Collins Junior Illustrated Thesaurus. Collins Dictionaries

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       About the Publisher

Using this thesaurus

      A thesaurus helps you choose exactly the right word to make your writing more interesting. In your writing, do you find you use words like good, bad and nice too often? A thesaurus will help you find other words with the same meaning.

      How to find a word

      If you want to find a different way of saying a word, think of its first letter. Once you know this, there is more than one way to find your word in the thesaurus:

      • You can use the Index at the back of the ebook which lists all of the thesaurus words in alphabetical order. Scroll through the Index until you find the letter your word begins with, then look down the words until you find the one you are looking for. You can then follow the link to the entry in the thesaurus.

      • You can use the Contents page at the front of the book, which has a link to every letter in the thesaurus. Follow the link to the letter your word begins with, then look through the entries in this letter until you find the word you are looking for. The entries are in alphabetical order.

      Once you have found your word in the thesaurus, you can choose the synonym that suits your writing. A synonym is a word or phrase that has a similar meaning to the headword. Read the example sentences to understand how each synonym can be used.

      Choosing the right synonym

      1. The headword is the word that you want to find a synonym for.

      2. Some headwords also have a number in brackets. This tells you that this headword can have different meanings.

      3. Next you will see the part of speech. This tells you what type of word the headword is, such as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb or pronoun. If the word you want to find is a verb, make sure the headword you look at is also a verb.

      4. Underneath the headword, you will find the definition. The definition tells you what the headword means.

      5. The synonyms are listed below the definition of each headword. Synonyms have similar meanings to the headword.

      6. Every synonym in the Collins Junior Thesaurus has an example sentence. This shows you how the word might be used in speech or writing.

      7. Some headwords and synonyms have an illustration or photo to help you read the word and understand its meaning.

      Other features of this thesaurus

      This arrow ➔ points to a booster. Boosters are lively words and phrases that can be used to replace a headword. Boosters are usually words that are used in speech as slang, in proverbs and in mottos. For example:

      noisy ADJECTIVE

      Someone or something noisy makes loud or unpleasant sounds.

      boisterous

      Dad complained the party was getting far too boisterous.

      deafening

      Suddenly there was a deafening clap of thunder.

      loud

      The boys’ game was much too loud.

      piercing

      She was a nice girl, but they couldn’t stand her piercing laugh.

      ➔ ear-splitting

      An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another. When a headword has an antonym, the antonym is shown at the end of the entry.

      hot (2) ADJECTIVE

      You say food is hot if it has a strong spicy taste.

      peppery

      The meal was a bit too peppery for me.

      spicy

      Dad likes his curries really spicy.

      ANTONYM: mild

      Word list entries

      There are special themed entries throughout this thesaurus to support your writing.

      At these entries you will find lists of things, such as parts of the body, colours and different types of animal. You might also find labelled illustrations to help you understand the words in the list. The word list pages are listed on the Contents page.

      Online resources

      Explore further at www.collins.co.uk/homeworkhelp for games, activities and extra support for parents and children.

Aa

      accident (1) NOUN

      An accident is something nasty that happens by chance.

      calamity

      The flooding river caused a calamity and the house was wrecked.

      catastrophe

      That plane crash was a catastrophe.

      collision

      Mark damaged his bike in a collision with the gatepost.

      crash

      There was a bad crash on the motorway.

      disaster

      Tom’s walk ended with a disaster when he fell in the canal.

      mishap

      “Just a mishap,” said Dad, after his keys fell down the drain.

      accident (2) NOUN

      If something happens by accident, it was not planned.

      chance

      The friends met by chance at the disco.

      coincidence

      Ben and Rosie got the same answers by coincidence.

      afraid ADJECTIVE

      Someone who is afraid thinks that something nasty might happen.

      anxious

      Mole felt anxious in the wild wood.

      nervous

      “You don’t need to be nervous,” said the dentist. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

      panic-stricken

      They were panic-stricken when they heard the ice crack.

      petrified

      Emma was petrified during her ride on the big dipper.

      scared

      Goldilocks was scared when the three bears found her.

      worried

      Our cat was worried when the pet-shop owner picked up her kittens.

      ➔ numb with fear; scared to death

amphibian NOUN

      An amphibian is an animal that can live on land and in water.

      TYPES OF AMPHIBIANS: