OSX's dictionary is quite awesome actually. I use that mostly and might also use Google.
I use this almost daily when I name a variable or function. It's useful to look for a more precise noun or verb, or see if they have other connotations.
Ask HN: How do you search for an appropriate English word?
51–56 of 56 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you search for an appropriate English word?
#52I think you might want to look at a thesaurus. http://www.thesaurus.com/
+1. That's what I do. I have a shortcut search so that I can simply type t any time I need an alternative word. It's not only useful for prose by the way. I sometimes use it to find the most appropriate name for a variable, function, API entry point, or for a small project.
If you use DuckDuckGo as your primary search engine, you can use a bang[1] !t [word]...kind of a default shortcut
Re: Ask HN: How do you search for an appropriate English word?
#53My vote goes to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ or http://www.tfd.com/ for short. Check out the http://www.tfd.com/beautiful example
It is very comprehensive but don't you feel like there is too much going on there? Like there are two many sources? Would you think if it is restricted to only a few choice sources, it would be less cluttered? Or do the different definitions give more clarity?
That's precisely why I like it ;) Tfd seems to aggregate many dictionaries. It's quite helpful with some specific fields like medicine.
Re: Ask HN: How do you search for an appropriate English word?
#54I usually use thesaurus.com and oxforddictionaries.com If that doesn't do it I check quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl and english.stackexchange.com and maybe books.google.com/ngrams to find out what's commonly used ...
grammar-girl is an informative resource and I can forsee myself spending hours :). How do you use the ngrams?
The ngram viewer is a great way to figure out what phrases people commonly use. "Make sure" vs. "ensure" is a good example, I guess. I would have though "make sure" is more common, but apparently not: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=make+sure%2Cen...
Re: Ask HN: How do you search for an appropriate English word?
#55For an essay, I use a paper thesaurus. (I do my first drafts longhand - I just think better that way.)
For something like an HN comment, I just use the word that comes to mind. If I'm not happy with it, I use whatever word seems best after 30 seconds to two minutes of thought. I'm not really concerned with "the perfect word" in this context.
Re: Ask HN: How do you search for an appropriate English word?
#56http://www.stardict.org
I use stardict.