Product Description

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary is the most popular dictionary of its kind around the world and is noted for its clear, concise definitions as well as its comprehensive and authoritative coverage of the vocabulary of the English-speaking world. This reissue of the revised edition brings the tenth edition completely up to date by the addition of hundreds of new words and meanings taken from Oxford's renowned data collection programme, with a special focus on fast-changing areas of the language such as new technology, e-commerce, fashion, and youth culture. In addition there is a new 40-page section including information on countries and nationalities, alphabets and accents, weights and measures, and a games and puzzles wordfinder. There is also a new grammar guide and a section covering the language emerging through new technologies such as SMS.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #483314 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1728 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Anyone looking for a concise dictionary of English is currently faced with a difficult choice, since 2001 has seen the publication of new editions of three major works; the Concise Oxford Dictionary the Collins Concise Dictionary and the Encarta Concise Dictionary. All cover the same core material and at first sight seem much the same, giving definitions that place the most common sense first, guidance on such things as how formal or informal a word is and information on the origin of a word and when it first came into the language. However, a closer look at the text shows that they all have different strengths.

The Concise Oxford is the most grown up of the three. It saves space for other things by not giving pronunciation guidance for standard English vocabulary (such as "cheese") but only for words that might be difficult ("cheetah", "Chekhovian"). Instead it gives extra information on phrases, so that the reader does not have to search through "hard" for "hard cheese" is under "cheese". There is no major encyclopaedic element, although "Chekhovian" will give you the basic information on Chekhov, and there is an appendix giving information on countries of the world, as well as others on proof marks, weights and measures, different alphabets, abbreviations used in texting and an extensive guide to good English. This is the only one of the three to give good coverage of obsolete words, and is particularly strong on science and foreign words used in English. --Julia Cresswell

Amazon.co.uk Review

Dictionary [Oxford, Concise] n. a book that lists the words of a language in alphabetical order and gives their meaning, or their equivalent in a different language. Oxford n. a type of lace-up shoe with a low heel. Origin C19th: named after the city of Oxford. Concise adj. giving a lot of information clearly and in a few words.

Compiled from the world's biggest language research programme, Oxford lexicographers have rewritten all 220,000 entries in the latest and greatest edition of The Concise Oxford English Dictionary. The very first edition of this dictionary, published in 1911, drew on the content and method of Editor James Murray's revolutionary lifework, the Oxford English Dictionary, the vivid history of which is captured in Simon Winchester's bestselling linguistic detective story of words, murder and madness, The Surgeon of Crowthorne:

"Other dictionaries in other languages took longer to make; but none was greater, grander or had more authority than this. The greatest effort since the invention of printing. The longest sensational serial ever written."

As its name suggests, the Concise Oxford Dictionary provides a streamlined compendium of easily accessible edited highlights from its more cumbersome ancestor. Arduously edited from longhand submissions, a typewritten manuscript and handset on a letter press, the very first edition was a labour of love. Nearly a century later, this new tenth edition draws extensively on new technology--including the citation database of the Oxford World Reading Programme which houses approximately 50 million words--to present an inclusive reference guide to living, breathing English. In its own concise definition of its method:

"Each entry is built around the core sense or senses of the word in current English, as based on rigorous analysis of large amounts of real, modern evidence available in computerized form."

So no need to scrabble for other dictionaries, this is the last word in quick authoritative reference, and a lexical luxury for etymologists. --Rachel Holmes

From the Publisher
A NEW LOOK FOR THE WORLD'S FAVOURITE DICTIONARY

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary has a new image. During the summer the full range of Oxford Dictionaries will be arriving in bookshops around the country with a new look. The new jackets have been designed to reflect Oxford's status as the world's leading dictionary publisher, and its commitment to the spread of learning. This is not just a change of appearance; it marks the end of a five year programme to completely rewrite Oxford's full range of English dictionaries for the new millennium. Drawing on the scholarship and detail of the twenty volume Oxford English Dictionary, every word in the dictionaries has been rewritten after the study of at least 300 examples of each word's actual usage. As well as revising the existing entries, about 2,500 new words have been added to the range of dictionaries including such celebrated arrivals as white-van-man, yah, minger, ladette, adultescent, duvet day, retail therapy, and even SMS abbreviations such as GR8, OTOH, and BCNU.

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Customer Reviews

THE BEST, THOUGH NOT COMPLETELY UNFLAWED
When the editors at Oxford began compiling the first edition of their English dictionary in the mid-19th century, their intention was to create the most comprehensive & academic such publication to date. By the time the eventual ten volumes had all been published in 1928 (originally four volumes), and indeed in the years since, this had arguably not been surpassed.

The dictionary, as the English language, has constantly evolved over time, keeping up to date with changes in word meaning, and with new words being constantly added all the time (for example, I don't imagine the first edition contained an entry for "Internet" or even "Television").

The title of this latest "concise" edition should not be misleading. Unless you need a full page for a definition, this edition should be sufficient for most needs. Its layout & broadness of definitions keep it head & shoulders above the rest, and have done since the introduction of the concise edition, beating off would-be contenders (such as the, admittedly excellent, Collins edition) for the crown of world's most popular.

The only criticism I could make of this is that this "concise" edition is perhaps not concise enough for the casual, lazy, user. However, if you want an up-to-date, definitive (who hasn't heard of the Oxford English Dictionary?), value for money and consice (enough) resource, this is the one to go for.

Good layout with clear heirarchy of displayed information
Effective use of bold typeface for the keywords, bullet-points and arrow symbols, combined with a small but significant indentation of the decriptive text make this dictionary very easy to the eye.

The top of each page nearest the edge shows not only the first word on that page but also the last. This helps to quickly locate the desired word.

Although I don't usually find the International Phonetic Alphabet easy to use for finding the correct pronunciation of a word (because I can't remember the meaning of the symbols used) this book significantly helps by providing a listing of the symbols and their corresponding sounds at the bottom of each page. Vowels are shown on one pair of facing pages, consonants on the next, repeated throughout the whole dictionary.

Concise usage and origin definitions add to the book's usefulness and browsability.

In summary, an excellent dictionary that will become my default reference book.

An invaluable tool for anyone interested in words.
I have always had a fascination with words and all their meanings and connotations. The Oxford Dictionary tells you a word's root, phonetical soundings (very useful if you do not know how to pronounce it!) and all their various meanings. This is a must for all homes.