Thesaurus Wars: #4

       I found the exact thesarus Stephen Sondheim uses at a local thrift store. I have no idea why he hangs out there--that's his business, not mine. Just kidding (it is my business). Anyway, I'm also kidding about finding the exact thesaurus he uses (because then he'd be using it, wouldn't he?) Furthermore, the thesaurus I found is an old pocket one. and is one year earlier than Sondheim's. But that's pretty darn close. 
       So I have this thesaurus project which stems from a slight facination with thesauruses. I'm trying to find out which thesaurus is better---Websters or Rogets?--just based on words they provide as synonyms. As you know, I found an old Pocket Rogets last week. This one is arranged as originally intended: by category, not alphabetically.

       Rogets: you look up the word you want in the back, and it gives you some meanings and their corresponding page numbers (for 'absolute,' it was 'not relative,' 'great,' and 'certain'). You turn to the meaning you want, and it puts you in a category with other subcategories, etc...it's kind of complicated at first, but you only really have to flip through the book twice: to find the word in the back, and to go to the intended meaning, which is surrounding by related meanings.

1. 'not relative' brings you to EXISTENCE...
real, actual, positive, absolute; veritable, true; substantial, essential

2. 'great' brings you to GREATNESS...
absolute, positive, stark, decided, unequivocal, essential, perfect

3. 'certain' brings you to CERTAINTY...
unqualified, absolute, positive, definite, clear, unequivocal, categorical, unmistakable, decisive

       Webster's: alphabetically
1. [Without limitation] total, complete, entire, infinite, fixed, settled, supreme, full, unrestricted, unlimited, unconditional, independent, whole-hearted, sheer, pure, unmitigated, utter, unabridged, thorough, clean, outright, downright, ideal, simple, perfect, full, blanket, all out, out-and-out

2. [Without limit in authority] authoritarian, domineering, supreme, arbritrary, offical, autocratic, tyrannical, fascist, fascistic, overbearing, czarist, nazi, totalitarian, communistic, oppresive, browbeating, antidemocratic, imperative, dogmatic, commanding, controlling, compelling, despotic, intimidating, fanatic, dictatorial, arrogant, with an iron hand

3. [Certain] positive, unquestionable, undeniable

 Analysis:
       In terms of sheer quantity, Websters wins. But I want to know where Rogets went wrong. How could it fail to include words like "unlimited," "total," and "unrestricted"? I flip back to a sub-section for 'absolute' to pinpoint the problem. I find that on the Rogets line for "absolute," we aren't given much--for the 'greatness' meaning, there's 'positive,' 'stark, 'and 'decided.' That's cold, very logical. We're missing the gushing emotion that Webster's "whole-hearted," "sheer," "pure" and "unmitigated" provide.
       Where can we find this fount of human feeling in Rogets?
       So Websters is large. So Websters is new. So Websters is political ("czarist"? "communist"? what about "absolutist"?) But Rogets has composed something that no Andrew Lloyd Websters can: a surrounding field of words. Ones like (for EXISTENCE, 'truth,' afloat,' 'essential,' 'in fact'), (for GREATNESS, 'mightily,' 'towering,' 'infinitely,' 'extreme',  (for CERTAINTY, 'manifest,' 'bigot,' 'undoubted') clump around the original word you requested, due to their being in the same category (but not the same exact meaning). Because isn't that the point? To get words that are similar, because they're in a similar category?
Go Rogets.
       But what about my extremely witty pun on Andrew Lloyd Webber's name? Shouldn't we dwell on that, or maybe look at some of the words themselves, like in my previous thesaurus-offs? No--we should glory in the coalescence of logic and spirit, math and manhood. Oh, what it is to be perusing a treasure trove of related words! I cannot see the gods in the air tonight, as they are in me. Can a word drop as if fruit from a sapling? Of course, my sweet. Absolutely. But swift, I discern the chatter of the patricians.