Group:
information retrieval
Topic:
cross reference and hierarchical links in hypertext
Topic:
dictionary for natural language
Topic:
hypertext browser
Topic:
information retrieval by cross reference
Topic:
information retrieval by following links
Topic:
information retrieval with an index
Topic:
meaning of words
Topic:
semantic networks
Topic:
text trails through hypertext
Topic:
words defined by words
Topic:
words in natural languages
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Summary
A thesaurus groups the words of a language by meaning. It may include antonyms and other relationships. Roget's thesaurus was the first successful thesaurus.
Thesauri are used in information retrieval to expand a query with related terms and to assist users in locating search terms. They are particularly useful for controlled vocabulary systems such as MUCH for the medical literature.
The classification of individual words in a thesaurus is somewhat arbitrary. A user should search all categories that may be relevant.
Pidgins use few synonyms. Instead of many words with overlapping meanings, pidgins use adjectives and compound words. (cbb 4/98)
Subtopic: what is a thesaurus 
| Quote: a thesaurus groups natural language words under interrelated, conceptual labels; group by synonymy or resemblance of meaning [»sparK7_1972]
| | Quote: Roget's thesaurus: given the idea, locate the words which best express the idea; opposite to a dictionary [»rogePM_1853, OK]
| | Quote: in a thesaurus, words are classified by their signification, by the ideas which they express
| | Quote: Roget using his thesaurus [»rogePM_1853, OK]
| | Quote: Wilkins published a Universal Character in 1668 through the Royal Society; a massive hierarchical classification of ideas and synonyms [»sparK7_1972]
| | Quote: a thesaurus is useful in translating a work written in another language [»rogePM_1853, OK]
| | Quote: a thesaurus suggests, by association, other trains of thought. It reminds us of words or images that give point and force to our arguments [»rogePM_1853, OK]
| | Quote: Roget built his thesaurus for practical utility in locating words. He avoided needless refinement [»rogePM_1853, OK]
| | Quote: Roget used two parallel columns to show words and their opposites on the same page [»rogePM_1853, OK]
| | Quote: Roget listed words under multiple headings when appropriate; the imputation of redundance is better than the reproach of insufficiency [»rogePM_1853, OK]
| | Quote: a thesaurus leads to a universal language and a golden age of union and harmony among nations [»rogePM_1853, OK]
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Subtopic: meaning and thesaurus
| Quote: a thesaurus represents the relations between word senses rather than words; be careful when expanding query words with a thesaurus [»krovR4_1992]
| | Quote: WordNet is like an on-line thesaurus (synsets of synonyms) with short glosses and related words; antonym, hyponym, cause, etc. [»beckR7_1990]
| | Quote: WordNet captures the meaning of a word form by a set of synonyms (synset), a gloss, and relationships to other synsets [»millGA7_1990]
| | Quote: if a dictionary can't locate a word, should be able to locate similar words [»heckP8_1982]
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Subtopic: thesaurus as number
| Quote: Leibniz represented primitives as primes and other concepts by their products; universal dictionary for mapping concepts to numbers
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Subtopic: pidgins
| Quote: pidgins use few synonyms; e.g., Tok Pisin uses one word for all pointy things and adjectives to identify specific forms [»sebbM_1997]
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Subtopic: controlled vocabulary thesaurus
| Quote: MUCH uses a controlled vocabulary thesaurus to organize material [»radaR3_1993]
| | Quote: a thesaurus is made of preferred and lead-in terms; hierarchical, equivalent, and associative relations; table-of-contents and index
| | Quote: construct a thesaurus by creating index terms as needed for a document collection; time-consuming [»radaR3_1993]
| | Quote: MUCH assists with thesaurus construction by identifying index terms and building links and nodes
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Subtopic: searching with a thesaurus
| Quote: use a thesaurus of associated concepts to resolve vague ideas [»bushV8_1959]
| | Quote: study showed improved recall with variant forms, synonyms, and hierarchical thesaurus [»marcG1_1988]
| | Quote: use a thesaurus to define index terms and groups of related terms; first use of thesaurus in information retrieval [»robeN12_1984]
| | Quote: use a thesaurus to store successful sets of index terms for information retrieval; include subordinate, coordinate, and equivalence relationships [»robeN12_1984]
| | Quote: query-initiated browsing -- locally navigate within a neighborhood; allows for localized similarity [»furnGW3_1997]
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Subtopic: problems with thesaurus
| Quote: any set of ordinary English thesauri show how differently the same vocabulary can be treated
| | Quote: a retrieval thesaurus, like any thesaurus, is somewhat arbitrary
| Quote: when two people construct a thesaurus only 60% agreement
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Related Topics
Group: information retrieval (25 topics, 674 quotes)
Topic: cross reference and hierarchical links in hypertext (9 items)
Topic: dictionary for natural language (41 items)
Topic: hypertext browser (23 items)
Topic: information retrieval by cross reference (7 items)
Topic: information retrieval by following links (23 items)
Topic: information retrieval with an index (32 items)
Topic: meaning of words (21 items)
Topic: semantic networks (42 items)
Topic: text trails through hypertext (17 items)
Topic: words defined by words (25 items)
Topic: words in natural languages
(40 items)
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