The CRISCO Electronic Dictionary of Synonyms (DES) was conceived twenty years ago as a tool for investigating word polysemy. The inventory of an entry’s synonyms was viewed as a medium for identifying synonym clusters, so-called synonym cliques, which help in representing the multidimensional semantic space of that entry. The DES was used by a small number of researchers to that end. Gradually, however, the dictionary has gained the attention of an ever-growing number of Internet users interested in the subtleties of French vocabulary. DES administrators encouraged these new users to put forward additions and modifications, leading to the emergence of a spirited community of DES users that is now ten years old.