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Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition
Merriam-Webster
Our Price : $26.95
Category : Dictionaries
Size : 25259 KB
ISBN : 978-0877797661
Publisher : Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Published date :
21 March 2008
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Rating by our readers   - Read the reviews - Rate this eBook
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Description:
You can set this dictionary as your default Kindle dictionary and look up words while reading. The default setting is The New Oxford American Dictionary included on your Kindle, but you have the option to change your default setting to this compatible dictionary after purchase.
For this 11th edition, America's largest staff of lexicographers made more than 100,000 changes and added more than 10,000 new words and senses, such as 'convergence', 'Frankenfood', 'phat', 'psyops, and 'vermiculture'. The Eleventh Edition also features over 40,000 usage examples - more than ever before - which clarify confused or disputed terms. Additionally, thousands of phrases and idioms help distinguish vocabulary for language learners. Special sections include A Handbook of Style, An Essay on the English Language, and Signs and Symbols. Over 55 million copies of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary have been sold, spanning a time period of over 100 years.
Publisher's opinion:
“Sets a high standard for future desk reference.”—Library Journal “A road map to where English is headed”— The Village Voice “At last—the ease of the Internet combined with the authority of a trusted name in reference.”—BookPage “Firmly established as America’s best-selling dictionary”—Copy Editor “An absolutely first-rate, easy-to-use and high-quality basic resource”—Midwest Book Review
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Reviews:
This is a major reference work. A great tool to have available on a PDA. The prior reviewer fails to mention that for the entry "whom" there are numerous examples and a whole paragraph on usage. The depth of this reference is amazing: I have found archaic words (used in literature) as well as current scientific words, not found in other dictionaries.
Another example of the tendency of M-W to confuse rather than enlighten: Whom -- "occas. used as predicate nominative with a copulative verb or as subject of a verb esp. in the vicinity of a preposition or a verb of which it might mistakenly be considered the object." Right, got it, now know exactly when to use "whom" :)
Not to put too fine a point on it, since this is an otherwise fine dictionary for any purpose, for some reason, however, of the 5 English dictionaries in Mobi format that I use this is the one I use the *least*. I find the definitions often almost absurdly terse and stilted, and ultimately unsatisfying and sometimes just plain cryptic and annoying. Example: Eke -- M-W Collegiate says: "to get with great difficulty usu. used with out out a living". Eh? -- Oxford Concise says: "make something last longer by using or consuming it frugally." The Oxford (as usual) provides a clear and ultimately satisfying definition, whereas the M-W often, as above, presents its answer in a horrid word-o-logical style that is often laughably obfuscatory. Not always, but often enough that I use it mostly as a dictionary of last resort. But I suppose it must differentiate itself somehow from a crowded field.
What more can be said, M-W is the dictionary of choice.
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on 20 September 2008)
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