Ī thesaurus serves to guide both an indexer and a searcher in selecting the same preferred term or combination of preferred terms to represent a given subject. The thesaurus aids the assignment of preferred terms to convey semantic metadata associated with the content object. ANSI/NISO Z39.19-2005 defines a content object as 'any item that is to be described for inclusion in an information retrieval system, website, or other source of information'. A thesaurus serves to minimise semantic ambiguity by ensuring uniformity and consistency in the storage and retrieval of the manifestations of content objects.
In the context of information retrieval, a thesaurus (plural: 'thesauri') is a form of controlled vocabulary that seeks to dictate semantic manifestations of metadata in the indexing of content objects.
For other uses, see Thesaurus (disambiguation).
