author

Richard Soule

1812–1877

Best remembered as an American lexicographer, he moved from engineering and business into literary work and helped shape major nineteenth-century reference books. His name is most closely linked with a widely used dictionary of English synonyms and parallel expressions.

1 Audiobook

A Dictionary of English Synonymes and Synonymous or Parallel Expressions Designed as a Practical Guide to Aptness and Variety of Phraseology

A Dictionary of English Synonymes and Synonymous or Parallel Expressions Designed as a Practical Guide to Aptness and Variety of Phraseology

by Richard Soule

About the author

Born in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 1812, Richard Soule graduated from Harvard in 1832. Early in his career he worked as a civil engineer, and later spent years in sugar refining before turning more fully toward literary and reference work.

Soule is chiefly known for his work as a lexicographer. He supervised editors who assisted Joseph E. Worcester on dictionary projects, and he also wrote A Dictionary of English Synonymes and Synonymous or Parallel Expressions, a reference book designed to help readers and writers choose words with greater precision and variety.

He died in 1877. Although he is not widely remembered today, his work belongs to the practical, language-loving tradition of nineteenth-century American reference publishing.