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RR 205/419 Webster's New World College Dictionary (4th edition) Wiley Indianapolis, IN and Chichester 2004 xxviii + 1716 pp. with CD-ROM ISBN 0 7645 7125 7 £19.99, $24.95
Keyword Dictionaries
Review DOI 10.1108/09504120510632705
One of the enjoyments of reviewing dictionaries is all the new words you discover, like "fribble" (a trifle), "neodymium" (a rare earth element), "dingus" (a thingumabob) and "rah rah" (uncritically enthusiastic). I am in danger of being a touch rah rah about this dingus though, as the dust cover blurb overwhelms me with hype: "The most useful and authoritative dictionary you can own - for your desk and computer"; "Selected by the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and other leading newspapers as their official dictionary of choice"; "The best dictionary in print"; "The hardest working electronic dictionary and thesaurus"; "We Define Your World". Wow! No fribble this, more a neodymium.
Noah Webster's first dictionary was published in 1828, but the dictionary reviewed here derives from Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language of 1951 that was aimed at the college/ university market. In 1970 a completely revised Second College Edition was published with a Third College Edition in 1988....