Customer Reviews

Oxford Concise English Dictionary 11th Edition

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

 

 

This new version is not only updated to include the contents of the 11th printed edition; its software has been rewritten to provide a more pleasant, intuitive user interface. With nearly quarter of a million words, spoken pronunciations, usage advice, and explanations of where US and British usage differs, it's already outstanding value. Because you only see a single window on your screen (or a minimized icon) it's surprising to learn that the printed book runs to over 1600 pages - all of which are at your fingertips through the search field.

You get the first 14 pages of the printed dictionary as an indexed PDF, with the introduction, explanations of how everything is laid out, and sections on grammar, spelling and inflection, and pronunciation. Appendices cover countries of the world (each with its capital, area, population, and currency), Prime Ministers and Presidents, Kings and Queens, weights and measures, chemical elements, the solar system, collective nouns, types of language, English in Electronic Communication, and a Guide to Good English. Some of these might seem quirky or irrelevant, but it's nice to have so much information at your fingertips.

The COED still runs in 16-bit compatibility mode, but that is transparent to the user. It can be run from the CD or (more conveniently) installed to hard disk; and there are options to have it running permanently in background, and even to bring up the relevant entry when you double-click on any word in common applications such as Word or your browser. Two text sizes are available - slightly bigger and slightly smaller - but neither is hard to read for anyone with reasonable vision. The copy feature is slightly eccentric, but easily understood and (the main thing) it works fine.

It may be worth stressing that the COED is the definitive reference to *British* English, although it does a good job of identifying American variants and usage. (Indeed, it's particularly useful if you need to use both "dialects" and want to confirm which words end in "-ize" instead of "-ise", for example).

I bought this sight unseen (unheard?) in hopes the audio pronounciation announcers have British accents, and they do! It's a hoot to heard the English version of "la-BOR-a-tory" and "al-um-IN-ium" for example. It contains American versions of terms, also.

It also has a lot of british slang so I can look up terms I don't understand while watching BBC America or Masterpiece Theatre.

Be advised, though, if you want an American Talking Dictionary, this may not be the best bet for you. If you are an Anglophile, however, you can't miss with this one.

For the price paid, this is a good English dictionary. It has an easy-to-use searching device, and a rather comprehensive word bank. I myself would be ready to buy a full Oxford dictionary in DVD as soon as it is available.

I previously used "The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary" (NSOED) on CD-ROM, but it wouldn't run under Vista, so I had to find something else. I'm still looking.

This dictionary may be adequate for students, but it isn't comprehensive enough for serious users. The cover states, "240,000 words, phrases and definitions". Note: That's not the same as "240,000 entries".

This dictionary doesn't contain ANY of my dictionary test words: omphaloskepsis, zarf, and sesquipedalian. The NSOED had all of them. Even my old, hard-bound Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary had one of these(sesquipedalian).

I do like the pronunciation feature that NSOED doesn't have, even if it is the British pronunciation.

Since it's better than nothing, I'll certainly keep it on the computer, at least until I find a replacement, but I was disappointed with the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

This dictionary is very, very basic. A much better dictionary is already built into Word 2007. This dictionary gives five one-sentence definitions for the word "blue," and several phrases with the word "blue" in them. My hard copy unabridged dictionary has nine definitions of the word "blue," and each of these definitions is several sentences long, plus many, many phrases containing the word "blue" that are completely missing from the CD-ROM. I uninstalled the dictionary, and plan to give it away, though I don't know who would want it.