Please note that this search will only pick up words used in the titles of the resources, or in my annotations!
THESAURI, GLOSSARIES, DICTIONARIES
THESAURI, GLOSSARIES, DICTIONARIES
Subject-specific resources presented here are also listed on the relevant subject pages.
Subjects: General/Multisubject, Agriculture, Astronomy and space, Biology, Chemistry, Computing, IT and Internet, Construction, Cookery, Costume, Defence, Education, Electricity and Electronics, Environment Fine Arts/Architecture/Archaeology, Genealogy, Geography and Geology, History, Information and Library Studies, Law, Literature, Materials, Mathematics, Medicine, Music Physics Sociology, Transport
CONTROLLED VOCABULARIES, THESAURUS AND GLOSSARY CONSTRUCTION
ANSI/NISO Z39.19-1993(R1998) Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Thesauri http://www.niso.org/ This standard for thesauri can be downloaded from the NISO site free of charge in pdf format at http://www.niso.org/standards/standard_detail.cfm?std_id=518
Babylon.com http://www.babylon.com This site features the Babylon Builder glossary construction software. This can be downloaded at no charge. Glossaries produced with this software can include images and hyperlinked text. It is possible to import existing text or HTML glossaries. In order to view the glossaries it is necessary to use Babylon Tool. This works together with any Windows application. A word is selected in the application and a Babylon search is launched to find definitions or other information related to that word. A Babylon search can be conducted offline on glossaries produced locally or downloaded from the Babylon site, or online on local glossaries and those at Babylon. A trial version of Babylon Tool can be downloaded at no charge. This is fully functional, but after 30 days downgrades to a limited version with advertisements. The full version costs $19.95. The Babylon site contains a large number of glossaries and dictionaries on many subjects. [I have not as yet evaluated the software or the glossaries.]
Database vocabularies and indexing http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/arstlibr512/00-01-wt2/database1.htm Another meta-site from University of British Columbia School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS).
Introductory Tutorial on Thesaurus Construction http://instruct.uwo.ca/gplis/677/thesaur/main00.htm A tutorial with quizzes, by by Prof. Tim Craven, Faculty of Information and Media Studies University of Western Ontario.
Publications on thesaurus construction and use http://www.willpower.demon.co.uk/thesbibl.htm From Leonard Will at Willpower Information.
Standard for Structure and Organization of Information Retrieval Thesauri (NISO Z39.19) http://www.jelem.com/z39f.htm
Thesaurus Construction and Maintenance Guidelines http://www.rbms.nd.edu/manual/thesaurus_construction.shtml Rare Books and Manuscripts Section A unit of the Association of College & Research Libraries, American Library Association.
TheW32 http://publish.uwo.ca/~craven/freeware.htm Simple thesaurus management software available totally free of charge (freeware). Developed by Prof. Tim Craven, Faculty of Information and Media Studies University of Western Ontario.
Subject-SPECIFIC RESOURCES
This section includes resources which do not fit into any one category, or which could be assigned to a number of categories.
1000 Dictionaries Online http://www.1000dictionaries.com/ http://www.1000dictionaries.com/ Links to 2500 online dictionaries, glossaries and thesauri for various subject categories. The site looks rather messy, but is very useful.
American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language http://www.bartleby.com/61/
APAIS Thesaurus http://www.nla.gov.au/apais/thesaurus/index.html A list of subject terms used in the Australian Public Affairs Information Service.
Australian Pictorial Thesaurus (APT) http://www.picturethesaurus.gov.au/ "A collection of topic terms for indexing Australian images. The APT uses contemporary Australian terminology to describe objects, people, places and structures, activities and concepts depicted in an image".
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable http://www.bartleby.com/81/ Over 18,000 entries that reveal the etymologies, trace the origins and otherwise catalog “words with a tale to tell.”
Glossary of the Humanities http://www.sil.org/~radneyr/humanities//glossary.htm Still under construction, but definitions where available are extensive.
Graphic Materials (TGM1 and TGM2, Library of Congress) Both these thesauri can be downloaded as text or Word files. TGM1 http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/toc.html is a subject index, while TGM2 http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm2/ provides descriptors of the physical format of graphic materials.
HASSET (Humanities and Social Sciences Thesaurus) http://155.245.254.46/services/zhasset.html
IRIS Keyword Thesaurus http://carousel.lis.uiuc.edu/~iris/thesaurus.html Thesaurus in 25 subject areas.
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
Occupations Thesaurus http://www.nla.gov.au/raam/occup.html
OECD Macrothesaurus http://info.uibk.ac.at/info/oecd-macroth/ In English, French and Spanish.
Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus http://www.bartleby.com/62/ http://www.bartleby.com/62/ 35,000 synonyms, not in the traditional format
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/ From the Library of Congress. A thesaurus of over 6,300 terms for indexing visual materials, as well as numerous cross references. There is also a companion Thesaurus for Graphic Materials II: Genre and Physical Characteristic Terms at http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm2/
Transhub http://transhub.cjb.net/ This metasite was originally created to serve translators and it contains references to very many glossaries, dictionaries and encyclopaedias. The interface is a bit confusing. The top pull down menu defines the broad subject area of the search, while the menus below are used for further refinement. I have not fully explored this site, but it was featured in the Scout Report.
UNESCO Thesaurus http://www.ulcc.ac.uk/unesco/index.htm The UNESCO Thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary developed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation which includes subject terms for the following areas of knowledge: education; science; culture; social and human sciences; information and communication; and politics, law and economics. It also includes the names of countries and groupings of countries: political, economic, geographic, ethnic and religious, and linguistic groupings.
Visual Thesaurus by Plumb Design http://www.plumbdesign.com/thesaurus/index.html A concept mapping thesaurus; better experienced than described!
WebRef http://www.webref.org/ A collection of glossaries to a variety of subjects. Unfortunately, the site is marred by excessive advertising.
Wordsmyth Integrated Dictionary and Thesaurus http://www.wordsmyth.net/
Your Dictionary http://www.yourdictionary.com/ Links to more than 800 general and specialist dictionaries in 160 languages.
Xlation.com http://www.xlation.com/glossaries/ Collection of over 1600 glossaries in numerous subjects and many languages.
Agricultural Thesaurus from the NAL (National Agricultural Library, US) http://agclass.nal.usda.gov/agt/agt.htm
AGROVOC http://www.fao.org/agrovoc/ AGROVOC is a multilingual agricultural thesaurus in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, and contains 16,607 descriptors and more than 10,000 non-descriptors. Each descriptor has an equivalent in the other languages.
Soil Science Terms http://www.soils.org/sssagloss/ by the Soil Science Society of America
Glossary of astrological terms http://www.logos.dk/glossary.htm
Astronomy Thesaurus http://msowww.anu.edu.au/library/thesaurus/ Multilingual. Last updated in 1993.
NASA Thesaurus http://www.sti.nasa.gov/thesfrm1.htm The thesaurus and supplement is available in read-only pdf format as well as being for sale. The links to the free thesaurus are at the bottom of the page.
PACS Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme http://publish.aps.org/PACS/pacsgen.html Available in HTML, pdf and ASCII formats.
Animal Use Alternatives Thesaurus http://agclass.nal.usda.gov/altrntvs/index.htm "This classification is designed to assist the Animal Welfare Information Center at the US National Agricultural Library in its efforts to identify literature pertaining to alternatives to animal testing. It covers "the three R's": replacement, refinement, and reduction."
Aquatic Science and Fisheries Thesaurus
http://www.csa.com/htbin/ccfdisp.cgi?fn=/wais/data/thes/asfithes.ccf&sl=A&fmt=5&ldtag=TR
Thesaurus of the CSA ASFA database.
Asian Vegetables Thesaurus http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/trade/asiaveg/thes-00.htm This resource provides multi-language synoyms for a number of vegetables, as well as photographs to assist identification.
Botanical Terms http://glossary.gardenweb.com/glossary/ http://glossary.gardenweb.com/glossary/ Glossary of 3700 terms relating to botany, gardening, horticulture and landscape architecture.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Glossary http://www.portlandpress.com/pp/books/online/glick/default.htm Free on-line version of hardcopy publication.
Biocomputing Index http://www.uni-mainz.de/~frosc000/bcd-vhg/bcdindex.html
Bioinformatics glossary http://www.brunel.ac.uk/depts/bl/project/biocomp/sequence/seqanal_guide/glossary.html
Genome Glossary http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/Human_Genome/publicat/glossary.html
Genomics Lexicon http://genomics.phrma.org/lexicon/ Searchable database of terms and definitions from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
Life Sciences Thesaurus http://www.csa.com/edit/lscthes.html Thesaurus of the CSA Life Sciences database.
Mammal Species of the World http://www.nmnh.si.edu/msw/ in a taxonomic hierarchy.
Marlin http://www.marlin.ac.uk/ http://www.marlin.ac.uk/ The site includes a glossary of scientific marine biological terms used in the Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme (in the Species Information section).
MedBioWorld http://www.sciencekomm.at/ A collection of 25,000 links to journals, associations, databases, publishers, glossaries and other resources in the biological and medical sciences. Links to glossaries and dictionaries are at http://www.medbioworld.com/advice/dict.html
Peptide hormones nomenclature http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iubmb/misc/phorm.html from the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature
Pesticide
names http://ace.orst.edu/info/extoxnet/tibs/pestgrp.htm
Pesticide-related glossary
http://ace.orst.edu/info/extoxnet/tibs/glossary.htm
SCOP Structural Classification of Proteins http://scop.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/scop/
Chemical Abstracts General Subject Vocabulary Helper http://www.cas.org/vocabulary/index.html http://www.cas.org/vocabulary/index.html Hierarchical and alphabetical index of CAS subject headings.
Chemfinder.com http://chemfinder.cambridgesoft.com Apparently this facility includes only about 0.4% of the CAS RN file, but it is free and supposedly good for common substances.
ChemIDplus http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/ http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/ Search by name, synonym, RN number, formula or structure to obtain database links to information about the chemical.
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Recommendations on Organic & Biochemical Nomenclature, Symbols & Terminology etc. http://www.chem.qmw.ac.uk/iupac/
Computing Classification System (Association for Computing Machinery, Inc., 1998) http://www.acm.org/class/1998/ccs98-intro.html
FOLDOC (Free Online Dictionary of Computing) http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/contents.html Can also be downloaded as a text file.
Jargon Scout http://tbtf.com/jargon-scout.html This sites gives definitions and origins for newly appearing slang words relating to IT and the Internet.
NetLingo http://www.netlingo.com/ Dictionary of Internet Terms.
Whatis? http://whatis.techtarget.com/ Definitions for thousands of the most current IT-related words
Canadian Thesaurus of Construction Science and Technology http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/irc/thesaurus/welcome.html
Vocabulary of Basic Terms for Cataloguing Costume http://www.mda.org.uk/costume/vbt00e.htm
Cook's Thesaurus http://www.foodsubs.com/ Covers thousands of ingredients and kitchen tools. Entries include pictures, descriptions, synonyms, pronunciations, and suggested substitutions.
Sushi Vocabulary http://www.bento.com/sushivoc.html
Glossary of Military Terms, Phrases, Abbreviations, Slang http://hometown.aol.com/usmilbrats/glossary/index.html
Canadian Adult Literacy Thesaurus http://www.thesaurusalpha.org/thesaurus/homeenglish.htm
European Education Thesaurus (EET) http://www.eurydice.org/TeeForm/FrameSet_EN.htm The thesaurus is available in 12 languages and needs to be downloaded (pdf format)
Alex's Giant Glossary Listing http://www.iserv.net/~alexx/glossary.htm Links to glossaries and acronym collections relating to electronics and electricity.
IEEE Web Thesaurus Keywords http://www.ieee.org/portal/index.jsp?pageID=corp_level1&path=web/developers/webthes&file=index.xml&xsl=generic.xsl
Environmental Thesaurus (Terms of the Environment) (US EPA) http://www.epa.gov/docs/OCEPAterms/
Envoc Thesaurus http://p5uni.ii.pw.edu.pl/envoc/ INFOTERRA is the global environmental information exchange network of the United Nations Environment Programme
Fine Arts, Architecture and archaeology
Archaeological Objects Thesaurus (British Museum) http://www.mda.org.uk/archobj/archcon.htm
Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/index.html Part of the Getty Vocabulary Program. A structured vocabulary containing around 125,000 terms and other information about concepts. The coverage of the AAT ranges from Antiquity to the present, and the scope is global. Terms in AAT may be used to describe art, architecture, decorative arts, material culture, and archival materials.
Artcyclopedia http://www.artcyclopedia.com/ Includes a popup glossary of art-related terms.
English Heritage Monument Class Descriptions http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/mpp/mcd/ A collection of terms and descriptions which can be used to classify archaeological sites.
Iconclass http://www.iconclass.nl/ "Iconclass is a subject specific international classification system for iconographic research and the documentation of images.It was developed by Henri van de Waal (1910-1972), Professor of Art History at the University of Leiden, and completed by his staff. Iconclass is a collection of ready-made definitions of objects, persons, events, situations and abstract ideas that can be the subject of an image."
ULAN (Union List of Artists' Names) http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/ulan/index.html http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/ulan/index.html Part of the Getty Vocabulary Program. Over 200,000 entries for more than l00,000 artists, architects, craftspeople, and others from ancient times to the present. Includes name variations, biographical information and bibliographic sources.
ADL Thesaurus http://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu/gazetteer/FeatureTypes/ Thesaurus of geographical features/place names.
Illustrated Glossary of Physical Geography http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/glossary/index.html
Mineral name lists from Athena Mineralogy http://un2sg4.unige.ch/athena/mineral/min_lists.html
Soil Science Terms http://www.soils.org/sssagloss/ by the Soil Science Society of America
TGN (Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names) http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/tgn/index.html Part of the Getty Vocabulary Program. Nearly 1 million place names representing approximately 900,000 places.
Glossary of Genealogical Terms and Abbreviations http://www.genealogy.com/Glossary/glossary.html Listings of obsolete, archaic, and legal terms that may be encountered in records while tracing ancestry.
Pimbley's Dictionary of Heraldry http://digiserve.com/heraldry/pimbley.htm
Chivalric and Heraldic Terminology http://home.olemiss.edu/~tjray/tjr7.html
Information and Library Studies
ASIS Thesaurus of Information Science http://www.asis.org/Publications/Thesaurus/tnhome.htm
ODLIS http://www.wcsu.ctstateu.edu/library/odlis.html Hyperlinked online dictionary of library and information science
Dictionary of Law http://dictionary.law.com/ http://dictionary.law.com/ Free on-line version of hardcopy publication
Duhaime's Law Dictionary http://www.wwlia.org/diction.htm
Eurovoc Thesaurus http://europa.eu.int/celex/eurovoc/ Multilingual thesaurus of terms related to legislation in the European Union.
'Lectric Law Library http://www.lectlaw.com/ref.html http://www.lectlaw.com/ref.html Includes a legal dictionary and other resources.
Metalingo http://www.headstrong.demon.co.uk/ Downloadable glossary of literary and linguistic terms
British Museum Materials Thesaurus http://www.mda.org.uk/bmmat/matintro.htm
Mathematica Subject Classification http://www.ams.org/msc/ Can be downloaded in pdf format
World of Mathematics This site contains a guide to mathematics terminology, which is accessed at http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/Terminology.html
Alcohol and
Other Drug (AOD) Thesaurus http://etoh.niaaa.nih.gov/AODVol1/Aodthome.htm
A Guide to Concepts and Terminology in Substance Abuse and
Addiction
Alzheimer's Disease Thesaurus http://www.alzheimers.org/chid/index.htm Thesaurus for the Combined Health Information Database (CHID), which contains references to and abstracts of books, journal articles, brochures, fact sheets, and audiovisuals related to Alzheimer's disease, along with subfiles on 15 other health topics.
Archaic Medical Terms http://www.paul_smith.doctors.org.uk/ArchaicMedicalTerms.htm A glossary of old medical terminology, originally established to help genealogists decipher old records.
Bioethics Thesaurus http://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/ir/BT99toc.htm Thesaurus used for Bioethicsline (US National Library of Medicine).
Health and Aged Care Thesaurus http://www.health.gov.au/thesaurus.htm In 6 separate pdf files.
MedBioWorld http://www.sciencekomm.at/ A collection of 25,000 links to journals, associations, databases, publishers, glossaries and other resources in the biological and medical sciences. Links to glossaries and dictionaries are at http://www.medbioworld.com/advice/dict.html
Medical Dictionary http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=18836 Searchable and browsable dictionary of over 9000 definitions of medical terms. Edited by medical professionals.
Medical Dictionary http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/omd/ Contains terms relating to biochemistry, cell biology, chemistry, medicine, molecular biology, physics, plant biology, radiobiology, science and technology.
Medical Statistics http://www.dianthus.co.uk/statistics/index.htm Comprehensive definitions and explanations of a selected number of statistical terms
MeSH http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/ http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/ Thesaurus used to index Medline, one of the largest biomedical databases in the world, produced by the US National Library of Medicine.
MT Desk http://www.mtdesk.com/index.htm A resource for medical transcriptionists, with its own word lists and links to many other terminological and general medical resources.
Occupational Health and Safety Thesaurus, Australian. AOHST http://www.nohsc.gov.au/ohsinformation/libraryservices/default.htm#Thesaurus in pdf format
Rx List http://www.rxlist.com/ http://www.rxlist.com/ Index of trade and generic drug names.
Medieval Music Glossary http://www.vanderbilt.edu/~cyrus/ORB/orbgloss.htm
Music Thesaurus (Spindrift) http://www.spindrift.com/Thesaurus/index.html This thesaurus was conceived as a resource for composers looking for a precise expressive term. If you know what you want to say but you don't know the correct or commonly used Italian term, it's very time consuming to scan the dictionary for the word. You can use the thesaurus to focus on a general meaning, such as fast or sad, and view a list of terms that convey that meaning.
PACS Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme http://publish.aps.org/PACS/pacsgen.html Available in HTML, pdf and ASCII formats.
Political Dictionary http://www.fast-times.com/politicaldictionary.html Terms used by policy-makers, journalists, commentators, and analysts, in discussing national and international politics.
Bioethics Thesaurus http://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/ir/BT99toc.htm Thesaurus used for Bioethicsline (US National Library of Medicine).
Thesaurus of Sociological Indexing Terms http://www.csa.com/edit/sociothes.html http://www.csa.com/edit/sociothes.html Thesaurus for Scientific Abstracts (CSA)
Australian Transport Index Thesaurus http://www.arrb.org.au/library/thesaurus.pdf (pdf format) "This new edition still has a bias towards road-based transport, reflecting the origins of the Australian Transport Index as a database of information on roads only, but the addition of new terms and relationships has greatly increased its coverage of non-road transport modes. The coverage of environmental concepts has been increased since the last edition, as has been the coverage of safety and more general concepts." Preferred terms reflect Australian usage.
ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) Thesaurus http://www4.nas.edu/trb/tris.nsf/web/thesaurus_intro?OpenDocument