Do you know what "quatrefoil" and "impolitic" mean? What about "halcyon" or "narcolepsy"?

This book is a handy, easy-to-read reference guide to the proper parlance for any situation. In this book you will find: Words You Absolutely Should Know (covert, exonerate, perimeter); Words You Should Know But Probably Don't (dour, incendiary, scintilla); Words Most People Don't Know (schlimazel, thaumaturgy, epergne); Words You Should Know to Sound Overeducated (ad infinitum, nugatory, garrulity); Words You Probably Shouldn't Know (priapic, damnatory, labia majora); and more.

Whether writing an essay, studying for a test, or trying to impress friends, family, and fellow cocktail party guests with their prolixity, you will achieve magniloquence, ebullience, and flights of rhetorical brilliance.

Have you struggled for just the right phrase when grappling with a class assignment? Crafting an office memo, do you want greater clarity and concision? Pounding away at a last-minute blog entry, haven't you ever thought, "There has to be a better word for this"? Now there is.

Under the time-tested and respected banner of Roget's Thesaurus, here is an array of words and their definitions organized by meaning. With this volume at your side, you need never be stalled or stymied for an appropriate expression, whether speaking of the higher reaches of philosophy or holding forth on art, music, or poetry--or other highbrow pastimes.

The more you expand your vocabulary, the richer and clearer your writing and conversation will become. And the better you'll be able to say exactly what you mean, joining intellectual discussions with confidence that you've found just the right words.