Customer Reviews

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary & Thesaurus

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since I updated from Word 95 to 98 in October, 2000, I have had a great deal of difficulty accessing a usable list from the built-in Thesaurus; plus I discovered that the dictionary is not nearly as complete and easy to use as in the previous version of Word.

I am a writer, and though I own twenty or so dictionaries in hard back, I required a tool that was easier to carry with me on the road than my back breaking load of books. I needed access to the many varieties of words and their second or third meaning, as well as other words with similar meanings. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary & Thesaurus program link directly into Word; so, with the click of the button I have a thorough and user-friendly link to my Word World.

I also am an Editor. It is imperative that I know what the meaning is of a word that one of my client uses, so if it is unfamiliar or not obvious, I now have the means to quickly review alternative definitions and edit a work with the writer's choice in mind.

This is an excellent program from a renown source. The only aspect that bothers me is that when I click on a word in my document, the program inserts it again and adds a paragraph break; this means that once I check it I then have to make the correction manually by both retyping the misspelled word and deleting the second entry and line break.

This caused me to give it a 4 star rather than 5 rating.

In writing papers, sermons, even letters, I've found this resource to be invaluable as a "quick check" to be sure I'm using a word correctly, look for a better word, or check my spelling. As for features offered, the program gets five stars in my book. The problem is that Merriam-Webster has apparently taken their Windows version of the program, with all of the clunky, non-intuitive interfacing that goes with that platform, and simply "tweaked" the code to make it work on a Mac.

A few examples:

1. Once you've searched for a word, you have to double-click in the entry box and delete the first word before you can begin typing a new search word--whereas Mac standards dictate that you'd simply Tab back to the field to select all and start again.

2. There's no hot key to toggle between the Dictionary and Thesaurus searches, or between the Basic Search, Advanced Search, and Browse functions--you have to choose these features with pop-up menus and tab buttons.

3. When you launch the application, it opens a window that is pre-configured for a 17" monitor. No problem on my desktop G3--but on my iBook the window is partially off the screen, so I have to shift the window manually to see all of it. Furthermore, though the window frame resizes, the CONTENTS of the window do NOT resize--and there are no scroll bars to see information that may be hidden if you shrink the window too far. (NOTE: the window does fit--just barely--on an iBook's 12.1" screen.)

Small problems, to be sure, but for a resource that's primarily used "on the fly" while working on other projects, anything that slows me down is frustrating. Still, I do use M-W daily, so I do consider its purchase price money well spent.

I feel slightly cheated that I can go online (...)and use a better version of the dictionary for free (it even pronounces the words. I thought this software had this feature, but I have yet to see it work.)

Chief complaints:
1. The software is unstable on both windows NT and Windows 98 machines when I use it through Microsoft Word (it crashes 4 out of 10 tries). This issue is serious enough that a patch should be made available for free.

2. The software treats the dicitonary and thesaurus as two seperate entities. Why? This isn't a book, its a computer. Make it simple without creating unnecessary hoops for the user to jump through. It gets when using a laptop without a mouse.

3. Not all words have entries in the thesaurus, which is understandable. But sometimes you think you are in dictionary mode when you are in thesaurus mode. So the program comes back, "no entries found." (another arguement why the dictionary and thesaurus should be together.)

Bottom line--the software lack polish. But it beats lugging a dictionary/thesaurus around.

As a college student, I am required to read many books and accomplish quite a few difficult assignments. This software allows quick and easy access to understanding words that I often come accross that I am not always certain of the meanings. I am too rushed for time to stop and look up words such as "purfle" and "obdurate", but can easily and quickly look them up with this software. I am around many different computers on and off campus but most of them do not have this software available. I consider myself lucky to have access to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary & Thesaurus on my home computer.

This loaded easily and quickly into my i book. The collegiate dictionary is excellent and the pronunciations are helpful and standard pronunciations. The search functions are great. My complaint: What is with the thesaurus? This has to be one of the thinnest, most incomplete thesauri on the market! Many, many words that are unusual but have that special zing and pop you want from a thesaurus are missing. This thesaurus will not improve your writing a great deal. It seems as if words are only included if they are in very common usage today. Who needs a thesaurus if it will only mirror the blandness that surrounds us? MW also sticks to words that are exact synonyms as if thesaurus users do not like to wander into subtle shades of meaning. I consider the MW thesaurus a waste of money. Go with Rodale's synonym finder or an old edition of Roget (the new one is a mess). You will find plenty of off beat words there.

The Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary & Thesaurus computer program (on CD) is an excellent value. This program is very useful for anyone who types a lot on his/her computer or is a writer. This software is very easy to use. Once you install the dictionary you can get started right away with searching for words. The interface is intuitive and simple, and there are a huge number of words to search from.

There are also many valuable options that come with this program. You can look up homophones and synonyms. If you have a jumbled word like "DOIMSW" you can quickly use the option for "Jumble" option and find out that the word is "WISDOM" (or if you have letters like "RETINAS" you'll find numerous words). You can search for words that rhyme with each other. You can even search for words from specific dates (like 1777). If you don't know the exact spelling of the word there's a few neat options that you can learn to find words (involving special characters like *,&,^,!).

This dictionary also is very convenient because you don't need the CD to run the dictionary. You can just install it and then quickly use the program anytime. If you want to hear pronunciations, however, you need to use the CD unless you install all the sound. The pronunciation guide is very useful and the sound is realistic.

The dictionary provides both entertainment and education for me. I find myself just playing around with the program, typing in random letters to see if there's a jumble, looking up synonyms, listening to the pronunciations for vulgar words, and just browsing the vast number of entries. I'm confident that buying this dictionary is a wise investment.

An excellent doctoral professor recommended Merriam-Webster because it's the standard for APA and other professional associations. Most importantly, Merriam-Webster provides linguistically correct definitions as opposed to politically correct definitions like some of the other more conservative dictionaries.

This is one of the most usefull pieces of software I've purchased in recent memory. I find myself opening this program constantly.

I've been using this for sometime, and until now, I've found all the words I was looking for. I used to have Encarta dictionary and I feel that both Encarta and Merriam-Websters are equally good - both have a thesaurus and both have audio of the pronounciations. Some words have examples of proper usage in a sentence - but I would have been more satisfied if all the words had it. Not a big problem for me since I tend to look up words as soon as I see them in an article (is'nt that one of the main reasons that you get a CDROM version of the dictionary - so that you dont slack off?!). Definitely much more bang for the buck than Encarta dictionary(>$... for the deluxe pack that includes the dictionary).

I like this product very much. It offers different ways to screen for results, such as rhyming or jumble making it useful this way for crossword solving. The definitions and synonyms found are hyperlinked. Most words are also pronounced which makes this program especially beneficial to those who speak English as a second language. While it doesn't offer itself as more than a dictionary/thesaurus, would like to have a more complete reference tool - atlas, encyclopedia, etc.