For an essay, I use a paper thesaurus.  (I do my first drafts longhand - I just think better that way.)<p>For something like an HN comment, I just use the word that comes to mind.  If I&#x27;m not happy with it, I use whatever word seems best after 30 seconds to two minutes of thought.  I&#x27;m not really concerned with &quot;the perfect word&quot; in this context.