The question mark? That means that you can use it as a placeholder for a single letter or symbol. The query l? The number-sign matches any English consonant.
For example, the query tra t finds the word "tract" but not "trait". The at-sign matches any English vowel including "y". For example, the query abo t finds the word "about" but not "abort". The comma , lets you combine multiple patterns into one. For example, the query????? You can use another double-slash to end the group and put letters you're sure of to the right of it.
A minus sign - followed by some letters at the end of a pattern means "exclude these letters". For example, the query sp???
On OneLook's main search or directly on OneLook Thesaurus, you can combine patterns and thesaurus lookups by putting a colon : after a pattern and then typing a description of the word, as in?? Other ways to access this service: Drag this link to your browser's bookmarks bar for a convenient button that goes to the thesaurus: OneLook Enter onelook.
This gives you OneLook at your fingertips, and several cool app-only features, while helping us maintain the service for all! Wildcard patterns are not yet suppoerted by this add-on. If you regularly use the main OneLook site, you can put colon : into any OneLook search box, followed by a description, to go directly to the thesaurus.
