The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
by Merriam-Webster
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Book Reviews of The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Book Review: try this test
Summary: 1 Stars
Look up 'arbutus'. I've owned three editions of this dictionary. I've thrown out all three. After thinking myself "lazy" for not looking words up, I started again and realized that my frustration was due to searching in vain for words that I could only find the meaning of on-line. My latest dismal attempt was with the word 'arbutus'. I remembered seeing it as the name of a yearbook, so I looked it up in all three editions of Merriam-Webster. M-W once again wasted my time (arbutus - trailing arbutus). Fortunately, I had a Random House dictionary that not only cleared it up, it gave some interesting details. If M-W really wanted to be helpful they could have just defined it as 'a vine'. If the latest edition of this 'exhaustive' dictionary still defines it as 'arbutus - trailing arbutus, try the RH book company's dictionary or another helpful one. Pretty bad for a dictionary named after a man who spent his life researching words.
Book Review: This is the one I always seem to reach for 4 Stars
I have a old hard cover Webster's collegiate dictionary that my parents gave me before I went to college sitting under my bed. I also have a huge 2 volume Oxford Shorter English dictionary gathering dust in my closet. I even have a unabridged Random House dictionary on the very computer I am writing this review on. I use all of the above occasionally, but the one I use the most is this little paperback dictionary that sits on my desk beside my bed. It usually has what I'm looking for and I rarely have to use one of the bigger dictionaries. The size is nice and it is light weignt so it is easy to carry around if you have to. If you need a small desk dictionary this is a good one.Book Review: How can they call this dictionary!!!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
Shame on the editor, what kind of thing it is on world, that explain things in a matter that are even more complicated to understand!~
For example,
Distress - seizure and detention of the goods of another as pledge or to obtain satisfaction of a claim by the sale of the goods seized .
If I am able to interpret that long phrase I would have known the word distress already!
A dictionary is used to help people, learning, communicate, not to showing off how complicated some people are able to make the language become!!!!!!
This is the worst product Don't be fooled~~~
Book Review: Decent Dictionary for Basic Definitions
Summary: 3 Stars
Being a university student, a dictionary that is compact enough to fit in a backpack amongst many textbooks is a must. This, the latest edition of the M-W Dictionary, fits that requirement. The text is easy to read and there is even a nifty reference section at the back containing "foreign words & phrases, biographical names, and geographical names".
I rate it at 3 stars because although the cover boasts "Over 75,000 definitions", words such as ontological and multivalent are not included.
I highly recommend this dictionary for students at the high school level, but university students should keep searching.
Book Review: Just Adequate Dictionary
Summary: 2 Stars
The type is too small, the quality of the print poor and the pages and cover are neither well nor consistently centered. I prefer a dictionary that provides at least a brief etymology, which helps me remember the definition of a word that is new to me; there are very few entries that provide this important information. During a recent read of PD James that had several words unfamiliar or unknown to me, I was disappointed to find no entry for some and had to go to another dictionary (a Webster's Collegiate fifth edition from 1941) to find the words. Certainly better than nothing for quick "look-ups", but not more than that.