Ask HN: How do you search for an appropriate English word?

Consider that you are writing a blog post or an essay. No one will have all the words we need at the tip of the tongue at all times. So when you struggle to find the appropriate word, what resource do you use to find the appropriate word? There are more than one ways to find a specific word. One is where we know a related word and look for its synonym/antonym. For example the word 'beautiful' is so overused, you would like to use a synonymous word which is more exact. The other is finding a related word where we know the surrounding context and try to use the appropriate word for that context. For example "a ________ pupil" you might want to describe a person who is a perfect pupil disciplined and intelligent. So how do you go about this type of search?

Do most of your search fall into 'synonymous' type or 'related words' type?