Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary

The Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, in its new, conveniently reduced size, continues the tradition of the Random House Dictionary of the English Language: Second Edition-Unabridged. It is designed to meet the wide-ranging needs of today's students and scholars who study ancient documents one day and surf the Internet the next; of professional writers, who may craft poems or write articles for technical journals; of businesspeople, who need to communicate clearly, whether face-to-face or fax-to-fax; and of all word lovers.
Important features include: A brand-new 8-page Addenda section in the front of the book, with some 1,000 new words and meanings not in the A-Z section - words like channel-surf, Internet, ethnic cleansing, and McJob; Over 315,000 entries; 1,500 updated definitions and entries; 2,400 spot maps and illustrations; Scholarly, up-to-date etymologies, including dates to show when major terms entered the language, and showing clearly labeled Americanisms; Entries for important and famous people, for places, historical events, major works of literature, music, and art; Names and abbreviations of academic, governmental, social, and fraternal organizations; Popular given names; Common abbreviations and foreign terms; Entries shown in a single alphabetical listing; Entries and definitions for current place names, reflecting recent political and geographical changes in Germany, the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. [The book also includes] Coverage of major British, Canadian, and Australian terms; Over 75,000 example phrases and sentences to show how words are used in context; Metric equivalents for weight, volume, height, distance, etc.; Endangered species identified; Comprehensive supplementary notes at many entries; Additional supplementary lists of synonyms, antonyms, and words formed from common prefixes. Valuable supplements to the dictionary include Sound-spelling correspondences in English, a Basic Manual of Style, Guidelines for avoiding sexism in writing and speaking, and a List of Words Commonly confused.