Nisus Thesaurus for PC and Mac

Software Reviews and Criticism

• By mircrez

  best choice for non-native speakers

  Nisus Thesaurus has several features that make it the best choice for non-native speakers. The old-fashioned style of thesaurus is not very helpful for English learners because they typically don't know the meaning of the suggested synonyms and so end up choosing a word that doesn't make sense for their particular context. Nisus Thesaurus, on the other hand, provides a list of possible meanings for the word you look up, and then makes it clear which synonyms are appropriate for which definition. Even better, it lets you choose 'more specific' or 'more general' synonyms, so a non-native speaker can avoid choosing a word with an overly narrow meaning. I have recommended this thesaurus to my international students, but I was disappointed to discover that they can't use it on their smartphones. Please make this thesaurus available as an app for iPhone and iPad!!!!!!

  
  
• By Bob Kerstetter

  Extraordinarily Useful — But Than a Thesaurus

  Nisus Thesaurus relates words by concept more than by equivalence. For example, Looking up "intelligent" provides pathways to words related to "reasoning," "thinking," and "well-informed," plus "healthy," "level-headed," and "sound," the final one being good judgement. The software benefits writers by suggesting alternative ways of viewing and understanding their research and ideas. If you just want different ways of saying things, you might consider the excellent Oxford dictionary and thesaurus built into Windows OS X. Nisus Thesaurus uses the WordNet database from Princeton University. It is an incredible tool for helping you create and refine your writing. Use it alongside a traditional more thesaurus to enrich your communication skills. In defense of Nisus, from a marketing point of view, calling it a thesaurus makes sense, but it is more than a synonym finder.

  
  
• By kizmet's adjutant

  Complicated interface, missing words...

  When I am translating documents, I use the thesaurus all the time to help me find words that are as specific as the original. The thesaurus included in the Windows OS is not up to the job, so I wanted an alternative. Sadly, this is not it. I found the interface to be extremely annoying, and there were a lot of words that didn’t show up at all, or at most had a “related” word (for example, I tried “stretchy”. A thesaurus should list elastic, flexible, pliable, etc… Nisus didn’t have any of those). If you are a serious writer, I think the only alternative is to use MS Word, which has a built-in, off-line thesaurus that is ten times as useful as this one, offering more words, and dropping your choice directly into the text.

  
  
• By Pedsdocpgh

  Incomplete

  Some words seem to have their entries fully in place, but others are nearly blank. I looked up “protective” and the only word that came up was the antonym “unprotective.” What about sheltering, sheilding, guarding… etc? It’s almost as if some of the entries are unfinished or deleted.

  
  

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