Thesaurus Rex Review

Developer: Dictionary.com
Price: $2.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4

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As a writer, I rely on words to make a living. So suffice to say that when a new app is released from the crowd that developed my dictionary app of choice (the aptly named Dictionary.com) I jumped at the chance to review it.

A synonym of a word is basically other words that share the same meaning - and these alternative words are exactly what Thesaurus Rex is here to help users discover.

As far as apps that deal specifically with synonyms go, Thesaurus Rex is perfect. The user has to simply enter the word that they want alternatives for and a list of them will immediately be presented to them. Rather geniusly, the list of synonyms is actually ranked on how similar it is to the word that the user inputted. This is an incredibly handy feature and definitely will make the user more confident in using the app for high-profile assignments.

I was also impressed with how the app prompted the user to select which meaning of the word they inputted in the case it had several. Take "run" for example. I could either mean "to be fast moving or foot" or to "operate, drive." Thesaurus Rex leaves nothing up to chance in ensuring that the user selects the right word, and this level of detail really does shine through.

The interface of the app isn't exactly appealing, adapting a stale and ugly orange, black and grey color scheme. I also had a small bit of trouble trying to navigate the app when I first opened it, with the brief video tutorial offered on the main screen not being of much assistance.

Although it won't appeal to everyone, Thesaurus Rex also allows users to read up on the origins and histories of whatever word they looked up. Some will see this as fascinating, whereas others will see it as mundane. Thesaurus Rex also supports offline access, which is an incredibly useful feature to have in any reference app.

Although lacking in the user interface and usability department, Thesaurus Rex manages to pull through thanks to the incredible features offered accompanied by very convenient offline support.