J. I. Rodale, "The Synonym Finder"

Originally published in 1978 by the founder of Rodale Press, The Synonym Finder continues to be a practical reference tool for every home and office.

Cooltools Review
This is the best thesaurus there is. It supplies more synonyms, analogs, parallels, equivalents and comparable words in English than any other source, online or off. No other thesaurus comes near to it for completeness or breadth. Compiled in dictionary form, like the one in your word processors, there's no index or cross-referencing [but of course this siPDF version is [i]searchable :)]. Just look up a word, any word, and it proceeds to overwhelm you with alternative choices (a total of 1.5 million synonyms are presented in 1,361 pages), including short phrases and only mildly related words. Rather than being a problem of imprecision, the Finder's broad inclusiveness prods your imagination and prompts your recall.

from MCRW Review by Trish Milburn
I own a copy of Roget’s Thesaurus, but I can’t remember the last time I used it. That’s because I tucked it away somewhere as soon as I discovered The Synonym Finder by J.I. Rodale. Evidently, The Synonym Finder has been around since the ‘70s, but I didn’t know about it until two or three years ago when I picked it up at a writers conference. And am I ever glad I did.

This fabulous resource lists many more synonyms for individual words, a tremendous asset to writers who frequently wish they could find another way to say the same thing. And many words listed in The Synonym Finder give synonyms for various meanings of the same word. For instance, the word “walk.” Instead of having your hero walk across the room, you can have him stride, pace, shuffle, march, wander, meander, sidle or wend his way across. But what if your meaning of “walk” means the walk of life a character is in? Then, you can use trade, vocation, pursuit, calling, sphere, course or position. And if “walk” is referring to a walkway? Path, promenade, trail, footpath, esplanade and sidewalk offer alternatives.

From Jerome Stern's Making Shapely Fiction, "Part IV – Readables: Where to Learn More", page 267:

So useful, it's virtually a secret weapon. Unlike Roget's original quaint but complicated system, you simply look up a word, like "demolition," and find enough "pulverizing," "smashing," and "expunction" not only to give you the word you couldn't recall, but also to suggest ideas you hadn't thought of. Don't confuse it with Rodale's The Word Finder, which is sparse.

Tags: Thesaurus, WritingReference