Rhymesaurus Review

This is a utilitarian program which supplements the wimpy dictionaries and thesauruses in word-processing programs. Rhymesauraus’ greatest virtue is its cross-referencing. Words are linked by sound and by definition, and the hyperlinks create a web journey where any one word can take the seeker anywhere.

The program is not hard to use, although when one actually gets into the core the program -- the rhyme dictionary-- things become more complicated because the definitions and figures of speech used to describe syllable and rhyme searches aren't words the average person understands. Okay, the average poet probably understands “sight rhymes” and “assonance” but only a MFA would understand what “lexical stress pattern” or “perfect/normative mode” are. These are just two of the kinds of searches used in the Rhyme section. When it comes to search results, the computer casts a very wide net which, depending on the poet’s style, might be either an abundance of riches or just so much clutter. With so many words thrown at a poet, some of the results were questionable and more of a hindrance than a help. The results for words searched under “assonance” and “reverse first syllable" wouldn't be helpful to poets in need of streamlining.

That's why I was glad when I used the Word-surf search option. This enabled a seeker to find synonyms, antonyms, and attributes of a searched word and gave more fine-tuned results.

The words are hyper-linked and cross-referenced. There is a lot of order here, although what can one say about a program that leaves out the “f” word but includes the “n” word? (I got to the “N-word” by doing a search for “tiger.”) Considering how hyper-linked everything is, the “back” arrow button was helpful in backtracking the current search. But it seemed a bit inconsistent and the histories of previous searches were sometimes retained, and sometimes wiped away. The “First” arrow button always kept track of the very first search of each session.

All in all, a really good program