Crossword Genius

Ambassador’s absorbed by sign one will offer alternative terms (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

thesaurus

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'one will offer alternative terms' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'ambassador's absorbed by sign' is the wordplay.
'ambassador's' becomes 'HE's' (His or Her Excellency).
'absorbed by' is an insertion indicator.
'sign' becomes 'taurus' (Taurus is an example).
'hes' going within 'taurus' is 'THESAURUS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for thesaurus that I've seen before include "Wordy gathering" , "Volume of synonyms" , "Reference work" , "Book of words with synonyms, antonyms etc" , "storehouse" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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