Roget's International Thesaurus, 8th Edition [thumb indexed]

Book excerpt: A newly revised and updated 8th edition of the world's bestselling thesaurus--the only thesaurus based on Peter Roget's original reference classic of 1852. This hardcover thumb-indexed edition includes more than 443,000 words and phrases grouped into 1,075 categories. The revolutionary achievement of Dr. Roget was his development of a new principle: the grouping of words according to ideas. If the user cannot find something in a reference book, it is often because of the restriction of searching alphabetically by 'known' headwords. Dr. Roget's thesaurus thus reversed the access to allow the user to find a word from another word, a concept or an idea. When in 1852 Roget published the first book ever to realize this concept with thoroughness and precision, he called it a "thesaurus" (from the Greek and Latin, meaning "treasury" or "storehouse"). And thesaurus it has remained to this day. The ultimate reference tool, this new edition contains over 443,000 words and phrases grouped into 1,075 numbered categories. Within each category you'll find all the parts of speech, frequent cross-references, commonly-used words singled out in boldface, quotes that puts words into context, hundreds of fascinating and idiosyncratic word lists and much more. If you're a writer who needs help organizing a thought or mastering the nuance of expression, Roget's International Thesaurus(R) remains the first source to turn to.