Example - InterWATER thesaurus - relationships
Updated - Monday 23 October 2006
Preferred terms (descriptors) and non-preferred terms
Preferential relations indicate which term has been selected as the preferred term from perhaps many synonyms or near-synonyms. This device ensures that information on a given concept is in a single place in the information system. It does not mean that the other expressions are incorrect.
| Desalination | Term chosen as the preferred term (or descriptor) |
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| uf desalinization | Synonyms: non-preferred terms (or non-descriptors) |
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| uf salt removal |
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Hierarchical relations usually indicate other preferred terms that serve for concepts ‘larger’ or ‘smaller’ in intent than the descriptor entry term:
| Diseases | Descriptor entry term |
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| NT1 infectious diseases | Preferred term narrower than diseases |
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| NT2 enteric infections | Preferred term narrower than infectious diseases |
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| NT3 diarrhoeal diseases | Preferred term narrower than enteric diseases |
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| Diarrhoeal diseases | Descriptor entry term |
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| BT1 enteric infections | Preferred broader term than diarrhoeal diseases |
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| BT2 infectious diseases | Preferred broader term than enteric diseases |
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| BT3 diseases | Preferred broader term than infectious diseases |
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Note that DISEASES has no broader term in this thesaurus: it is therefore defined as a top term. Associative relations are non-hierarchical, and roughly equate with the instruction ‘see also’. Their purpose is to draw the user’s attention to other descriptors in the thesaurus that might be of interest in a particular task of indexing or retrieval. A good example of such related terms is:
| Wastage |
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| rt water conservation |
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