Book excerpt: The Oxford Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms provides an easy-to-use source of over 150,000 alternative and opposite words in order to improve your wordpower and communication skills, and also make your English more interesting and original. For each entry, synonyms are listed alphabetically within each sense, and antonyms are placed at the end of entries where appropriate. There are illustrated examples to show how words of less obvious senses are used, and markers such as 'informal','derogatory', and 'obsolete' highlight the usage style. There is extensive cross-referencing to other entries for extended lists of synonyms and to related words to broaden your knowledge. There is also a Lexicon of Hard Words with interesting and unusual words as diverse as erubescence (blushing) and jumbal (sweet crisp cake), which will provide fascinating and useful additions to anyone's vocabulary.