Longman English Dictionary

Comprehensive, easy to access, simple definitions and reasonably priced - this dictionary has lot going for it.

Dictionary of Contemporary English
International edition
Longman/ Pearson
2004
Dictionary
Pages: 1,948
Price: Rs 495
ISBN: 0-582-85676-0
Paperback

HT Image

Longman's dictionaries are amongst the oldest in the world, and over generations have been the most sought after.

This, the fourth edition of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, focuses on two vital areas - examples and collocation. Both of which are extremely important and crucial in everyday usage.

Features like the pronunciation table, and short forms are regular features of most dictionaries, but more helpful is the grammar code, as well as the tables at the end.

The front cover of the dictionary, which comes with a CD-ROM.

The dictionary also comes provided with a CD-ROM, which has besides the full text of the book, 'more examples and collocations and extra corpus sentences.' It also has pronunciations in British and American English. There are also exercise and facilities to record your pronunciation too! And there are 80,000 additional examples than those in the printed version.

The dictionary is also a full-colour one, and the entries are interspersed with visuals - photos, labeled diagrams, charts, maps, graphs etc. There are some full-page illustrations, though some more would have been good. Also just three maps are provided, that of UK, Australia and New Zealand and North America.   

The signposts system, introduced in the previous edition of the dictionary, continues to make accessing words much easier.

So if you're planning to buy a dictionary, this one would have to be favourite.