Dictionary of Semantic Fields
The dictionary of semantic fields lists all the words that are semantically related to the headword, grouped by meaning and ranked by relative strength. It illustrates the semantic neighbourhood of the words and lets you navigate through their conceptual web. All in all, 61,000 entries are connected by means of 2.7 million links.
List of words in the semantic field
Words belonging to the semantic field of the headword are presented in a vertical list and grouped by category. The nature of semantic links between these words varies: a semantic field may consist of combinations, words of the same family, synonyms, hyponyms, meronyms, etc. You can select a specific word and then click on the Replace button to insert it in your text. Use the vertical keyboard arrow keys to scroll through the list of words in the semantic field.
Strength of words in the semantic field
A blue bar opposite each word in the semantic field indicates its relative strength: the longer the bar, the more the word is semantically related to the headword.
Main semantic sections
Entries for words with multiple meanings are usually divided into main semantic sections, with each meaning indicated by a green text label.
Sorting
Click on the title bar to sort the words in the semantic field in alphabetical order or by strength.
Global hide/show triangle
The hide/show triangle lets you expand or shrink all the meanings or categories at once.
Definitions panel
The definition of a word selected in the list is displayed in the upper right-hand panel.
Text filter
The text filter lets you display only the words in the semantic field containing the character string you enter in the filter field.
Thematic filters
Click on the Options… button to display or hide words based on their value (positive or negative) or meaning (strong or weak). Click on the X to close the thematic filters.
The Interactive sphere
To complement the list, the interactive sphere lets you visualize a semantic field in the form of a cloud of words whose size reflects the strength of the link with the headword. Click on a word in the sphere to call up its own semantic field, and you can embark on a semantic journey through the whole lexicon.
Expanding the sphere
Click on Expand [+] and the sphere will fill the central panel, and then on Minimize [-] to see it next to the list again. The larger the sphere, the more words it contains. When the sphere is expanded, one or two new menus may be displayed in a menu bar below the sphere. These allow you to modify the set of words displayed in the sphere.
Meanings menu
When the sphere is expanded, if the headword has several meanings, a label in the lower menu bar will show the meaning currently displayed with arrows to its right. Click on the label to display a menu of all the meanings, and choose the desired meaning.
Category menu
By default, the sphere displays words of all categories. When the sphere is expanded, the lower menu bar will show a menu initially labelled “All categories”. To restrict the sphere to a given category of words, choose a category from this menu.
Visual history
Your journey through the semantic fields is recorded visually: when you click a word in the sphere, it is displayed in a timeline below the sphere. You can click on a word in the timeline to go back to that field, and then return to where you were.