Hi All, If some of you come across a problem finding the right or apt word however on the contrary you have the phrase in mind and you are trying for one good, powerful, perhaps a new word how do you go about doing this? Do you have any websites that you look up???? And also if some one can tell me is there a word for - "Survivors of a Tempest" i.e if a ship survived a storm or a tempest is a there any name or word specific for them.... uh! you see what I mean???? Please help, and thanks in advance Daniel
A number of words come to mind and they each carry a different connotation: Flotsam (as mentioned already by @Bryan Romer): this word carries with it the idea of impotence, at the mercy of the tide, not in control of one's destiny. Debris: This word carries with the idea of damage and injury. Remains: this word carries with the idea of death and finality. Survivors: this word carries with the idea of determination and strength, or the idea of luck.
You could try a reverse dictionary - there's a couple online. You might have to jiggle your wording around to get a good list, though. And with any thesaurus you have to double check word meanings to make sure it's appropriate for context.
I question your assumption. Why do you think you need one good strong word to describe the survivors of a tempest? Think carefully about what you want to convey about those survivors, what emotional tone you want to create for the reader. I suspect it's more likely that several sentences would do a better job. The challenge for you as a writer is to craft sentences that create that tone, not to find some one magic word.
Always look for the synonyms of the word that seems close but is not sufficient to describe your feelings. Some of those synonyms convey more meaning than others. Thesaurus.com is good website for this purpose.
Be careful with using a thesaurus to find the perfect most exact word. Think about the language of the narration. Think about the tone. Think about the audience. Sometimes a few satisfying sentences, loaded with the right details, packed with images or emotional pull, would do more for you than that "right" word. It's more words, but there is no rule that says you need the minimum word-count. Just make every word pull it's weight. The thesaurus is best used in conjunction with dictionaries to verify words you know but are unsure of, or words that you already want to use, but can't remember (cuz, you know we all draw a blank sometimes). Lastly, consider the connotation of words in addition to their direct definitions.
Thanks for all your inputs. Flotsam is definitely a new word to me and the reverse dictionary idea is something that I was looking for... I'm just trying to get this word for a specific purpose in my writing however it is not the most important one, it is important... Many thanks to everyone
only if they ended up in an uninhabited area... if they were picked up by a ship, or floated on some flotsam into new york harbor, they wouldn't be castaways, would they?
Its actually a result of prayers they believe that they landed on shore safely and constructed a church in the village they landed... They are glad they survived because of their prayers... If this should be of help
