Macquarie Thesaurus is the first thesaurus ever written to be based on the distinctly Australian use of English.

This new edition has been totally reworked from the database of the highly-respected Macquarie Dictionary and updated from its store of new words.

It therefore contains a wide range of contemporary words, both general and technical, as well as many phrases and colloquialisms. In the technical domain there are items such as digital watermark, extraordinary rendition, bioregion, narcodollar and webinar. Colloquialisms include emo, ubersexual, tottymungous and booty call.

Phrases abound so, for example, a foolish person can be described as mad as a two-bob watch, silly as a wet hen, or nutty as a fruitcake. Traditional Australian words such as digger and churinga are included, but there are also newer creations such as baby bonus, barbecue stopper and Australian values.

Aboriginal English is represented also with such general items as smoking ceremony, Aboriginal customary law, booliman (policeman), and yandi (marijuana), and informal terms such as cheeky (unpredictable and dangerous), deadly (excellent), sulky (angry) and flash (brazen).

"A thesaurus can be a quick way to find a forgotten word, or a leisurely way to explore a language. We hope both paths are well provided for in this book" Richard Tardif, Editor