How to Use the Thesaurus in Microsoft Word

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

Steps

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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    Two-finger click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) the selected word. Doing so will invoke a drop-down menu.
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    Select Synonyms. 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.
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    Click Thesaurus. 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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    Click Insert. It's at the top of the drop-down menu. This will replace your selected word with its synonym.

Community Q&A

  • Question
    What do I do if there are no synonyms?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    You're probably trying to find synonyms for an obscure word or one that you mispelled or used uncorrectly. If in doubt, search the word in Google or Bing by typing in 'define (word)'. Synonyms will come up for you.
  • Question
    What should I do if my thesaurus is not working?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    I would restart the Word app. There might be some kind of bug messing with the thesaurus.
  • Question
    How do I highlight a text?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Left-click at the beginning of the word you wish to highlight (or the word at the start of your text, if you want to highlight a chunk of text) and, holding the left-click down, drag the mouse across the word until everything you want included is highlighted.
  • Question
    How can I find the thesaurus in other places on the computer?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Double click on the specific word and on the drop list, click on "Thesaurus."

Warnings


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About This Article

JL
Written by:
Jack Lloyd
Tech Specialist
This article was written by Jack Lloyd. Jack Lloyd is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. He has over two years of experience writing and editing technology-related articles. He is technology enthusiast and an English teacher. This article has been viewed 167,679 times.
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Co-authors: 8
Updated: May 13, 2021
Views: 167,679
Categories: Microsoft Word | Books