"The Compact Oxford" is, indeed, quite compact. But I do believe everyone should have a decent dictionary and thesaurus, and I do believe you can get a lot of enjoyment reading little snippets and exploring the use of language. Oxford offers an excellent volume, well worth considering, and one which I personally endorse and value.As I write professionally, I have to confess to being prone to buying the odd dictionary or thesaurus: it doesn't make me a bad person. But it's a very personal choice - and a very competitive market. You know why you want a dictionary or thesaurus, or combination. But, I always argue that you should go to a bookshop and take a look at the book in the flesh. But, "you pays your money".Īll in all, an excellent reference tome for the serious writer, and one which many homes would treasure. What you don't get are the extensive etymological and historical notes on word origin which you'll find in, say, the "Oxford English Dictionary". The scale is commendable - it covers a huge vocabulary and it would have to be a pretty obscure word to miss inclusion. You sense this is a book designed to last. Paper quality, too, is robust, with a quality feel to it. Printing is, as usual, excellent - though it is on the small side and you may need to wear your glasses. It's an interesting concept, and one which has evident educational value if you are trying to study the language or help someone else do so. So, it lists "war" and offers as one of its associated words, "ceasefire". Oxford's bonus is the inclusion at the end of a 'Wordpower' guide - a sort of anti-thesaurus, which takes a range of key words and links these to many of the concepts or words with which they might be associated. This means you have to get into the habit of looking for words in two places - and you will find an element of duplication of definition, or repetition of synonyms occurring because of this. Organisation typically follows a pattern of having the dictionary element at the top of the page, the thesaurus below.
And it is definitely too heavy for small children, and may be a bit awkward for anyone with, say arthritic wrists. It's also a bit on the big side to fit conveniently on a desk top or inside a drawer it tends more towards sound reference material, to be kept on a bookshelf. It's definitely not suitable for lugging around with you on your travels. The "Oxford" is quite a big, heavy volume.
#Pocket oxford dictionary thesaurus and wordpower guide portable
Your decision then might be influenced by how portable the book is, how wide a vocabulary it covers, etc. You may need a decent dictionary and thesaurus because you write - for profit, for pleasure, as part of your job, or in the course of your studies. You may find it useful for crosswords - and, depending how sophisticated the crosswords are, the more sophisticated your needs will be. You need to ask yourself what use you intend making of your dictionary / thesaurus. It also, of course, increases the size of the one volume. I repeatedly argue that everyone should have a decent dictionary and thesaurus to hand, so combining the two seems to kill the proverbial two birds.
The idea of combining dictionary and thesaurus has become a popular one recently, and the big publishing houses have their own versions.