Shorter Oxford English Dictionary: Sixth Edition (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary) | 
 enlarge | Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $175.00
Buy New: $101.53
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New (19) Used (7) from $99.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 32163
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 6
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 3888
Shipping Weight (lbs): 13.2
Dimensions (in): 11.5 x 9.3 x 5.1
ISBN: 0199233241
Dewey Decimal Number: 423
EAN: 9780199233243
ASIN: 0199233241
Publication Date: September 20, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Here is a new edition of the acclaimed Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the first since 2002, updated, enlarged, and enlivened by new words, new definitions of old words, new illustrative quotations--and a new, fully customizable CD-ROM.
If the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary is the mother of all dictionaries, the Shorter is its most accomplished offspring. At one-tenth the size of OED--and a fraction of the price--the Shorter offers one-third the content and the same quality of lexical excellence of its parent dictionary. Indeed, no other dictionary, apart from the OED itself, comes close to the Shorter's range and depth, offering over 500,000 definitions that cover virtually every word or phrase in use in English--worldwide--since 1700. Each entry offers everything you would expect from a leading unabridged dictionary: it identifies each word's various meanings, origins, part of speech, pronunciation, and combinations in which the word is often found, as well as cross-references to related words. The Shorter, however, offers something that no competitor can match: the historical, literary approach made justly famous by the OED. Thousand upon thousands of changing meanings are followed throughout history, illustrated by 85,000 quotations from 7,000 authors.
And now, with 2,500 new words and 500 new quotations, the Shorter is fresher than ever, fully responsive to ever-changing English language.
The Shorter Oxford Dictionary has opened its pages to the thousands of new words which have come into use since the previous edition and which have expanded the precision and expressive power of English. Here are such new words as Afrobeat, carbon-neutral, darknet, heaviosity, impactful, knuckle-dragger, nanomaterial, retro-futurist, smoosh, testosteronic, webinar, and thousands more. (To call someone a testosteronic, retro-futurist knuckle-dragger is no longer an incomprehensible insult).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Sadly not a major update July 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Shorter OED is too Britocentric and does not cover North American English well. If you live in the US or Canada, the Merriam Webster is a much better work.
Unlike the OED, specific dates are not given and only date ranges such as E17 (for early 17th century) are provided.
The quotations are given haphazardly for some senses but not others and many words have no quotations at all. You might be better off getting the whole OED if you're interested in the history of words.
If you already have the fourth or fifth edition, do not bother buying this sixth edition as sadly little has changed. Apparently, Oxford University Press is more interested in churning out editions in order to pad its bottom line but won't make the effort to truly update the dictionary.
 Finest dictionary June 27, 2008
I got SOED from Amazon.com few weeks ago. It helps me a lot in translation of one English text in my first language. So far I can only say praise for the dictionary. Meanings of the headwords are listed in very clear manner - so I could find the best "shade" of meaning - which wasn't the case with my other dictionaries. Although I need glasses for reading - even reading illustration blocks isn't a problem. Symbols for pronunciation seem to me standard as in other dictionaries - it takes little practice, but if in doubt there is clear pronunciation on the CD.
As an example - headword 'apprehensive' has a list of 5 meanings, and four of them are illustrated by quotation ( quotations are in fine print, tinted). Origin of this word is given from French and Latin. Noun 'knowledge' has a list of 14 meanings followed by a long list of phrases. Another example - word 'Wesak' ( which I couldn't find in any other dictionary, it comes from Buddhist tradition) also has it's origin given.
It is for anyone who needs very precise meaning of words or is after rare words. Highly recommended.
A Meaningful Gift June 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought the Shorter English Dictionary for my daughter, and she loves it. It was a meaningful present that she will treasure. She uses it often.
SOED April 20, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I find the short edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, in particular the CD version, extremely useful. The only shortcoming is the following: for professional reasons I often use mathematical symbols, in particular Greek letters in equations. I do not know the correct English pronunciation of some of them; unfortunately they cannot be found in SOED either.
The Best, End of Story April 17, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
When it comes to dictionaries, the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is the best, as far as I'm concerned. It has a big brother, the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary, but I think that one is overkill (not to mention that it costs a lot more than the Shorter version). If you're an English professor, you'll probably get the unabridged version; if you're an ordinary word lover and sometimes writer, the Shorter is the best there is, end of story.
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