Compact American Thesaurus: An Easy-to-Use Guide for Choosing the Right Word »

The Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries and of other reference titles published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are trained lexicographers with a varied array of interests and expertise. Most of the editors hold graduate degrees and have studied at least one foreign language. Several have degrees in linguistics or in the history of the English language. Others have degrees in science or sometimes other disciplines. All the editors familiarize themselves with the vocabulary in specific subject areas, collect materials on new developments and usage, and work in association with consultants to ensure that the content of our publications is as accurate and as up-to-date as possible.

This clear and useful format of the compact Thesaurus helps you select the right word right away. Here is an alphabetically arranged thesaurus in which main entries are fully defined and include example sentences and synonym groups, including idioms. Synonyms listed at main entries are also entered on their own, where they act as cross-references to all the entries in which they are included. Contains:
over 17,000 entries
complete, precise definitions for all synonyms
example sentences showing word use in context
idiomatic phrases included in synonym lists
cross-references to all synonyms