This is a new type of synonym and antonym book — a reference tool that takes into consideration the importance of seeing the words in use, rather than simply isolated as words. Mr. Opdycke is doing for the synonym and antonym books what Fowler does for the dictionary- only, perhaps, in even broader terms. Today, with the prevalence of word abusage a danger signal, he feels that microscopic accuracy is imperative, and this book attempts to approach more than discrimination in shades of meaning. It takes into consideration the history, the climatology, the usage, in order that the seeker for the right word can make no mistake. While each unit of descriptive matter deals with the capitalized words in his key sentence, he manages to expand his reading matter to cover the shades and interrelations of the words. Without cross referencing his entries, he succeeds through an extensive system of indexing, to make cross references unnecessary. The index contains 10,000 words; the text runs to over 700 pages. For anyone fascinated with words and their meaning, this book is a MUST.
Pub Date: June 8, 1949
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: –
Publisher: Harper
Review Posted Online: N/A
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1949