Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - English Version - The 1995 Latest Edition

Author: Longman Publishing Group
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-02-03
Features: The third edition of the "Longman Contemporary English Dictionary" (English Version, 1995) is extremely informative, comprehensively reflecting the new aspects of contemporary Western social life. It is a practical and engaging reference book that helps cultivate accurate oral and written English expression and appropriate language skills. The third edition of the "Longman Contemporary English Dictionary" (English Version, 1995) is extremely informative, comprehensively reflecting the new aspects of contemporary Western social life. It is a practical and engaging reference book that helps cultivate accurate oral and written English expression and appropriate language skills. It has the following features:
(1) Large vocabulary coverage, including over 80,000 words and phrases.
(2) Precise, detailed, and easy-to-understand definitions. The definitions use 2,000 of the most frequently used English words selected from the Longman corpus.
(3) Collects contemporary English vocabulary from various fields: literature, business, technology, etc., as well as natural and informal expressions used in daily conversations and dialogues. For example, deconstruction (deconstruction, analysis, literary terminology), market economy (market economy, business terminology), clone (clone animals or plants, technological terminology), say-so (permission, allowance): "Without his (the doctor's) say-so, you can't leave the hospital." (Without the doctor's permission, you may not leave the hospital. Casual everyday language).
(4) Rich in new words. For example, snail mail (snail mail: a humorous term for letters sent by post, used especially by people who send computer messages, humorous usage, especially used by those who frequently send computer messages), e-mail (email v. "Will you e-mail me about it?" used as a verb: "Can you email me about it?").
(5) Provides indispensable and frequently used synonyms and phrases in English spoken and written language, as well as their grammatical collocations and the frequency of sentence patterns, and points out differences between British and American usage. For example, it highlights the frequency of synonyms like buy, get, and purchase in both spoken and written language; in spoken language, get appears more frequently than buy, while purchase appears rarely. In written language, buy appears far more frequently than purchase, while get is rarely used. Purchase is more often used in formal settings or business environments and is also rarely used in general written language. Another example is enter and go/come in: statistics show that in spoken language, go in and come in are used more frequently than enter, as enter is too formal for this meaning and is only commonly found in written language. Examples of grammatical collocations and sentence patterns: the various uses of the adjective afraid have varying frequencies: afraid (that) is most frequent, followed by afraid of something, and then afraid to do something; afraid of doing something is used less often, 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 in spoken language uses on second thought (singular noun). Both are translated as "after reconsidering, one changes one's mind." Used to say that you have changed your mind about something: "I'll have a coffee, please. Oh no, on second thought, make it a beer." (Please give me a coffee. Oh, sorry, make it a beer instead.)
(6) Explains subtle nuances and usage of synonyms and antonyms with examples, concise and to the point. For example, regarding synonyms and antonyms for lighting and extinguishing: light, set fire to, catch fire, put out, go out, extinguish. The explanation is: 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 be burned: "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 (specifically refers to accidental burning): "The blaze started when some oily rags caught fire." (Oily rags accidentally caught fire, which then caused 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 (extinguish may be used in formal notices and rules): "Will passengers please extinguish all cigarettes." (Please extinguish all cigarettes, passengers.)
(7) Includes 24 full-page color illustrations, both pleasing to the eye and easy for readers to understand, greatly aiding in definitions. For example, color illustrations of different parts of a house (page 410). The captions also highlight 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) — different spellings but the same pronunciation; 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 Contemporary English Dictionary" has other features as well, which are not listed one by one here. I believe readers will regard it as a trusted teacher and helpful friend, and an interesting companion who never tires of answering questions. Li Funing, Vice President of the China Association of Foreign Language Teaching, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Peking University