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Title: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary/Large Format/Indexed by Merriam-Webster ISBN: 0-87779-711-0 Publisher: Merriam-Webster Pub. Date: 01 September, 1993 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.19 (77 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A thorough guide for almost all dictionary users
Comment: The MW Tenth is the latest in my nearly complete collection of this company's series of dictionaries. I began with the Fifth and bought each as they were published This current edition (Tenth) has increased the size and scope of desk dictionaries -- it is much larger than many previous editions (the Eighth and Ninth are of similar size) and contains such a wealth of information that almost no one would outgrow it. I find the Tenth useful not only in itself, but in the context of its predecessors. Words change their meaning over time and a new dictionary is essential to knowing exactly where a word is at this time -- as well as using previous editions to see where it came from. I am proud to have contributed a word to the Ninth edition, still listed in the Tenth: "hizzoner." It took years of research, but how many people get their own entry in a major dictionary? The MW Tenth is a great book for just browsing and (not incidentally)learning just when a word entered the language. More "family reading" of dictionaries such as this might help young children enjoy their language.
Rating: 5
Summary: Thorough and well-written, with useful features
Comment: This is a very high quality collegiate dictionary. I am a member of a word puzzle organization (puzzlers.org) and this is our standard reference, along with the unabridged version, "Webster's Third New International Dictionary". Many very obscure words show up in puzzles, but it is relatively rare I find I have to go to the unabridged dictionary to look them up.
In addition to being thorough (with excellent sections on abbreviations, foreign words and phrases (such as "en plein jour" or "inshallah") it includes compressed but informative etymological data. For example, the entry on "spacious" has this - ME, fr. MF spacieux, fr. L spatiosus, space, room -- more at SPEED (14c)"; in a little over a single line you get the lineage, with a reference to yet more information. You may have to learn some of the abbreviations (Middle English, Middle French, 14th century) but I found them generally intuitive and didn't need to look them up much at all.
In addition, there are excellent usage paragraphs scattered throughout. These are of two types. One type compares the usage of different words with very similar meanings. For example, the entry on "satiate" provides a usage paragraph that compares "satiate", "sate", "surfeit", "cloy", "pall", "glut" and "gorge", identifying the precise differences of usage between them. The paragraph is cross-referenced at each of the other six words, so you don't have to just stumble across satiate to find it.
The other kind of usage paragraph discusses correctness. A good example is "hopefully", which in its sense "I hope that" is controversial. The dictionary asserts the validity of this controversial use, which is sure to annoy some purists, but it does acknowledge the debate and cite grammatical arguments for its position.
The dictionary is available online, and I strongly recommend you take a look at it. There is a CD-ROM for sale too, which is worth getting as it adds some fancy search features, though if you're like me you'll want the paper version to keep by the bed.
Rating: 5
Summary: Very good for everyday use
Comment: An important issue with choosing a dictionary is finding a balance that meets your needs.
My first choice of dictionaries is the 20 volume OED for depth and breadth of coverage. Some disadvantages of the OED are the price and the size. My second choice of dictionaries is the Shorter OED, which is smaller (2 volumes) and cheaper, but has about 1/3 of the entries (roughly 500,000).
My third choice of dictionaries is the "New Oxford American Dictionary," which is easy to carry and use - it has roughly 250,000 words. The NOAD is handy because it has definitions arranged in order of most common usage - "core meanings" followed by related senses. It does not have the extensive literary citations that the OED and shorter OED have.
My fourth choice of dictionaries is probably the Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, which has about 450,000 words. The disadvantages of this dictionary are that the main text has not been updated since 1961 (although an 89 page addenda is added at the beginning), the layout is hard to follow, and it's a bit unwieldy.
Which brings me to my fifth choice of dictionaries, which is the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate dictionary. This dictionary has roughly 200,000 words, so it loses some breadth and depth of coverage. However, it's very useful for everyday use, and a nice balance between portability and breadth and depth of coverage.
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Title: Merriam Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus by Merriam-Webster ISBN: 0877791694 Publisher: Merriam-Webster Pub. Date: 01 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition with CD-ROM and Online Subscription by Merriam-Webster ISBN: 0877798095 Publisher: Merriam-Webster Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged by Philip Babcock Gove, Merriam-Webster ISBN: 0877792011 Publisher: Merriam-Webster Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $129.00 |
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Title: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms by Merriam-Webster ISBN: 0877799067 Publisher: Merriam-Webster Pub. Date: 01 July, 1992 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language CD-ROM by American Heritage Dictionaries, Editors of The American Heritage Dictionaries ISBN: 0618094555 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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