Are there any search engines that search for synonoms?

Question

I'm working on a worksheet in which I have to find quotes. Most, such as "Man cannot learn without God's help" only turn up the original worksheet and no actual results. Do any search engines exist that will automatically search (without me typing in various ways) for various forms, such as "One can't learn without God's help" or "Man cannot learn without help from God"?

Apparently I'm communicating this wrong to some people (either that or people read and judge too quickly to get points). I'm wondering any search engines are "intelligent". For example, it would know if I searched for "dogs" that canine is a near-synonymn and would also turn up pages about canines, or "man's best friend" not just dogs. Granted, this is a pointless example, but it would be very helpful in dealing with quotes like I mentioned.

Answer 1

On Google, If you want to search not only for your search term but also for its synonyms, place the tilde sign ("~") immediately in front of your search term.

Answer 2

I've been Googling some of those phrases from that site, and it's true that it ends up being the only result in some of the searches (of the entire quote).

However, if you only Google a shorter quoted section and leave the remainder unquoted, then you get better results.

e.g. instead of:

"The only stable country is one in which all men are equal before the law"

try:

The only stable country is one in which "all men are equal before the law"

And you'll see the answer is Aristotle. ('State' for 'Country').

That's a very clever way of setting a quiz, by tweaking the original quote. It makes people actually learn and not become a copy/paste junkie.

'Hope that helps.

Answer 3

For quotations I recommend going to Wikiquote: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Main_Page
For synonoms I recommend going to Wikidictonary:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Main_Page

Answer 4

http://thesaurus.reference.com/

Answer 5

ask.com

Answer 6

try m-w.com !