online thesaurus

[ on-lahyn thi-sawr-uhs, awn-lahyn ]

noun

, plural on·line the·sau·rus·es, on·line the·sau·ri [thi-, sawr, -ahy].

1. an internet-accessed thesaurus or dictionary of words with the same or nearly the same meanings synonyms, and their opposites antonyms, such as Thesaurus.com. An online thesaurus provides immediate electronic access to lists of alternate terms for the queried word, covering its various shades of meaning:

   This online thesaurus showed me that “smart,” as an adjective, not only means intelligent, but also stylish, or lively, and gave long lists of other words for each meaning.

Word History and Origins

Origin of online thesaurus¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

The real question in analyzing the May jobs numbers released Friday is whether there are enough synonyms for “good” in an online thesaurus to describe them adequately.

From New York Times

The name came about after they plugged in “quaint,” “cozy” and “small place” into an online thesaurus.

From Seattle Times

This is not.... bear with me... using online thesaurus.....

From Los Angeles Times

I just used an online thesaurus for these words.

From Los Angeles Times

Hell, it was exigency and necessity and anything else the online thesaurus can find.

From Washington Post