Longman Contemporary English Dictionary (English Version 1995 Latest Edition)

Author: Longman Publishing Group
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (3rd Edition, 1995) is an extremely informative and comprehensive tool that reflects the new aspects of contemporary Western social life. It is a practical and engaging resource that helps cultivate accurate and appropriate oral and written English expression and language skills. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (3rd Edition, 1995) is highly informative and fully reflects the new developments in contemporary Western society. It is a practical and engaging tool that aids in developing skills for accurate and appropriate English oral and written expression. It has the following features:
(1) Extensive word coverage, encompassing over 80,000 words and phrases.
(2) Precise, detailed, and easy-to-understand definitions, using vocabulary selected from Longman’s corpus of the 2,000 most common English words.
(3) Collects contemporary English vocabulary from various fields, including literature, business, technology, and everyday conversational phrases. For example, deconstruction (deconstruction, analysis, literary term), market economy (market economy, business term), clone (clone animals or plants, technology term), say-so (permission, colloquial expression): Without his (the doctor's) say-so, you can't leave the hospital. (Without the doctor's permission, you may not leave the hospital. Everyday casual usage).
(4) Rich and diverse new words. For example, snail mail (: a humorous term for letters sent by post, especially used by people who send computer messages, humorous usage, particularly among those who frequently send emails), e-mail (: as a verb, Will you e-mail me about it? You can use email to inform me about this?).
(5) Provides essential and commonly used synonyms and phrases in both spoken and written English, along with their grammatical collocations and the frequency of their usage in sentences, and highlights differences between British and American usage. For example, it points out the frequency of synonyms like buy, get, and purchase in both spoken and written English. In spoken English, the percentage of get is higher than buy, while purchase has a negligible percentage. In written English, the percentage of buy is significantly higher than purchase, while get is rarely used. Purchase is more common in formal settings or business environments and is also less frequent in general written English. Another example is the usage of enter and go/come in in both spoken and written English. Statistics show that go in and come in are used more frequently than enter in spoken English, as enter is too formal for this meaning and is only commonly found in written English. Regarding grammatical collocations and sentence patterns, the frequency of various uses of the adjective afraid: afraid (that) has the highest percentage, followed by afraid of something, and then afraid to do something; afraid of doing something is used less frequently, while afraid so and afraid not have even lower percentages. Examples of British and American usage differences: British English uses on second thoughts (plural noun), while American English in spoken form uses on second thought (singular noun). Both translate to "after reconsidering, one changes one's mind," as in I'll have a coffee, please. Oh no, on second thought, make it a beer. (I'll have a coffee, please. Oh no, after reconsidering, make it a beer.).
(6) Explains subtle nuances and usage differences between synonyms and antonyms with concise and appropriate example sentences. For example, regarding synonyms and antonyms for lighting and extinguishing: light, set fire to, catch fire, put out, go out, extinguish. Explanation: If you want something to burn, you usually light it: She lit a cigarette./the stove/amatch. (She lit a cigarette/the stove/a match.) You can also set fire to things, especially things that are not supposed to burn: Crowds rioted through the streets, breaking windows and setting fire to cars. (Crowds rioted through the streets, breaking windows and setting fire to cars.) When something starts to burn, especially by accident, it catches fire: The blaze started when some oily rags caught fire. (When oily rags accidentally caught fire, it started a fire.) To stop a fire, you put it out, or else it may go out on its own (Not go off). put out (v.t.) means "extinguish"; go out (v.i.) means "extinguish spontaneously." On official notices and instructions, you may see extinguish: Will passengers please extinguish all cigarettes? (Please extinguish all cigarettes, passengers.)
(7) Includes 24 full-color illustrations, which are both aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand, greatly aiding in definitions. For example, color illustrations of the parts of a house (page 410). The captions also highlight differences in certain part names between British and American English: TV antenna: TV aerial (British), TV antenna (American); garden: garden (British), yard (American); private drive: drive (British), driveway (American); pavement: pavement (British), sidewalk (American); kerb: kerb (British), curb (American)—spelling differs but pronunciation is the same; fence: fence (British), picket fence (American); dustbin: dustbin (British), garbage can (American); terraced houses: terraced houses (British), rowhouses (American); semi-detached: semi-detached (British), duplex (American); block of flats: block of flats (British), apartment building (American). This new edition of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English has other features as well, which are not listed here. I believe readers will view it as a trusted teacher, a helpful companion, and an interesting partner who never tires of answering questions. Li Funing, Vice President of the China Society of Foreign Language Teaching, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Peking University.