Onelook.com is a site that helps you find definitions, translations and stuff like that. It also has this tool called Reverse Dictionary, which I find really interesting.
The Reverse dictionary lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word. Just type it into the box above and hit the “Find words” button. In most cases you’ll get back a list of related terms with the best matches shown first.
Here are some ways you can use the Reverse Dictionary.
- You know the definition/meaning of the term but are not able to recall the actual term. For example, searching for ‘being tried twice for the same crime’, brings up ‘Double Jeopardy’ on the top of the result.
- You could use Reverse Dictionary to generate a list of words in some category. For example large birds, green fruit.
- It can help you find answers to basic identification questions like What is the capital of Vietnam? or What is the longest river in the world?
- Solve crossword puzzle clues, or find words if you only know some of the letters. Example: ??lon:synthetic fabric.
I particularly like the ability to perform a wildcard search. Also, while searching using wildcards, you can restrict the results to a particular meaning by putting a colon after the pattern followed by a word or two describing what you’re looking for. Example: c*:board game.
Check it out and you may find your own ways of using the Reverse Dictionary.
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