PRICE

Price refers to the amount of money you pay when you buy something.

The price of coffee had gone up by 12%.

Price is also used figuratively in the sense of consequence or cost:

He had to pay a high price for his support of the party’s failed candidate. 

Price can also be used as a verb meaning to put a price on something, to say how much something costs or is worth.

He was reluctant to price the old furniture.
The young couple thought the house was priced too high.
Entrance is priced at €7 for adults and €5.50 for children.

To price in (with the stress on in) has two meanings:

1. To include the cost of something in the total price

You need to price in the cost of packaging and freight.

2. To consider a factor when deciding a price

We must price in the risk of increased raw material costs.

PRIZE

Prize (with a voiced s-sound) refers to an award earned in a competition or through talent. It is associated with achievement and recognition.

My daughter won first prize in the baking competition.

A prize flower or animal is one that is of very good quality, one that has won or deserves to win a prize.

A prize idiot is the same as a complete idiot.

As a verb, to prize has two meanings:

1. To value highly

That old photo is one of my most prized possessions.

2. To force open (sometimes also spelled prise)

I prized the lid open with a spoon.
She prised the little boy’s fingers apart and took the pill from him.

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A monolingual dictionary gives explanations in simple English:

You can read more about dictionaries here.

A dictionary of synonyms suggests alternative words:

You can find more about dictionaries of synonyms here.

A dictionary of collocations shows how a word can be combined with other words and parts of speech:

Read more about dictionaries of collocations here.

Finally, a thesaurus builds on concepts and ideas and will give you lots and lots of closely and more remotely related words and expressions:

A thesaurus gives you ample opportunity to vary your text, but you need to understand nuances in meaning. Under Vb. (Verb) we find neutral phrases such as be in charge and have overall responsibility but also expressions from working life such as take the helm (of a ship), take the chair (lead a meeting) and hold the reins (of a horse). We also find more informal phrases such as wear the trousers, which implies someone who is in control and makes decisions. You would not use that expression in a serious text about the CEO of a company!

Read more about thesauri here.

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The first modern thesaurus, published in 1852 by Peter Mark Roget, is still widely used. The book is organised according to ideas or concepts. You first look up a word in the index in the second half of the book, where you will find one or several synonyms for that word, each with a reference number. Under production, for example, in my copy of Roget’s I find the words product, production and dramaturgy. The first two words refer to section 164 and the third to 594 (having to do with drama and ballet). Here you can see a part of section 164 (the numbers before some of the words refer to further sections in the book):

You will notice the richness of expressions here. There are concrete words such as thing, designer and skyscraper and more abstract ones such as attempt, productivity and idea. When you use a thesaurus like this, you need to understand nuances in meaning.

Roget’s Thesaurus is also available online here.

Online you can also find the following:

en.oxforddictionaries.com/thesaurus
collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus
merriam-webster.com/thesaurus
and others.

The Longman Language Activator is in a way similar to Roget’s; it is based on concepts. However, it is called a production dictionary instead of a thesaurus – it will help writers produce their ideas. Here is a part of the entry on manager:

Often the word thesaurus is used to denote a dictionary of synonyms or any kind of dictionary.

You can see a comparison between different types of dictionaries here.

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