Visual Thesaurus

Brilliant:
- Superb: having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified.
- Glorious: having or deserving glory.
- Magnificent: characterized by grandeur.
- Splendid: having great beauty and splendor, very good of the best quality.
- Vivid: evoking lifelike images within the mind.

When I write research papers I use on-line thesaurus on occasion. When I was in high school though I tended to use one on a more regular basis. This could be attributed to the fact my vocabulary has expanded since high school, or all I have to do now when looking up synonyms for words is just right click on my mouse then a bunch of related words appear which mean the same thing as the word I have highlighted. This is more convenient and faster than looking up words in a print thesaurus or an on-line web page thesaurus.
I have made the mistake though of choosing a word which I thought was similar in meaning, but found out later it meant something completed different or didn't fit in with the text of the paper I was writing. This is a drawback of using the word thesaurus in Microsoft word and should be monitored very carefully by the writer.

I looked up a couple of simple words people use everyday in passing like table and look and the following are synonyms which came up:
Table: board, mesa, gathering, tabulate, furniture, and shelve to just name a few.
Look: seem, appear, reckon, attend, front, await, and expression just to name a few.

I wouldn't consider myself a word nerd, but I have a decent vocabulary which I have to give credit to my public relations major and classes such as intro to journalism, rhetorical theory, and the many writing emphasis classes which I have taken at Coe these past four years. Also, my father has an unbelievable vocabulary and every now and then he'll throw out a word which is over my head which I ask him the meaning of. Growing up around him has also contributed to my vocabulary and helped me use words accordingly in appropriate situations.