If you’re a word lover, then you’ll go bonkers for the fun and learning you can have with Visual Thesaurus. Just type in your word and you’ll be presented with an associative visual mapping. In the example below, I keyed in “duplicitous” as my base word. The various branches extend the meaning and history of the word with other words. Hover over any of the words in the Visual Thesaurus interactive box and you’ll be presented with extended definitions.
In this example, I clicked on “Janus-faced” to make it the base word, and all the associations changed accordingly. You can also click on the base word to have the word spoken for you.
“Sycophant” is another favorite word of ours, and here is the Visual Thesaurus’ rendition of the spatial definition:
In the “Corpus” example, you can see even more branches of connective tissue and bones of definition:
You can also have some fun with your Visual Thesaurus.
The “fart” example is a quick honoring of Poopy Panties and Dog Poop Staple Girl. Clicking on the speaker icon to broadcast your base word will enliven any office:
Seeing these definitions visually helps “eye learners” like me make quicker associations and more nimble connections between words.
If you visit the Visual Thesaurus site, be prepared to spend most of your day clucking words and chocking your mind full of fascinating and stimulating connecting pictures that are worth more than a thousand words.
Excellent site. I will have to play around and use it for writing purposes as well!
Let us know if you find any good associations, Gordon!
from the front page: lollygag. There’s a word I can appreciate.
Fabulous example, Gordon! What associations surprised you from the base word?
That’s something I need. Lists of words in a dictionary are good. Seeing them spaced out like this helps me see how they interact better.
That’s it, Anne. Words have shapes and relationships — seeing them tethered together makes a whole new memeing.
At first, Corpus > Collection but then I thought about it
Heh! Terrific, Gordon, love it!
Hi David,
Awesome site! Thanks a ton! I am glued to it…will come very handy while writing!
You’re right that the site is a great tool to help you visualize even better writing, Katha!