Concise Oxford American Dictionary »

This new dictionary packs an extraordinary amount of information into a handy book that is practical, dependable, affordable, and easy to read.

Based on the groundbreaking flagship dictionary of Oxford's US Dictionaries program, the New Oxford American Dictionary, this concise edition includes more than 180,000 entries and definitions, complete with pronunciations, parts of speech, syllabification, inflected forms, and derivatives.
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.
The Concise Oxford American Dictionary is a convenient and complete dictionary for school, work, and home. The dictionary includes Usage Notes that give helpful information on correct English; hundreds of Word Histories that provide fascinating background on the lives of words; more than 300 carefully chosen illustrations; and a handy Ready Reference section with information about weights and measures, chemical elements, U.S. states and presidents, punctuation, frequently misspelled words, and much more.

Library Journal

These fabulously easy-to-use Oxford books combine to make a robust pair of reference resources. With more than 180,000 words, the dictionary is written with daily use in mind. Entries list the primary usage of the word first, with the first definition the word's standard meaning. This makes it simple and straightforward to find the information a user is typically seeking. The thesaurus contains over 15,000 entries with more than 350,000 synonyms and is also arranged with the typical synonyms listed first. As with the dictionary, this simple arrangement makes this thesaurus particularly user-friendly. Reference sections at the end of each book expand their usefulness without detracting from either book's primary purpose. The "Ready Reference" section of the dictionary provides information about things like commonly misspelled words, redundant expressions, punctuation issues, and some basic information to have handy, such as weights and measures and lists of U.S. Presidents and states. The "Language Guide" in the thesaurus contains information on grammar and usage. Bottom Line With these two books available as everyday resources for students and others who are looking for easy-to-use language reference books, it should no longer be difficult to choose among the many options on the reference shelf. Recommended for public and school libraries.-Manya Chylinski, Boston Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.