Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Thumb Edition

by Oxford University Press (Editor)

In it's tenth edition, the world's most popular dictionary has undergone a most thorough revision. More than 200,000 clear, concise entries define a vast array of ideas and words with highlighted usage notes and maps.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Language, Dictionaries, Writing, Linguistics, British Literature

1726 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1911

About the author

Oxford University Press (OUP), a department of the University of Oxford, is the largest university press in the world. The university became involved in printing around 1480, becoming a major source of Bibles, prayer books and scholarly works. It took on the Oxford English Dictionary project in the late 19th century, and in order to meet the ever-rising costs of the work, it expanded into publishing children's books, school text books, music, journals, and the World's Classics series. OUP is committed to major financial support of the university and to furthering the university's excellence in scholarship, research and education through its publishing.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naturally I have not read this cover to cover, but like with a few other reference books I have, I wanted to mark it down.

I ordered this because I missed being able to look up a word and then snoop around for other words that were on the same page as my word.

The online dictionary I use is great, but I miss the way a print dictionary looks and feels. My edition arrived in today's mail, and I will be keeping it close for lots of exploring!

[Heeshy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a disjointed and wordy story about an Aardvark who goes through many, many random adventures as he searches for a xylophone that he can take to his friend the zebra at a zoo.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose through habit and school, this is my dictionary of first resort - I do own four others including the Shorter Oxford. It is accessible, sensible in its definitions and in the main authoritative.

[Me. Not you; me. · Rating 2 out of 5]

i guess i'll never be able to summarize this book.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant! One word comes after the other, just like you'd want it to!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't beat it for an up-to-date dictionary at a decent price.

"Turns out the zebra did it."

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good dictionary. It was simpler than the regular Oxford dictionary, rarely using words that I had to define in the definitions of other words. This edition is from 2009, but that didn’t make it outdated, since this dictionary contained useful modern terminology about things like computers, while leaving out hateful neologisms like “twerk”. Additionally, this dictionary also contained whimsies like a history of the Oxford dictionary, a list of collective nouns, and another list of words and phrases of foreign origin. Like all dictionaries, I haven’t read the whole thing, but what I have read is superb.

[Leslie B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up my first copy in Europe and by their standards, there is no other!

[HH · Rating 3 out of 5]

MB - NL

[Atul Dubey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Book

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mine copy didn't have the CD with it, but in every other way this is the edition I have.

I use this one most, and like the clear, concise, meanings in plain English.

But I also have the Shorter Oxford dictionary as well if I wish to look deeper for shades of meaning, perhaps in older texts where the meaning may have changed over time. That version does have a CD-Rom, which is brilliant too, especially as it provides pronunciation. It is here I go browsing words

And yes I have another as well, but this one sits on my beside table with books I'm currently reading and I tend to pick it up in case I need to look up something, so is in frequent use.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son gave me this dictionary for Christmas to replace the awful one we have been using the past nine or ten years. Word origins and phrases are included, which is exactly what I wanted. Recently I looked up the word "plashy" as it was used in a poem, and while the old dictionary did not contain this word, the new Oxford dictionary did. Additionally, the Oxford dictionary has interesting appendices such as Prime Ministers and Presidents. Out with the old dictionary and in with the new!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This special edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary was made for that dictionary’s one hundredth anniversary. Fittingly, there were special additions made, such as an explanation of the dictionary’s history, and some boxes underneath words that show how the word meaning has changed in a century. The vocabulary was updated for 2011, but this dictionary is still as accurate as ever.

[Ann M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good desk reference.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best part about the Oxford is that it shows the pronunciation phonetically, instead of using those stupid symbols, the name of which has escaped me since undergrad English.

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of words... explained.

[Susannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

my new years resolution will be to read the dictionary the whole way through!

[Brigid Primrose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always near me and always teaching me. Best book ever.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Eng. dictionary ever! I have a very old copy of it, and use it frequently.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before Auto-Correct, this book saved my life.

[Steve Clark]

Hardcover

[Tiffany Conner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes, I just like to read words. That's all. Words and what they mean. Am I weird?

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one's a must for the writer who expects to market internationally.

[Salvatore Familia]

In it's tenth edition, the world's most popular dictionary has undergone a most thorough revision. More than 200,000 clear, concise entries define a vast array of ideas and words with highlighted usage notes and maps.