Thing 11: Visual Thesaurus

I have always considered myself a word nerd.  I've been using thesauri (?) for years, whether it's the blue paper-back one sitting above my desk, the electronic one within Microsoft Word, or Thesaurus.com (part of Dictionary.com).  I know the importance of selecting the "perfect" word and the frustration of not being able to find it - especially when you have one specific in mind but just can't draw it forth.  Microsoft's thesaurus tends to frustrate me to no end because it isn't very sophisticated and rarely has just the word I want.  It is, however, extremely quick and easy and doesn't distract much from what I'm doing.  AND doesn't require internet. 

Wow... I never thought that by VISUAL, it meant VISUAL!  I was absolutely shocked as it sprawled into a web that kept expanding and unfolding - it mushrooms or blossoms, sort of.  And you can click on the lines connecting words to see how they are connected, for instance, "type of" or the like.  And you can move them around!  This is so sweet!  And off to the side there is a box with it more in list format, in case you learn better that way - which is better for me because it is more structured and doesn't confuse or distract me as much. 

Here are the words I decided to try:

Walk:
track, cross, get across, pass over, get over, cover, traverse, cut through, cut across
tally, hit, score, rack up
make walk.  is a type of... obligate, compel, pace, oblige
locomote, move, go, step, travel

          Locomote - move, travel, go
          Travel - jaunt, trip, journey, move, go, etc.

I was surprised I didn't find words like saunter, glide, or anything more creative and less strictly "walking".  I feel like the answers I found were actually not very useful for this entry.

Light:
luminousness, incandescence, illuminance, illumination, brightness, physical property, luminescence, light, luminosity, luminance, twinkle, sparkle, spark, unclouded, ablaze,
illumine, illuminate, ignite, phosphorescent, sunstruck, autofluorescent,bioluminescent,
buoyant, floaty, insignificant, airy
wakeful,wakeful,
idle, promiscuous, frivolous, fooling, casual
swooning, undemanding, gentle
digestible, scant
abstemious

to name a few....

Overall, I think this might be a little overwhelming at times, a little confusing trying to figure out the relationship between, say, LIGHT and PROMISCUITY.  But it is a neat tool, I will admit, with a lot of potential.  I wish I didn't run out of opportunities to try it out so fast...