Use the Thesaurus in Microsoft Word

This article teaches you how to look up a synonym for a word by using Microsoft Word's thesaurus feature.

Steps

1. Open your Word document if it isn't open. To do so, you can double-click the file itself, or you can open Microsoft Word and then select the file name from the list of recent documents.
2. Find a word for which you wish to use the thesaurus. Using the thesaurus feature in Microsoft Word will present you with a list of alternatives for your selected word.
3. Select the word. To do so, click and drag your mouse across the section of text, then release the mouse when you're done. A blue background will appear behind the text in question.
4. Two-finger click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) the selected word. Doing so will invoke a drop-down menu.
5. Select Template:MacButton. This option is near the middle of the drop-down menu. You should see a window pop out to the left or right of the drop-down menu.
6. Click Template:MacButton. It's near the bottom of the pop-out window.
   • You can also click a word in the pop-out menu, since the words listed here are synonyms for your selected word.
7. Find a word in the "Thesaurus" tab. This section is on the right side of the Word window; any words listed in this pane are considered synonyms of the selected word.
8. Click ▼ to the right of a word. Doing so will prompt a drop-down menu.
   • You'll first have to select the word with your mouse cursor for this icon to appear.
   • You can also click the word in question to view its synonyms.
9. Click Template:MacButton. It's at the top of the drop-down menu. This will replace your selected word with its synonym.

Tips

• Using the thesaurus for overly simplistic words will make your writing cleaner and more concise.

Warnings

• Non-current versions of Word may not have an updated list of synonyms.

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What links here

• Use a Thesaurus