"Endlessly readable and wonderfully instructive." —Robert Hartwell Fiske, author, The Dimwit's Dictionary

"A million dollars' worth of fifty-cent words." —Erin McKean, editor, Verbatim

"A special, offbeat supplement to a general compendium of synonyms."  —The New York Times

"Meltzer's thesaurus may not be a new wheel, but it's definitely a new way to roll." —The Philadephia Enquirer

"Delves into the mostly untapped reservoir of the English lexicon, offering readers more than top-of-mind word choices." —Dow Jones Newsletter

"If you love words, you will be hooked on this book."  —TheCelebrityCafe.com

Writers looking for more than elementary synonyms found in a standard thesaurus will find exceptional and thoughtful alternatives in this advanced thesaurus. Neither weird nor arcane, each listed synonym is carefully chosen, defined by a "clarifier," and used in an example from the popular press that demonstrates its contemporary usage. Words that may not be exact synonyms but anticipate what the reader was really looking for are also included; for example, in the listing for amusing, the word witling is featured, explained by the clarifier as a "person who tries to be amusing but isn't." Aimed at readers who want their writing and speaking to stand out, this thesaurus ensures that a synonym sought is a synonym well thought.

                                                                 ***********

Examples from the book:

decoration n.: garniture ... Art glass vases such as those were purely decorative and often used an mantle garniture.

charisma n. duende...There is a quality called duende.  Fred Astaire had it  Ken Griffey Jr. has duende whether he gets sixty homers this year or not.  He will always have it.  

                                                          ************

The book is a lot of fun if for no other reason than to remind me how much I don't know!