Issue Date: June 20, 2004
Use the Net when words escape you
Imagine an online dictionary with a Jeopardy!-like twist: Like the popular TV game show that gives an answer and asks contestants to supply the question, visitors to onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml type in a definition and the site returns a list of the best-fitting words. Put your phrase in quotes -- such as "a glassed-in porch" or "to win big," and the site supplies words like "solarium" and "jackpot," respectively.
With OneLook's Web "reverse dictionary," you type a definition and the site finds matching words.
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For concepts that you're struggling to express or for fleeting cases of tip-of-the-tongue-itis, this site is your savior. (If you had typed in "someone who rescues you," you could have come up with that killer metaphor yourself.)
I use this site all the time. It's great if you want to tell someone off. If your brother-in-law thinks he's better than you, dropping names as if they're hot, then don't just tell him he's "an arrogant person." Try a "high-muck-a-muck," a "prig" or one of many other novel pejoratives. You'll likely turn up words you've never heard of. But don't reach for the shelf for definitions. Click on the word, and a list of dictionary links appears.
The site has other valuable functions that don't require you to put your question in quotes. It lists words in a category (the asp and the mamba are "poisonous snakes"), answers questions (the capital of Ghana is Accra), and solves crossword puzzle clues (a five-letter synthetic fabric ending in "l-o-n" is "nylon").
For true word-aholics, wordplays.com, famous for its anagrams, has a slew of gems, like one that unscrambles words of up to 25 letters. The site dares those used to relaxing Sunday puzzles to try its "Crossword Challenge." Clues are given as time expires -- the faster you solve the puzzle, the higher you score. Of course, little does WordPlays know, you now have a reverse dictionary at hand.
-- David Andrukonis
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