Submit a Word or Phrase

As used on this page, “phrase” includes many different terms, expressions, and multiple word combinations. For examples of phrases included in The Number Thesaurus, click here.

Populating the Database of
The Number Thesaurus

One of the goals of The Number Thesaurus is to involve the user by encouraging the submission of commonly used words and phrases that do not appear in standard dictionaries, yet are well known and understood. For example, while the entries tennis elbow and tennis shoe appear in one of the more popular desktop dictionaries, the term tennis court does not. Adding entries of this type to the database will expand the functionality of The Number Thesaurus, as explained in the example below. 

When the database for The Number Thesaurus was first populated, it contained approximately 110,000 single words and their numerical equivalents. Two of those words were navy and blue. Navy converts to the number 28, and blue converts to the number 95. Prior to any subsequent additions to the database, The Number Thesaurus would return the following words to a user requesting a match for the number 2895:

enfeeble, enviable, enviably, ineffable, ineffably

The term navy blue was not initially included in that list, because the database for The Number Thesaurus initially contained only terms and phrases that are recognized by standard desktop dictionaries. The term navy blue is not such a term. Had the user not been satisfied with the five choices shown above, he or she could have utilized the xx-xx format in the list of Two-Word formats contained in the dropdown menu on the home page. This selection produces two columns of words — one for the number 28 and one for the number 95. The column for 28 contains the word navy, in addition to thirty other entries. The column for 95 contains the word blue, in addition to more than 100 other entries.

With a little investigation, the user probably would have associated the words navy and blue, and formed navy blue for a matching phrase for the the number 2895. However, it would have been more efficient if The Number Thesaurus had simply returned the phrase navy blue (along with the five single words shown above) in the initial request for words that matched the number 2895. To correct this inefficiency, the editors of The Number Thesaurus have begun the process of adding commonly used phrases to the database. In many situations, these phrases serve equally well or better than the matches produced with only single words.

Users are encouraged to submit commonly used phrases for inclusion in The Number Thesaurus. Before submitting a suggestion, the user should test it in the data entry field at the top of this page. After the user submits a suggestion, the system will respond with one of the following two messages:      

 “   [submitted phrase]   ” is already contained in The Number Thesaurus database. The numerical equivalent is xxxxxxx.

 “   [submited phrase]   " appears to be a candidate for inclusion in The Number Thesaurus. If you would like to submit the phrase for further consideration, please complete the section below.

The first response indicates that the user’s suggested phrase is already contained in the database. Thus, no further action on the part of the user is necessary, unless he or she wishes to test another phrase.

The second response indicates that the user’s suggested word or phrase is not contained in the database. The user is encouraged to submit the word or phrase to the editors of The Number Thesaurus by entering it in the form immediately below the first field. In addition, the user may supply any additional information that he or she considers to be helpful. Inclusion of the word or phrase in the database will be at the discretion of the editors, and it will be based on their evaluation of the familiarity of the word or phrase and its propriety.

The editors have decide to limit the number of significant consonants of a database entry to twelve or less. (For a discussion of the term significant consonant sounds, click here) The reason is that phrases in excess of twelve significant consonant sounds tend to contain a disproportionate number of S, T, and N sounds — thereby producing many zeroes, ones, and twos, respectively. Listed below are some examples of entries that meet that parameter and some that don’t. The number of significant consonant sounds are shown in parentheses in the right-hand column.

Phrases containing fewer than 13 significant consonant sounds —

 Phrases containing more than 12 significant consonant sounds —

The editors realize that an argument can be made for extending the length to at least 16 significant digits because many credit card numbers consist of 15 or 16 digits. However, the chances of matching a credit card number to a commonly used phrase of that length is fairly remote. Credit card numbers are best handled with the “Custom format” selection in the drop down menu on the home page.

If the user would like to have feedback from the editors, he or she may provide an email address. (The Number Thesaurus will not sell, transfer, or otherwise make available to any other person or entity the email address of any user of The Number Thesaurus.)

 Feedback in this instance will typically consist of messages such as:

“Congratulations, your submission of “fish or cut bait” has been added to the The Number Thesaurus. The numerical equivalent of the phrase is 8647191”

– or –

“The editors have decided not to include your submitted phrase of “in point of fact” to The Number Thesaurus because the phrase does not seem to lend itself to a visual association with a person, place, or thing.”    

Explanation of the Use of “Phrase” on this Page

The word “phrase” is used on this page as a shorthand expression to cover many different word combinations sought by the editors of The Number Thesaurus. In addition to its core database of approximately 110,000 single words, The Number Thesaurus is seeking to expand its functionality by including many other word combinations that evoke mental images into which numbers can be converted.

In addition to referring to everyday phrases such as, “Have a nice day,” and “How are you doing?” the word “phrase” also denotes the following word combinations:

terms, clichés, slang expressions, landmarks,
 people, places, things, movies,

music, books, companies, teams

Shown below are some examples along with their numerical conversions. Note: the editors chose examples of phrases that contain exactly seven significant consonant sounds, because a telephone number (without the area code) contains seven digits. Adding phrases of seven significant consonant sounds increases the utility of the The Number Thesaurus because it will provide a match on the user’s first submission of a seven-digit phone number.