Books : Collins Concise English Dictionary

Rating: - A fine dictionary
Having lasted me more than half my life, seen me through High School, two university degrees, authorship of two books and hundreds of thousands of words of journalism, my crumbling copy of the Oxford English Dictionary was looking rather jaded, not to mention out-of-date. Collins Concise Dictionary is a more than decent update. I like the clarity that comes from reading from clear white pages, the words listed in blue print; I like the Encylopaedic entries (look up any town or city and it will give you basic details; ditto contemporary and historical figures). One thing it could have expanded upon was word origins - but that is a minor quibble that can be attributed to its size more than any editorial omission. What more can I say? It's a good dictionary and will hopefully last me as long as its predecessor.

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Rating: - Easy Clear Functional Dictionary
I have not been very impressed with Collins Dictionaries in the past. This new Collins dictionary is nice and easy to use. The words one is looking for are highlighted in blue, this makes it easy to find words speedily. I looked up some recent and fashionable words, which to my surprise were in this dictionary. It's clearly laid out and a perfectly serviceable English Dictionary. Recommended.

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Rating: - It's a dictionary!
It's a dictionary, but in format terms, well published, good quality paper and quality printing. Not sure about the "added value" of the electronic links, given the wealth of online dictionaries available - but as a bookshelf dictionary it's a good buy.

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Rating: - Big, beautiful and... blue
I'm definitely not the brightest spark in the furnace, so that maybe explains why I wasn't expecting quite such a weighty tome. I suppose I thought that 'concise' may mean somewhat condensed or streamlined, and to be fair, the dictionary is most definitely sleek and to the point. But it is also huge.

The cover is an eye-catching glossy blue, and pleasant to stroke while you sit and feel a bit intimidated about holding a language in your lap, and thinking about the immense scholarship that went into its creation. The pages are light and matte, easy to flick through, and I do find it useful that the words on each page are highlighted in blue with their definitions in black. No more squinting to find what you're looking for.

There are fascinating entries for people and places, as well as brief notes on preferred academic forms and structure, which should be useful for students. There is also an informative foreword, giving an interesting introduction to English, English usage, and the gradual evolution of our language. Just as an aside... idly flicking through the dictionary reminds you just what a beautiful language it is, too.

The icing on the cake is the ability to register your dictionary online using the provided code. This allows you access to the dictonary online, wherever you are and whenever you need it, and also provides any new entries and information, ensuring that you're up to date.

All in all, it's a really lovely edition, just be careful you don't drop it on your toes!

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Rating: - More than just a dictionary
This is a moderately hefty one-volume English dictionary, roughly comparable in size and price to the Oxford Concise Dictionary. However, it differs in an important respect because this is actually more than just a list of word meanings and pronunciations including, for example, many proper names - notably people and places. In this respect it must be highly selective to remain within a manageable single volume, so I find that it includes my present home town (High Wycombe) but omits my previous home town (Lutterworth), presumably because it falls below some population threshold. It includes a fair selection of major overseas cities - for example I found the capital of Slovenia (Ljubljana) and the second city (Maribor) but not the country's major port (Koper). On a sample of cricketers, Andrew Flintoff gets a mention but Michael Vaughan does not.

The availability of an online version provides extra value in an excellent package which is up-to-date with many new words and usages. Recommended as a good general purpose-reference for the home and study.