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Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Thumb Index Premium Edition (Dictionary)
by (Editor: Catherine Soanes) (Editor: Angus Stevenson)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2004-07-08)
ISBN: 0198610106
EAN: 9780198610106
Dewy Decimal #: 423
Hardcover: 729 pages
Edition: 11Rev Ed
SKU: B950-1233
Condition: Acceptable
Comments: Shows signs of wear. In stock - Immediate despatch from an efficient and professional leading British bookselling firm.
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Customer Reviews
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Good new, bad news
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-11-05
Needing a supplement to my aging 1987 Webster, and in particular one reliably giving British usage, I originally bought the Cambridge International Dictionary of English. It's an excellent dictionary, in fact I would say *the* dictionary, for non-native speakers; the entries, explanations and descriptions of usage are wonderfully simple and clear.
But it simply didn't have in it enough of the words I looked up, so I sent it to a friend of mine in Spain who's learning English, and bought the Concise.
I must say at once that it was an immense improvement; in the three months I've had it, there's only been one word I've looked for that wasn't in it ("testudinal", which is found in William Manchester's biography of Winston Churchill: I think it means "relating to tortoises"). It's also strong on modern technical terms (such as "blog") and slang expressions (such as "go postal"). And whatever one's view of political correctness, one needs to be aware of it to be absolutely certain of avoiding offence. Here again I found the Concise exemplary.
However, I am not so ecstatic about some of the other features.
One is the treatment of pronunciation. I accept that it's better to use the IPA than some half-baked phonetic equivalent, and I'm gradually getting used to it. But "the principle followed is that pronunciations are only given where they are likely to cause problems for the native speaker of English". So if you're not a native speaker, then, presumably, screw you; you'd be better off with the Cambridge. Further, although US spellings are provided, US pronunciations are not, only RP ones; thus no cognizance is taken (for instance) of the difference between UK ad-'dress and US 'ad-dress. And although two pronunciations of "laboratory" are given, there's no indication of which is which.
I found the Concise unhelpful on some aspects of usage. When did "ætiology" become "aetiology", and when did "B.B.C." become "BBC"?
More alarming is a syntactic sloppiness that pervades the whole thing. Of course every dictionary must strike a balance between prescriptivism and descriptivism*, and by and large the Concise does a good job (as in the entry for "decimate", for example). The policy on possessives is explicitly stated in the usage note for "they": 'It is now widely held that the traditional use of "he" to refer to a person of either sex is outdated and sexist; the alternative, "he or she", can be clumsy. It is now generally acceptable, therefore, to use "they" (with its counterparts "them", "their" and "themselves" instead. [...]'. But this means that "a pupil should leave their coat in the lobby" is acceptable, although it looks very odd to me. I guess I'm just old-fashioned.
Among other oddities are the use of "which" instead of "that" in restrictive clauses, and (on the last page) "hyphened" instead "hyphenated".
Some of the entries seem to me slightly off-centre, too, e.g. "legless" is defined as "extremely drunk", which is true as far as it goes. But specifically it means "too drunk to stand"; if you can still stand, you aren't legless, however drunk you are. "Rabbit" as a Cockney term is said to come from "rabbit and pork" = "talk", but as a Londoner I've always understood it to be from "rabbit's paw" = "jaw".
But by and large I'm happy with the Concise.
*In this connection, it's perhaps a sign of the times that the spelling "miniscule" has now overtaken "minuscule" (p.1700).
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Concise yes, but not too concise
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-08-15
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Excellent trustworthy desk companion which will almost certainly provide for all of your wordy needs. I find the full version only to be useful just for those curiously interesting words that may crop up once in a lifetime.
This is the best of the concise dictionaries, in my opinion, narrowly beating its closest rival, the Collins version (probably on a photo-finish). This contains useful grey alphabet tabs on the foredge.
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Excellent writing tool
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-01-10
30 out of 31 customers found this reveiw helpful
The Concise Oxford is a single-volume work, small enough to keep close to your desk and light enough to lift down with one hand. Yet it contains clear descriptions of all the words most of us will ever need, from the exotic (catamountain) to the obscure (zillah). For each word, a pronunciation guide, one or more meanings, and an origin (eg from Latin, Greek or French roots) is provided. There are also usage guides to tricky grammar points ("both the boys" or "both of the boys"?). The Concise Oxford comes with all the authority of its big brother, the mighty 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary. Yet it is easy to use and never comes across as dry or academic. Conclusion: a beautiful book to use and to own. Good value, too.
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Perfect (adj) 1 having all the required elements...
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-09-14
38 out of 40 customers found this reveiw helpful
I'll try to keep it brief but this dictionary is certainly a must-have:1) It's small enough to keep handy but not lacking in detail 2) It is extremely accessible. From the helpful introduction down to the 'Guide to good English', this dictionary provides interesting and fascinating insight into many aspects of our language 3) As to be expected, definitions are clear and precise. Which leads me onto... 4) The word origin section - wow! Absolutely fascinating... you'll start to see links in language like you haven't before! I can't possibly do it justice! 5) Although other dictionaries hold similar characteristics, I've found the Concise Oxford English Dictionary to be the best and most consistent 6) It is affordable and more importantly, well worth the money!
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Amazing!
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-09-12
8 out of 23 customers found this reveiw helpful
It's the best book I've read in years.If only the kids around would study one and stop with this outbreak of slang and "text talk". The world would be a much happier place. Best book ever released.
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