So here's the story from A to Z: why I wrote a new thesaurus

After becoming frustrated with existing thesauri, I recently created a new kind of thesaurus for writers, editors and translators, called Good Words Fast. This article explains why I wrote it and how it differs from your regular online thesaurus, as well as providing tips on using synonyms to best effect in content writing.

A thesaurus has always been an important tool for me in crafting edits and translations of marketing and business material that are engaging to read. But I've increasingly found a general thesaurus, both online and in print, to be a rather blunt tool, as it has to cater for everything from firing off a quick email to writing a novel. Consequently, I became frustrated at wasting time wading through obscure, overly elaborate or slangy terms, only to be uninspired by the bland options that remained. What’s more, I was often looking up synonyms for the same old words such as ‘increase’, ‘reduce’, ‘significant’ and ‘impact’, with the distinct sense I’d previously found a good alternative and wondering why I was reinventing the wheel each time.

Meanwhile, I was realising that the interesting words and phrases I really needed were all around me, in the media and everyday speech. Eye-catching terms like ‘perfect storm’ and ‘turbocharge’, useful idioms such as ‘make inroads’, and handy phrases like ‘to be up against it’. As I started collecting these useful expressions, ‘good word’ became something of a refrain for me and my wife and fellow translator Louise when one of us encountered a phrase in the news that was worth noting down.

The beginnings of a book

These jottings turned into an ever-expanding spreadsheet, which I started arranging into broad categories. After several years, I realised I had the beginnings of a new kind of thesaurus that other writers, editors and translators might find useful too. Not a blunt tool but a book focused on the 1,100 most common terms in business, news and marketing; everything from ‘achieve’ to ‘benefit’, through ‘management’ and ‘negotiate’, to ‘vital’ and ‘well-known’. And under these headings, around 40,000 genuinely useful synonyms offering impact, interest and a quick hit of inspiration. My spreadsheet of words thus far constituted a drop in the ocean of what was needed for such a book, but it was a start.

I spent the initial stage deciding on the main entries to include by reviewing vast quantities of news, business and marketing media and identifying the most common concepts and terms used. I then realised you can’t have a book of exclusively striking synonyms, because sometimes you just need a basic alternative. So I spent a further few months trawling through numerous online and print thesauri to collect standard synonyms for the entries I had decided on. Once this was complete, I could move on to the principal focus of the book.

Where to find the good stuff

Now came the main task; harvesting all those head-turning expressions such as ‘watershed moment’ and ‘lifeblood’, idioms like ‘draw a line in the sand’ and useful everyday expressions such as ‘to a T’. For two years I scoured all sorts of media for these kinds of words and phrases. My sources included news websites such as The Telegraph and the BBC; business news outlets like Bloomberg and The Economist; and financial reports and investment analyses. And, of course, current affairs radio and TV broadcasting.

Political and corporate interviews were a particularly rich seam, as ministers ‘strained every sinew’ to solve a particular issue and CEOs ‘forged ahead’ with new strategies. By far the best single source was news digest magazine The Week. Around 10 percent of all the synonyms in Good Words Fast were taken from this brilliantly produced publication, which is a must for all professional writers. On top of this, I was adding to the book with useful expressions I came across in my day job as I edited and translated annual reports, investment analyses and marketing initiatives.

There were other, perhaps more surprising, sources of eye-catching synonyms too. I often work while half-listening to football commentaries on BBC Radio 5 Live, which I find provide linguistic food for thought. Not only do you hear a wide range of voices from all over the UK and beyond, but you also encounter a huge variety of language registers, from the monosyllabic ‘the lads done great’ to erudite descriptions of players ‘apoplectic’ at not being awarded a penalty. Another productive source of synonyms was motoring journalism, particularly reviews from magazines and websites like Auto Express. Car reviewers are true masters of the synonym, as they constantly have to find interesting ways of commenting on the latest models’ speed, looks and value for money. So you get handy turns of phrase such as ‘no slouch’, ‘drop-dead gorgeous’ and ‘won’t break the bank’.

Such was my obsession with listening out for useful terms, it was only natural I should turn to everyday speech. It reached the point where I would be scribbling down notes while having conversations with my family (you can imagine how this was received). Hiding in plain sight in everyday speech are highly effective phrases that we can use in our writing. ‘In her element’, ‘go pear-shaped’ and ‘wide of the mark’ are just a few examples. Being an avid radio listener helped and I’d often stumble across handy expressions in advertising too.

Linguistic legacy of Brexit and the pandemic

I put the bulk of the thesaurus together at the height of the Brexit crisis of 2018/2019, when British politics and the media and were full of conflict and anxiety. This meant I was spoilt for choice when compiling entries such as ‘dispute’ and ‘disagreement’. ‘Bloodletting’ was commonly used to refer to the turmoil within the Conservative party, while ‘stand-off’ and ‘tensions’ were the go-to descriptions of negotiations between the UK and Brussels.

Then Covid-19 hit in early 2020, impacting not only our world but also our words. The media’s coverage of the pandemic influenced the content of Good Words Fast and I consequently introduced whole new entries such as ‘unprecedented’, with synonyms like ‘without parallel’ and ‘black-swan event’. ‘Affect negatively’ was another heading I added that spring, under which I included the likes of ‘blindside’ and ‘poleaxe’ as concerns for business and the economy grew.

Spicing things up

A little linguistic flair can enhance the blandest of texts by bringing a touch of quality and improving readability. It doesn’t have to involve fancy phrases; it could just be replacing ‘important’ with ‘key’ to add variety and make the copy a little punchier.

Injecting interest often involves taking advantage of the English language’s particular strengths, especially the strong imagery of its idioms and its vast vocabulary. Wordplay is a classic way to add impact to titles and headings; I wanted Good Words Fast to provide inspiration for puns by offering a huge depth of figurative synonyms. Take the entry ‘fail’; in business articles, an unsuccessful railway company might ‘hit the buffers’, while a carmaker’s financial performance might ‘stall’, ‘stutter’ or ‘misfire’.

A simple trick to bring a little sparkle to your copy is to replace a verb and adverb with one of English’s many descriptive verbs. For instance, you might substitute ‘decrease slightly’ with ‘slip’, ‘dip’ or ‘tail off’, while ‘decrease significantly’ could be replaced by ‘nosedive’ or ‘plummet’.

Beware of popular orange vegetables

It should be noted, however, that there’s nothing wrong with occasional repetition. Something all writers should avoid is ‘inelegant variation’ (originally ironically termed ‘elegant variation’). This basically means sounding like you’ve swallowed a dictionary. The example often given is of a newspaper article about a house fire, which is subsequently described as a blaze, an inferno and a conflagration. The effect is faintly ridiculous and smacks of trying too hard.

A little goes a long way when using synonyms. As with herbs and spices, a pinch here and a dash there can make a big difference, but you don’t want to overpower the main ingredients. Speaking of food, subeditors at The Guardian have a term for the gratuitous use of synonyms; Povs. This refers to ‘popular orange vegetables’, a phrase once deleted from an article about carrots.

Inspiration to switch into creative mode

We can quickly become uninspired when rushing to meet a deadline or working on a long text. The wide choice of idiomatic and striking expressions in Good Words Fast aims to support writers of all kinds in switching from ‘work’ to ‘creative’ mode and producing high-quality copy.

As well as helping to inject impact and variety, I wanted Good Words Fast to provide a quick spark of inspiration for when writers, editors and translators hit a wall. This is why its entries are much broader than those of a traditional thesaurus and include a wide selection of both formal and informal language. For instance, the entry for ‘disappointing’ covers everything from ‘damp squib’ to ‘devastating’, while ‘successful’ ranges from ‘do well’ to ‘go down a storm’. I use the book every day in my own work (after all, I initially wrote the book for myself), and even if I don’t find exactly what I'm after it can get me out of a mental rut and help me change tack if I’m struggling with a tricky sentence.

And for translators into English, the book helps produce well-crafted copy that doesn’t sound like a translation. Collocations such as ‘bitter disappointment’, ‘golden opportunity’ and ‘stark contrast’ emphasise the syntax and rhythms of native English rather than those of the source text.

Good Words Fast vs thesaurus.com

I'm sometimes asked how my book differs from a free online thesaurus. Here are three entries that sum up the difference:

• Improvement (n.): thesaurus.com offers 36 options, a couple of which I've never heard of. Good Words Fast contains over 50 effective alternatives, such as ‘strengthening’, ‘turnaround’ and ‘move in the right direction’.
• Worse (adj.): Some large hard-copy thesauruses have no entry at all for ‘worse’, while thesaurus.com suggests five synonyms. Good Words Fast has around 30 options, including ‘outclassed’, ‘not a patch on’ and ‘eclipsed’.
• Pioneer (v.): thesaurus.com lists 24 options for this verb. Good Words Fast offers 46 synonyms, including ‘pave the way’, ‘change the face of’ and ‘break new ground’.

Good Words Fast, a new kind of thesaurus for writers, editors and translators, is available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and other Amazon sites.