As writers, it’s easy to get in the habit of relying on words. These words are old friends we know well and they work for us. I know—when I search one of my manuscripts for over-used words, I find some favorites over and over and over. Yikes! It’s time to treat that well-worn word as a placeholder and find a better word.

A quick fix some writers turn to is the thesaurus. This, however, poses a danger. A thesaurus brings many similar words together but doesn’t always depict the nuanced differences in these words.

Here’s an example. A thesaurus search on “run” yields quite a few results. But does “amble” mean the same thing as run? No.

Amble:

1. to go at a slow, easy pace; stroll; saunter: He ambled around the town.

2. (of a horse) to go at a slow pace with the legs moving in lateral pairs and usually having a four-beat rhythm.

Thesaurus – go home, you’re drunk!

When looking for a better word, watch out for the gotcha thesaurus results – and look up…