Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus [Hardcover]

Oxford (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195168348 | ISBN-13: 978-0195168341 | Publication Date: July 31, 2003

The Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus combines a full dictionary and a full thesaurus, offering users access to the power of words as never before. With 200,000 entries and definitions and more than 300,000 synonyms, this is the most wide-ranging resource available: a first-of-its-kind reference book that's much more than a dictionary and thesaurus under one cover. Everything you'd find in a dictionary is here, along with everything you'd find in a thesaurus, all thoroughly integrated for ease of use.
This edition includes a new 64-page Language Guide in the back of the dictionary that helps build power and confidence in vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and style. In addition to parts of speech, the Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus includes a wealth of valuable appendices featuring Selected Proverbs, Presidents of the U.S., Countries of the World, Terms for Animal Groups, Weights, Measures, Scientific Units, and Formulas, Chemical Elements and the Periodic Table, Musical Notation and the Orchestra, and much more.
No American dictionary or thesaurus offers as much as the Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus. It not only combines an up-to-date and thoroughly reliable dictionary of American English with full thesaurus coverage and a usage guide, but it also provides a unique global perspective of English.
All Oxford American dictionaries use an easy-to-use respelling system to show how entries are pronounced. It uses simple, familiar markings to represent common American English sounds.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1920 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195168348
• ISBN-13: 978-0195168341
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.1 x 2.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #883,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great Dictionary to complement CS Lewis, April 29, 2007

By 

southpawami "The Best Selling Book IS the Bible" (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus (Hardcover)

Perhaps I will end up buying the Oxford English Reference Dictionary at some point, but presently, this Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus 1st Ed is great. I don't care about slang or computer definitions in my dictionary, English has always been English, and while American may be different in spelling, it is still English. Internet, blog, PCMCIA, ARP, .NET, Mono, etc... is in computer books, which is where it should be. I don't expect my dictionary to have the recipe for Rice Balls or the proper pronunciation of this common variation of a Japanese dish, now perhaps coming towards being cross-cultural. I expect that information to be in a cookbook.

However, in words, it's wonderful. Why? That's easy; I believe it's because it had 'anfractuosity' as well as the minimum of 3 decent definitions for 'numinous'. This was the smallest dictionary I could find that had all the words in the Prologue of 'The Problem of Pain' by CS Lewis. Any dictionary that can match words with the vocabulary that CS Lewis expressed is all that I need.

Some other thoughts... I've been reading dictionary reviews for 20 minutes, and I think there are too many people that are trying to get subject specific with their dictionaries. Dictionaries should be ENGLISH specific. It's all this slang, idioms, and subject specific vocabulary that has dropped my vocabulary to sad terms. Between that application, and the genuine desire of individuals around the world to give the wrong definition to words such as feminine, it's no wonder the young are becoming less educated while spending more time in school.

New English... There is no such thing. English is English. It's been essentially the same for much longer than I've been alive.

Still, you should definitely get a dictionary of slang and idioms. It's good to know what people are saying in a specific region/country.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than I expected from a dictionary, April 11, 2009

By 

Matthew Kerlin "Mourn13" (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus (Hardcover)

I originally purchased this dictionary just for a class requirement in English, having never really owned one before. And I've heard oxford makes the best dictionaries, so I ended up with this one. And now I can't stop using it.

It really is surprising how much use you can get out of a thesaurus/dictionary. I've used it for resumes (to keep word redundancy down), games (like Scrabble), homework assignments, and of course the occasional quip whether that string of syllables coming out of her mouth is really a word or not. It's big and heavy, but what can you say? It's supposed to be big and heavy. As far as the technical aspects of the dictionary are concerned, I'm not completely aware, but I'm not exactly worried with the name Oxford stamped on the cover.

5.0 out of 5 stars great dictionary, September 12, 2011

By 

phil - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus (Hardcover)

glad to have a dictionary that the teachers use in school, my kids like the dictionary and that it serves 2 purposes instead of one is fantastic