Do you use a thesaurus while you write? (+poll)

[Inspector_Spinda]

I don't use a thesaurus, but I do a lot of british slang websites. Actually I really need to get to making a compilation of words and phrases for easy access because I'm really bad and thinking up ripe insults on the fly.

[Ardelvion]

Sometimes I'll use a dictionary/thesaurus when I write letters or e-mails because I'm very nit-picky when it comes to using certain words that'll go well with my sentences. I used it also when I wrote poems and essays waaay back.

[rajillustration]

I don't think there's anything wrong with using a thesaurus. But, I don't use a thesaurus. Not because I think I'm too good for one or anything--I just find it doesn't help me find the right word. Every time I have it's like...here's all these very boring words you would have thought up on your own. Or, it's like "here's all these very fancy words that don't actually mean the same thing as the word you're looking up" (thanks Google!) So I just have to use my own bean and scratch my head till the right words come.

[But_a_Jape]

I do for the same reason you do - there's a word that's on the tip of my tongue but I can't recall it at the moment. "What's that word, it's like there's nothing blocking your way or you can't be stopped, (googles 'synonym unblocked') - 'unimpeded,' that's what I was thinking!"

[elpenor]

yes, but please remember a thesaurus is a tool, and an imperfect one. great care should be taken to express a feeling using words that evoke that feeling both denotatively and connotatively. a thesaurus won't give you all that information - experience will

[essem]

I do a lot of british slang websites. Actually I really need to get to making a compilation of words and phrases for easy access because I'm really bad and thinking up ripe insults

Oh I have heaps, if ever you're short !

Actually there's no surer way of sussing a British person's roots and upbringing than the slang, swear words etc. that they use. Like anywhwere in the world it can be extremely nuanced for outsiders ... but in Britain outsiders can live as close as fifteen or twenty miles ! It drove me to distraction writing my most recent fiction ... and I still know someone's going to tell me I stuffed something up

[CurryXSake]

No I don't usually use a thesaurus or dictionary unless I wanted to be sure that I used certain words correctly. There's also the temptation of using overly complicated words for the sake of sounding smart so there's another reason XD.

[impossiblesoul]

When I feel inspired by a real life location, sometimes I incorporate qualities of the scene into what I'm writing. It's surprisingly difficult to describe with simple words these types of dreamy locations. Any chapter with a modicum of scenery description - thesaurus is a must, and that way I can crunch it down to just a few quick sentences. It allows me to be concise instead of spending multiple paragraphs trying to describe how something looks. Often times it's not even uncommon words I end up going with, just words that didn't immediately come to mind that perfectly fit the bill.

[Inspector_Spinda]

PLEASE contact me and lend me a hand if you can? my discord is Inspector Spinda#6298

[MiniSheepPencil]

Surprisingly no, but I do use it after I'm done writing the first outline. I have Grammarly active at all times and that helps me with simple spelling mistakes or a fast change on a synonym that I ended up overusing within the same context.

[ScarletDemon]

Yes I use multiple actually: a proper standard thesaurus, a rhyming thesaurus because magic and the link to tte word of the day for dictonary.com. I like having my options readily at hand.

[jensrichard77]

thesaurus

Didn't’ even know the word?
Had to look it up. And now when I think about it, I should definitely use this way more.
Thanks for the tip

[DualDragons]

OH YES. Definitely, my main language is not english so I use it a lot to avoid myself repeating terms all the time

[darthmongoose]

I don't, and it's mostly because my problem is the opposite. I'm a native English speaker who was raised in a house ram-packed with books, I've always had very strong reading skills, even as a child, and my first degree was English lit. I'm also autistic, so my brain happens to be really good at retrieving terms and prioritises finding the "most accurate" word for things (it just....for balance... can't do equations or remember a list of chores... great, brain, very useful, thanks). I'm actually known even in real life for my tendency to use obscure, technical or unusual words without thinking, and often having to explain their meaning to other people at work or at social gatherings.
But I've become aware that a huge amount of readers on Tapas don't have English as their first language or don't have strong reading skills, and that my writing is often really unapproachable to these sorts of people. To make my comic accessible and help me build an audience, I deliberately try to reign in the complexity of the words I'm using. I do sort of miss indulging my love of Homestuck-esque verbosity, but I also like having a comic people actually read and I guess where characters speak more like real people.

[gempompadour]

Yes! But it's because english isn't my native language. Without thesaurus my vocabulary would be based on popular media alone.

[darkone4587]

It's not entirely in active use, but I do use one and a dictionary when I'm working on some projects here and there.

[BlunderingAlbatross]

The other main time I use it is when I’m editing and I come across the same word a few times in a passage.

This is basically my main use for it too

[nostalgicroxas]

Off and on, I generally use a dictionary more to make sure the word I'm using is the right one I want and not just... the one that sounds like it, but means something else entirely lol Ah English.
I also make use of looking up plants and their latin names. Like, a lot, a lot...

[CarltonIsaac]

[carreonaiwille]

I generally don't. Years ago, when I was still, umm immature?Upon reading a chapter, an older, more experienced writer adviced me not to use a Thesaurus. I remember using maybe looking up one or two words, but then nothing much. The words used are, too complex for my peers, might be because we're all non-native speakers.

But I do use the dictionary to look up Latin or Germanic roots of words to use as a made-up language for my WIP. ( will create a proper language as soon as I finish the story)