Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #770181 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 1872 pages

Synopsis
An updated and revised edition of the renowned dictionary, designed specifically to meet the needs of advanced learners, as well as teachers. All the definitions in this dictionary are written in full in simple, natural English and grammatical information is clearly detailed ina separate section. Additional information is also featured on word frequency.

Customer Reviews

learn English through example sentences
I learned English for many years and I used more than eight English-English dictionaries.

When I saw the Collins COBUILD English dictionary in a bookstore, I was very excited. I had been using English-English dictionaries for years and I had formed some expectations. This dictionary immediately impressed me as the best one so far. The best by far. I knew that I had been waiting for this dictionary for many years.

You can use this dictionary when you don't understand a word. You will learn its meaning through seeing this word used in sentences. The sentences use the word as it is used naturally by native speakers. The sentences are not artificial. They are real sentences.

You can use this dictionary to learn how to use a word in your own sentences. You can follow the example sentences which already use this word correctly. The dictionary is full of example sentences. Even the definitions are written in the form of whole sentences.

Reading correct English sentences is the most important thing for learning English. When you use this dictionary, you read many sentences in English. Therefore this dictionary is a good tool for learning English.

learn English through example sentences
I learned English for many years and I used more than eight English-English dictionaries.

When I saw the Collins COBUILD English dictionary in a bookstore, I was very excited. I had been using English-English dictionaries for years and I had formed some expectations. This dictionary immediately impressed me as the best one so far. The best by far. I knew that I had been waiting for this dictionary for many years.

You can use this dictionary when you don't understand a word. You will learn its meaning through seeing this word used in sentences. The sentences use the word as it is used naturally by native speakers. The sentences are not artificial. They are real sentences.

You can use this dictionary to learn how to use a word in your own sentences. You can follow the example sentences which already use this word correctly. The dictionary is full of example sentences. Even the definitions are written in the form of whole sentences.

Reading correct English sentences is the most important thing for learning English. When you use this dictionary, you read many sentences in English. Therefore this dictionary is a good tool for learning English.

Very useful, but some entries need revision
This dictionary is worth buying for at least three reasons. First, it contains simply-to-understand explanations of both words and expressions currently used in English speaking countries. Furthermore, it usually distinguish between a formal and an informal use of its entries, as well as among American, Australian, and British English. Finally, it provides English learners with some very clear examples of how to use every word and expression properly. Yet the Collins Cobuild has some blemish, too. For instance, I think the Editorial Team was in a hurry, when they decided the definition of "summary": "(Count noun.) You use 'in summary' to indicate that what you are about to say is a summary of what has just been said." This definition is pointless. In order to find what a "summary" is, we must look at other entries -- e.g., "to recapitulate": "(Verb.) ...You can say that you are going to 'recapitulate' the main points of an explanation ...when you want to draw attention to the fact that you are going to repeat the most important points as a summary." But if we can already suppose to find the meaning of "summary" by looking at "to recapitulate", perhaps we do not need to search that word in a dictionary! For this reason, I think that (at present) the Collins Cobuild Dictionary cannot be awarded five crowns, albeit (generally speaking) it is a very good dictionary.