Reference Tools

Word includes two built-in reference tools that can help you use the right words in your documents:

• The dictionary enables you to look up word meanings and usage.

• The thesaurus enables you to find synonyms and antonyms.

Both of these tools are part of Word's new Reference Tools pane (Figure 23).

Figure 23. The Reference Tools pane with the Encarta World English Dictionary and Thesaurus areas displayed.

Tip

• The Reference Tools pane also includes buttons to access the Encarta Encyclopedia and MSN. A discussion of these two online reference tools is beyond the scope of this book. If you have an Internet connection, you can explore them on your own.

To look up a word in a document

1.	Hold down and click on the word you want to look up.
2.	A shortcut menu appears. Choose Definition from the Look Up submenu (Figure 24). Figure 24. Choose Definition from the Look Up submenu to display the Reference Tools pane for a specific word in your document.

Or

1.	Select the word you want to look up.
2.	Choose Tools > Dictionary (Figure 13) or Tools > Thesaurus (Figure 13). The Reference Tools pane appears (Figure 23). The top half of the pane displays information from the built-in Encarta World English Dictionary. The bottom half of the pane displays information from the built-in thesaurus.

To look up a word that is not in your document

1.	If necessary, choose Tools > Reference Tools (Figure 13) to display the Reference Tools pane (Figure 23).
2.	Enter the word you want to look up in the Word or Phrase box at the top of the pane (Figure 25). Figure 25. Enter a word in the box at the top of the Reference Tools pane and click Go.
3.	Click Go. The word's definition, meanings, and synonyms appear in the Reference Tools pane (Figure 23).

To replace a word with a word from the thesaurus

1.	Hold down and click on the word you want to replace with a synonym.
2.	A shortcut menu appears. If the Synonyms option is available, select it to display a submenu of synonyms for the word (Figure 26). Figure 26. Use the Synonyms submenu to replace a word with a synonym.
3.	Choose a replacement word from the submenu.

Or

1.	Select the word you want to replace with a synonym.
2.	Choose Tools > Thesaurus (Figure 13) to display the Reference Tools pane with the word you selected (Figure 23).
3.	In the Meanings area, select the appropriate meaning for the word.
4.	In the Synonyms area, select the synonym you want to replace the selected word with.
5.	Click Insert.

The word you originally clicked on or selected is replaced with the new word.