Thesaurus

A Thesaurus is an online database or a book of synonyms and near-synonyms in a written language, usually arranged conceptually, although dictionary arrangement is not uncommon. The first thesaurus of the English language, published in 1852, was compiled by Peter Mark Roget. For an online thesaurus of the English language, see Merriam-Webster OnLine. See also: crossword puzzle dictionary.
Also refers to an alphabetically arranged lexicon of terms comprising the specialized vocabulary of an academic discipline or field of study, showing the logical and semantic relations among terms, particularly a list of subject headings or descriptors used as preferred terms in indexing the literature of the field. In information retrieval, a thesaurus can be used to locate broader terms and related terms if the user wishes to expand retrieval, or narrower terms to make a search statement more specific. A well-designed thesaurus also enables the indexer to maintain consistency in the assignment of indexing terms to documents.

Controlled vocabulary (an established list of preferred terms from which a cataloger or indexer must select when assigning subject headings or descriptors in a bibliographic record, to indicate the content of the work in a library catalog, index, or bibliographic database) is usually listed alphabetically in a subject headings list or thesaurus of indexing terms.

The plural of Thesaurus is thesauri.

Example of a well known Thesaurus is the Legislative Indexing Terms: The CRS Thesaurus.

A metathesaurus is an alphabetically arranged list of the specialized vocabulary of an academic discipline or group of related disciplines, indicating the semantic relations between terms, designed to integrate a number of separate controlled vocabularies (thesauri) developed independently to facilitate information retrieval

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Administrative law, Boolean and Free-text Searching for Legal Research, Cataloging for legal materials, Classification of Law Materials, Codification, Commercial law, Common law, Comparison of Library of Congress and Dewey classifications about Law, Constitutions, European Thesaurus on International Relations and Area Studies, European Union law, International Family Law, International Security, International law classification: JX System, Judicature, KF Modified, Key Number System, Law Classification, Law library, Legal Bibliography, Legal Thesaurus, Legal blogosfera review this week, Legal subjects, Library of Congress Classification Class K, Linked Data Principles to Legal Information, List of international law publications in english, Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Moys Classification and Thesaurus for Legal Materials, Private International Law, Rule of law, Thesaurus of Law GenreForm Terms, Treaties, country.

End-User Thesaurus in Legal Information Retrieval

The following is a basic concept of End-User Thesaurus in relation to information retrieval. In addition to this, End-User Thesaurus may be applied to legal texts, including case law, legislation and scholarly works. Traditionally, thesauri were designed to guide indexers, who were compelled to use preferred term from indexing thesauri for every concept. There are no preferred terms in an end-user thesaurus. Instead, for every concept included, all variant, synonymous, and equivalent terms are displayed, along with narrower, broader, and other related terms. The purpose is to help searchers find all as many relevant terms as possible for their searches. End-User Thesauri, Designed for Searchers Rather Than Indexers.

Indexer Thesaurus in Legal Information Retrieval

The following is a basic concept of Indexer Thesaurus in relation to information retrieval. In addition to this, Indexer Thesaurus may be applied to legal texts, including case law, legislation and scholarly works. Traditionally, thesauri were designed to guide indexers, who were compelled to use the preferred term in a thesaurus for every concept. Each preferred term is generally accompanied with synonymous, equivalent, variant, narrower, broader, and other related terms. Sometimes source and scope notes are included. Although designed for indexers, indexing thesauri can be very helpful for searchers as well. See also end-user thesauri.

Thesaurus in Legal Information Retrieval

The following is a basic concept of Thesaurus in relation to information retrieval. In addition to this, Thesaurus may be applied to legal texts, including case law, legislation and scholarly works. The term thesaurus is based on the Greek word for treasure. The term was adopted by Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869), the compiler of the first modern classified treasury of words designed to bring together terms with similar meanings as an aid for writers. It is somewhat ironic that the main objective of Rogets thesaurus (and its modern successors) is almost exactly the opposite that of the modern information retrieval thesaurus. While Rogets thesaurus helps writers identify the best term for their particular purpose (an objective that both types of thesauri share!), its main purpose is often seen as encouraging and facilitating variety in expression, something prized in many contexts. The information retrieval thesaurus aims to control or compensate for such variety — to bring together the many terms that might be used to describe essentially the same, or closely related topic, to facilitate searching. The typical thesaurus consists of records for terms representing concepts, with links for synonymous, equivalent, narrower, broader, and other related terms. See also end-user thesaurus and indexing thesaurus. Indexing Thesauri Designed to Guide the Assignment of Terms by Indexers.

Thesaurus in Law Libraries

The follow definition of Thesaurus is of use in law library research: a list of all the subject headings or descriptors used in a particular database, catalog, or index.

Resources

See Also

• Language
• Legal English
• Language Policy
• Language Law

Hierarchical Display of Thesaurus

Education And Communications > Documentation > Document > Documentary tool

Thesaurus

Concept of Thesaurus

See the dictionary definition of Thesaurus.

Characteristics of Thesaurus

[rtbs name=”xxx-xxx”]

Resources

Translation of Thesaurus

• Spanish: Tesauro
• French: Thésaurus
• German: Thesaurus
• Italian: Thesaurus
• Portuguese: Tesauro
• Polish: Tezaurus

Thesaurus of Thesaurus

Education And Communications > Documentation > Document > Documentary tool > Thesaurus

See also

• Research
• Experiment on humans
• Organisation of research
• Research results
• Research method
• Military research
• Industrial research
• Scientific research
• Innovation
• University research
• Company research
• Applied research
• Animal experimentation
• Invention
• Field research
• Basic research
• CERN