Childrens Illustrated Thesaurus

6

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

This puppy could be described as little or small.

A synonym is a word that means the same – or almost

the same – as another word, for example “little” and

“small”. Most of the time, there is no such thing as

a true synonym. If two words mean exactly the same

thing, then why bother having both? Rather, a synonym

can or could mean the same thing as another word

depending on how you use it. Usually, however,

synonyms have little differences in meaning that

make one word more suitable to use than another.

For example, “little girl” usually means a young girl,

but a “small girl” suggests she is not big in size.

The little girl is the young girl

on the right.

He said She shouted

Synonyms can help you improve your writing by using

more interesting words. For example, instead of

putting “she said” in a story, using “she shouted” can

tell the reader that she might be angry or in a noisy

room. It is also much more interesting to use and read

a variety of words than writing “she said” all the time!

An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another

word, for example “big” is an antonym of “small”.

The main reason for using a thesaurus is to

find synonyms, or alternative words, to help

you with your writing. In addition, this

thesaurus will identify what kind of word

(part of speech) it is and provide helpful

definitions and examples. It will also give

antonyms, or words that mean the opposite

to the one you look up, wherever possible.

Why use a thesaurus?

A small frog

A big elephant

The small girl is the short girl

on the left.

What is a synonym?

Improve your vocabulary What is an antonym?

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