Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English [Hardcover]

A. S. Hornby (Author), A.P. Cowie (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0194314219 | ISBN-13: 978-0194314213 | Publication Date: June 1995 | Edition: 5th

This updated edition, in addition to a wide lexical coverage, an abundance of useful examples, and detailed information on grammar and usage, offers a number of new features which makes the dictionary even more authoritative and helpful to users. These include: use of the unparalleled information contained in the British National Corpus of Spoken and Written British and American English; a simple defining style, restricted to a carefully-chosen vocabulary of 2800 common words; and 16 language study pages, covering important aspects of English such as verbs, nouns, and vocabulary.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Truly a joy to use. It has to be the most user-friendly, information-sensitive dictionary available for the upper-intermediate to advanced English learner.' - David Shaffer, Vol. 3, No 1, Korea TESOL Journal 'The only dictionary a typical language student would ever need. Bang up-to-date and bursting with fun new expressions.' - The TEFL Farm '... the focus is more than ever on helping the learner.' - The International House Journal 'The best dictionary I have ever read in my life.' - Customer review, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jonathan Crowther, now retired, worked as a managing editor in the Dictionaries Department of the English Language Teaching Division of Oxford University Press. Jonathan is a professional crossword compiler and also the author of several graded crossword books for learners of English.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1438 pages
• Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr (Sd); 5th edition (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0194314219
• ISBN-13: 978-0194314213
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,630,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My MVB (most valuable book), December 22, 2000

By 

Leonardo Alves (Houghton, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary: Of Current English (Hardcover)

No other book on my bookshelf is more worn out. I use it all the time. When I started to study English I used to use an English / Portuguese (my first language) dictionary but I could only actually improve my English when I started using the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

The dictionary has lots of pictures (over 1700) for words that can be explained but for which a picture is much more effective like "hinge". The words have a pronunciation guide with a mark (') showing the main stress. There are many useful appendixes like irregular verbs conjugation, usage of numbers, punctuation, family relationships and a few colorful maps.

Over 220 usage notes clarify the subtle differences among words such as dealer trader and merchant. Although it's mainly a British English dictionary the differences in spelling, use or pronunciation between American English and British English are stressed.

By far the most interesting feature is the extremely reduced defining vocabulary constituted of 3500 words. The great majority of definitions are written using that reduced defining vocabulary. This simplifies the definitions and it's a great starting vocabulary for the beginners. The use of such a small defining vocabulary rules out the use of this dictionary as a thesaurus but the advantages compensate this drawback.

My copy is a paper back that has been reinforced with adhesive tape. This makes the dictionary lighter and handy. I used to put it on my back pack and take it to all my classes when I started college in USA.

The drawbacks are the need of an additional thesaurus and the fact that the entries are not syllabified. Nevertheless I would give it 10 stars if I could.

Leonardo Alves - December 2000

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best ELT dictionary in the world., October 15, 1998

By 

Josh March ([e-mail]) (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Paperback)

We are professional Education Consultants and have researched ELT dictionaries for a number of years. There can be no doubt that the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary is the best dictionary for English language students, teachers, and schools - scoring consistently highly under objective and subjective research.

It offers clear, concise, contextual explanations of head words - helping students to master the skills of working with an English-English (rather than a foreign language-English) dictionary. As an authoritative reference, its framework of language is closely related to the English language examinations run by the UK examination boards - making it an essential learning aid for students working towards an English language qualification.

We have taken feedback from students worldwide, and the OALD has scored consistently high "suitability" ratings - making it ideal for students from Asia, Europe, Scandinavia, South America, Africa, and the Indian Subcontinent studying British English at an Intermediate level (pre First Certificate) or above. END

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars oxford advanced learner's, July 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Oxford Advanced Learner's Dict (Dictionary) (Paperback)

Excellent dictionary for the student of english as a foreign language. It gives many examples of the different usages of words. It also provides very useful comparisons of words with similar meaning to clarify their appropiate usage. It does not contain, though, american idioms.