Oxford Dictionary of English

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The Oxford Dictionary of English (formerly The New Oxford Dictionary of English, often abbreviated to NODE) is a single-volume English language dictionary first published in 1998 by the Oxford University Press. This dictionary is not based on the Oxford English Dictionary and should not be mistaken for a new or updated version of the OED. It is a completely new dictionary which strives to represent as faithfully as possible the current usage of English words.

The latest edition contains 355,000 words, phrases and definitions. It is at present the largest single-volume English-language dictionary published by Oxford.

Contents 1 First edition 2 Second edition 3 References 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] First edition

The first editor, Judy Pearsall, claims it is based on modern understanding of language, as it derives from a corpus linguistics of contemporary used English. Some unorthodox choices made by the editors made this dictionary controversial amongst lexicographers, because the dictionary is descriptive rather than prescriptive.^{[citation needed]} For example, the editors did not advocate against split infinitives, and instead justify their use in some contexts.

For a college-level dictionary, another unusual decision was to omit pronunciations for common, everyday words, contrary to the practice of most large dictionaries.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Second edition

In 2003, a second edition, renamed the Oxford Dictionary of English, was edited by Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. A revised second edition was published in August 2005; it included a free subscription to an online edition of the dictionary.

In Britain and many other English-speaking countries, electronic versions of the second edition are available for portable handhelds.

[edit] References

• Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-861347-4, ISBN 978-0-19-861347-3.
• Oxford Dictionary of English, Revised Edition, Oxford University Press, C. Soanes and A. Stevenson, ISBN 0-19-861057-2, ISBN 978-0-19-861057-1, Publication date: 11 August 2005, hard cover, 270 × 208 mm.

[edit] See also

• New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD)
• Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
• Concise Oxford English Dictionary (COED)

[edit] External links

• Oxford University Press
• World Wide Words Reviews: New Oxford Dictionary of English by Michael Quinion, edited by Judy Pearsall, page created 15 August 1998; last updated 27 May 2000.