Some people put thesauruses in a category with the pegasuarus–that is, extinct. But not me! The thesaurus (the one on my bookshelf, not the one in Microsoft Word) is my favorite tool. Why? because I’m an absolute fiend about finding the right word, and I need help to do it.

Be aware of the difference between “Roget’s style” and “dictionary style” thesauruses or “synonym finders.” The latter two are arranged alphabetically; the former uses an index in the back and numbered entries in the front. A Roget’s involves multiple steps (looking up a word in the back index, and then turning to various ones of the numbered citations), but yields many more possible synonyms and will inspire you to find the perfect word.

As with dictionaries, the key is to go with a reliable publisher, in addition to finding a Roget’s style thesaurus.