Longman Contemporary English Dictionary (English Version)

Author: Longman Publishing Group
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2002-03-01
Features: The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (3rd Edition, 1995) is incredibly informative, comprehensively reflecting the new aspects of contemporary Western social life. It is a practical and engaging tool that helps cultivate accurate oral and written English expression and appropriate language skills. It has the following characteristics:
(1) Extensive vocabulary coverage, with over 80,000 words and phrases.
(2) Precise, detailed, and easy-to-understand definitions, using only the 2,000 most common English words selected from Longman’s corpus.
(3) Collects contemporary English vocabulary from various fields: literature, business, technology, and everyday spoken language. For example, deconstruction (deconstruction, analysis, literary term), market economy (market economy, business term), clone (clone animals or plants, technology term), say-so (permission, informal usage): "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 informal 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), e-mail (: as a verb: "Will you e-mail me about it?" - "Can you email me about this?").
(5) Provides essential and commonly used synonyms and phrases in spoken and written English, along with their grammatical collocations and the frequency of sentence patterns, highlighting differences between British and American usage. For example, it notes the frequency of synonyms like buy, get, and purchase in both spoken and written forms: in spoken English, get is more frequent than buy, while purchase is rarely used; in written English, buy is far more frequent than purchase, and get is rarely used. Purchase is more common in formal settings or business environments and is also less frequent in general writing. Another example: enter and go/come in in spoken and written forms. Charts show that in spoken English, go in and come in are used more often than enter, as enter is too formal for this meaning and is only common in writing. Regarding grammatical collocations and sentence patterns, the frequency of various uses of the adjective afraid: afraid (that) is most frequent, followed by afraid of something, then afraid to do something; afraid of doing something is less common, while afraid so and afraid not have even lower frequencies. Examples of British and American usage differences: British English uses on second thoughts (plural noun), while American English uses on second thought (singular noun), both meaning "to change one’s mind after consideration." For example: "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 of 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 / a match." (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." (Some oily rags accidentally caught fire, causing 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. "extinguish"; go out, v.i. "extinguish spontaneously"). "On official notices and instructions, you may see extinguish: Will passengers please extinguish all cigarettes?" (Please extinguish all cigarettes.)
(7) Includes 24 full-color illustrations, both visually appealing and clear, greatly aiding in definitions. For example, color illustrations of different parts of a house (page 410). The captions also note differences in certain part names between British and American English: TV aerial (British), TV antenna (American); garden (British), yard (American); private drive (British), driveway (American); pavement (British), sidewalk (American); kerb (British), curb (American) — same pronunciation but different spellings; fence (British), picket fence (American); dustbin (British), garbage can (American); terraced houses (British), rowhouses (American); semi-detached (British), duplex (American); block of flats (British), apartment building (American).
This new edition of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English has many other features, which are not listed here. I am confident that readers will view it as a trusted teacher, a helpful companion, and an endlessly patient and interesting partner.