hpdeifel/synosaurus

[[https://melpa.org/#/synosaurus][https://melpa.org/packages/synosaurus-badge.svg]]

• Synosaurus

  Synosaurus is a thesaurus fontend for Emacs with pluggable backends.

  [[file:screenshots/cnr.png]]

** Getting Started

• Synosaurus is available from [[https://melpa.org/][MELPA]]. Install it with:

  : M-x package-install synosaurus

  Or if you really want to install it manually, add the synosaurus directory
  to your load-path:

  : (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/synosaurus")

• Then enable the minor mode with synosaurus-mode.

** Usage

The main commands for you to use are:

• synosaurus-lookup :: Queries you for a word, looks it up in the
  thesaurus and shows you a list of alternatives. You can click or press
  RET on these alternatives to look them up instead.

• synosaurus-choose-and-replace :: Look up the word under the cursor, asks
  you to select one of the alternatives and replaces the original word
  with you selection. You can configure different methods for the
  alternative selection, see below.

• synosaurus-choose-and-insert :: Asks for a word, presents a list of
  synonyms to choose from, and inserts the selected one into the current
  buffer.

The default keybindings are:

| Key | Command |
|-----------+-------------------------------|
| =C-c C-s l= | synosaurus-lookup |
| =C-c C-s r= | synosaurus-choose-and-replace |
| =C-c C-s i= | synosaurus-choose-and-insert |

** Configuration

Synosaurus can be configured through the normal customization interface of
emacs. Take a look at:

: M-x customize-group synosaurus

The individual options are:

• synosaurus-backend

  The thesaurus backend to use. This can also be set per buffer.

• synosaurus-choose-method

  The way, synosaurus-choose-and-replace should query you for
  alternatives. The following symbols are acceptable values.

  • popup :: Use the library popup.el to show a popup with alternatives.
    This is recommended and the default, but you will need to
    install popup.el separately.

  • ido :: Use IDO to show a nice fuzzy matching completing minibuffer.

  • default :: Use the normal minibuffer completion.

** Backends

Two thesaurus backends are implemented right now in various states of
completion.

Openthesaurus is a open German thesaurus and is supported quite well, but
needs an Internet connection to be queried. Its backend function is called
synosaurus-backend-openthesaurus.

Wordnet is a English thesaurus, that can be installed as a separate program
called /wn/, that is used offline. Wordnet can do lot's of things other than
simple lists of synonyms. Not many of these features are supported by
synosaurus, yet. Wordnet's backend function is called
synosaurus-backend-wordnet.

** Dependencies

• popup.el, if you want to use the /popup/ method for choosing alternatives.