putting out that magazine, and many others, today.

His other claim to fame, if you want to call it that, was that he died at the age of 72 of a heart-attack while participating as a guest on the Dick Cavett Show. Understandably, the show was never aired.

I’m not sure what prompted Rodale to write The Synonym Finder, but I am very glad he did. The book contains over one million synonyms, organized dictionary style in alphabetical order. This type of book is known as a thesaurus, and it is an invaluable tool for any writer.

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

Now I do realize that it is easy to find synonyms online. Or so you’d think. On a whim, I just looked up hosanna in the Mirriam-Webster Thesaurus online. That word doesn’t exist in their database. I had to retype “hosanna synonym” into Google to finally find some alternate words.

On the other hand, a quick flip to the “h’s” in my trusty book and I find:

hosanna, n. shout of praise, hallelujah, allelujah; hurrah, huzzah, cheer, whoop; song of praise, paean, laud, laudation, glorification, exaltation. 

This entry also highlights one of the reasons I love this book so much. You will note that the list of synonyms are divided by comma and semi-colons. That is because Rodale has given us three sets of synonyms for the word, divided by semi-colons, depending on the context of the sentence the writer wishes to use it in.So the first set, praise, hallelujah, allelujah;  has slightly different connotation than the second, hurrah, huzzah, cheer, whoop.  And the final set, song of praise, paean, laud, laudation, glorification, exaltation has meanings similar to the first set, but, again, slightly different all the same.

You don’t tend to get that level of subtlety in an online thesaurus. English is a tricky language, and just how tricky it is can be seen by even a cursory look into The Synonym Finder. Take the word flush, for example. You will see it is a noun, with synonyms such as blush, flooding, thrill, vigour, fever, flow, or excite. However, it is also an adjective, with synonyms such as smooth, adjacent, well-to-do or abundant. Rodale lists many more synonyms than I have given here, I use these just as examples.

Hmmm…..according to The Synonym Finder, nope. The closest entry is synonymous, which lists words such as equivalent, parallel, similar, and corresponding.

This book is a treasure-trove of words. When I am stuck on a certain word, or have used one word too many times in a descriptive passage, or just need some inspiration, The Synonym Finder never disappoints.  I am very grateful J.I. Rodale collected these million-plus words. It must have been a massive undertaking!

I’m also appreciative, thankful, obliged, indebted, and filled with gratitude.