Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus
Third Edition
Contributing Editors: David Auburn, Rae Armantrout, David Crystal, Michael Dirda, Bryan A. Garner, Joshua Ferris, Alexandra Horowitz, David Lehman, Stephin Merritt, Suleiman Osman, Francine Prose, Craig Raine, Ammon Shea, Zadie Smith, Jean Strouse, David Thomson, David Foster Wallace, and Simon Winchester
Compiled by Christine Lindberg, Foreword by Rick Moody, and Introduction by Ben Zimmer
From Our Blog
It's the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, except the writer throwing her manuscript across the room. What words will Santa give her? Gifts of 'stillicide' or 'ectoplasm' for her National Book Award ' or lumps of coal for failing NaNoWriMo. We'd like to share a few reflections on terrible words from writers such as David Foster Wallace, Zadie Smith, and Michael Dirda in the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus below.
Posted on December 24, 2012
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How do you choose the right word? Some just don't fit what you're trying to convey, either in the labor of love prose for your creative writing class, or the rogue auto-correct function on your phone. Can you shed lacerations instead of tears? How is the word barren an attack on women? How do writers such as Joshua Ferris, Francine Prose, David Foster Wallace, Zadie Smith, and Simon Winchester weigh and inveigh against words?
Posted on August 31, 2012
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