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We present a new method to describe the contextual meaning of a key word in a corpus. The vocabulary of the sentences containing this word is compared to that of the entire corpus in order to highlight the words which are significantly overutilized in the neighbourhood of this key word (they are associated in the author’s mind) and the ones which are significantly underutilized (they are mutually exclusive). This method provides an interesting tool for lexicography and literary studies as is shown by applying it to the word amour (love) in the work of Pierre Corneille, the most famous French playwright of the 17th century.