The Highly Selective Dictionary of Golden Adjectives: For the Extraordinarily Literate [Hardcover]

Eugene Ehrlich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 2002

Nouns and verbs may get most of the credit for being the building blocks of our language, but it's the adjective that adds colour, style and adornment to our speech and writing. From renowned lexicographer Eugene Ehrlich, here is the definitive collection of "golden" adjectives, especially selected for the extraordinarily discriminating user. Along with the selection of more than 1000 adjectives, Ehrlich discusses their fascinating etymologies, lists appropriate synonyms and antonyms, and provides pronunciation help. This is the ultimate reference book for readers, writers, students, word buffs, and anybody looking to improve his or her language skills. Ehrlich's The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate has sold more than 100, 000 copies and the Highly Selected Thesaurus has sold more then 120,000 copies.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eugene Ehrlich is the editor of more than 30 books, including the Oxford American Dictionary and the Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary 2nd ed. He was formerly a member of the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (July 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060186364
• ISBN-13: 978-0060186364
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #664,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #48 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Synonyms & Antonyms

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ideal for those who want to expand their vocabulary, November 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Highly Selective Dictionary of Golden Adjectives: For the Extraordinarily Literate (Hardcover)

All philologists - people who love literature and the english language - will find this to be a very interesting and useful book. It helps you learn new words and provides their etymology, pronunciation and several sentences. Unlike many other vocabulary books where your not quite sure how to use the words you learn; this book makes it a lot easier. I also recommend:
"There's a word for it!" by Charles Harrington Elster
Norman Schur's books "2000 Most Challenging and Obscure Words" and "1000 Most important words."
For those you are just beginning to expand their vocabulary the "Word Smart" series is very handy and so it "A Pocket Guide to Vocabulary" 3rd edition by Barron's

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gift for the Highly Selective, March 9, 2009

By 

L. Sorensen (Southwest Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Highly Selective Dictionary of Golden Adjectives: For the Extraordinarily Literate (Hardcover)

I love this series. I have a client, Explainers, who takes the selection of their words very seriously while trying to reduce aliteracy in the workplace.

I recently bought this book for them and they absolutely loved it - just as I have. That's the third time I've purchased a book from this series for folks I know who appreciate and study the English language as I do.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Serves me well enough for my purposes, September 6, 2007

By 

Heather R. Vaughn (WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Highly Selective Dictionary of Golden Adjectives: For the Extraordinarily Literate (Hardcover)

The words in place in the book are not particularily rare to witness at all; I find them to be quite helpful on a regular basis, myself. The synonymousness of many of the entries within makes me sometimes feel like more space should have been left for a few more curious selections I would have a better time using. If I'd only had this some time ago.