How To Use Words Like Shakespeare

A digital thesaurus built for “linked-based thinking” is presented as a practical antidote to the shrinking vocabulary that makes people easier to manipulate—an idea dramatized through George Orwell’s Newspeak in *1984*. The core claim is straightforward: richer word choice doesn’t just decorate writing; it expands how clearly people can name feelings, analyze situations, and resist persuasion tactics that rely on emotional shortcuts like anger, fear, and outrage.

The walkthrough centers on a publicly shared, Obsidian-based version of Peter Mark Roget’s thesaurus (1852), specifically the third edition of the 21st century edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer. Dennis’s contribution is described with striking scale: 14,000 distinct notes with definitions, 44,000 words total, and roughly 420,000 distinct links connecting entries in many directions. The interface turns synonym lookup into exploration. Hovering over words reveals definitions instantly, and clicking through creates a “rabbit hole” effect—starting from a single term like “astonish” and then branching into related synonyms (e.g., amaze, astound, bewilder, overwhelm) and concept neighborhoods.

A key feature is the concept index, where words are grouped not only by direct synonym relationships but also by shared conceptual categories. “Astonish” is shown as a verb meaning “surprise,” and “surprise” sits inside a higher-order meta note labeled “actions of a cognitive nature.” From there, the thesaurus surfaces conceptually similar ideas—such as “backfire,” “bedazzle,” “bewilder,” and “confound”—and even distinguishes adjacent meanings (for example, “alarm” shares a sense of surprise but is not identical). The method encourages lateral movement (synonyms) and vertical movement (up to broader categories), so users can zoom from a word to a map of related concepts.

The guide then expands from cognitive actions into a full taxonomy of categories and subdomains. Beyond “actions of a cognitive nature,” the list includes general actions, motion, physical and abstract causes, fields of human activity (communications, education, entertainment, government, health, legal, military, and more), professions, recreation, religion, social interactions, the arts, and even down into life forms, objects, matter, senses, and geography. Examples like “tundra,” “savannah,” “quagmire,” and “ravine” illustrate how the system can sharpen description by offering specific environmental or experiential labels.

The practical takeaway is that vocabulary expansion improves thinking—analytical, creative, and connective—by helping people parse particulars, spot subtle differences, and choose words that match complex internal states. At the same time, the emphasis is not on speaking in big words all the time; it’s on having them available when precision matters. The creator also frames vocabulary as a defense against “dark arts” of persuasion, arguing that better language helps people avoid being pushed into reactive emotional states.

Finally, the resource is offered as a freely available public Obsidian Publish vault (hosted online, with a note that availability may be temporary). The recommended usage is simple: take a “word excursion” by scrolling the word list, or use the concept index by browsing categories—following the principle that wandering can lead to useful discovery rather than getting lost.