Oxford Dictionary of English 2nd Ed (Revised)

For many speakers and learners of English, the word Oxfordspells authority about language. The second edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English is no exception.

Based on the Oxford English Corpus, language databases, this hefty single-volume dictionary has four million words of text. That includes 355,000 words phrases and definitions, 12,000 encyclopaedic entries and 68,000 explanations. The statistics are mind blowing.

The Oxford Dictionary of English provides boxed usage notes which point up, say, the difference between "pedal" and "peddle" or discuss the vexed old question of whether infinitives may be split. More unusual are the 14 detailed appendices on, for example, English in electronic communications, collective nouns and proof-reading marks.