New Oxford American Dictionary

The New Oxford American Dictionary sets the standard of excellence for lexicography in this country, offering comprehensive, authoritative, and richly descriptive coverage of current American English. With 350,000 entries and definitions, NOAD has been the flagship American dictionary of Oxford University Press since publication of the first edition in 2001.

The Third Edition will feature a thoroughly updated text, with revisions based on the latest tools for analysis and the two-billion-word Oxford English Corpus. Approximately 2,000 new words, phrases and meanings have been newly added, including many related to technology, current affairs, and ecology, as well as words that have recently entered the popular lexicon. Words in the current edition have been revised to include new uses. Usage notes have also been thoroughly revised in light of the most recent Corpus evidence.

The text design has been updated to have a more modern look in which most elements (etymologies, phrase sections, etc.) start a new line rather than running on, making each entry easier to read and entire pages easier to navigate. In addition, a new feature on Word Trends illuminates the stories behind those everyday words that have moved fastest and farthest in recent decades.

Entries are organized around core meanings, reflecting the way people think about words and eliminating the clutter and confusion of a traditional dictionary entry. Each entry plainly shows the major meaning(s) of the word, plus any related senses, arranged in intuitive constellations of connected meanings and supplemented by illustrative, in-context usage examples. This is just one of many features that distinguish NOAD from other American dictionaries; others include an easy-to-use respelling pronunciation method, technical notes on scientific areas, and encyclopedic information for selected proper names.

The New Oxford American Dictionary Third Edition continues the tradition of scholarly and lexicographic excellence that has long been the hallmark of Oxford dictionaries. It is an essential resource for everyone who speaks and uses American English.

Six months' access to Oxford's premium online dictionary and thesaurus service is included with this book, so you can get accurate definitions and alternative words wherever you are.

Find out more about our living language using Oxford Dictionaries Online - updated regularly with the latest changes to words and meanings, so you have the most accurate picture of English available. Use the thousands of audio pronunciations to hear how words are spoken. Improve your confidence in writing with helpful grammar and punctuation guides, full thesaurus information, style and usage help, and much more.

The "New Oxford American Dictionary" sets the standard of excellence for lexicography in this country, offering comprehensive, authoritative, and richly descriptive coverage of current American English, with 350,000 entries and definitions.

As Oxford's flagship American dictionary, the New Oxford American Dictionary sets the standard of excellence for lexicography in this country. With more than 350,000 words, phrases, and senses, hundreds of explanatory notes, and more than a thousand illustrations, this dictionary provides the most comprehensive and accurate coverage of American English available.

The dictionary draws on the two-billion-word Oxford English Corpus and the unrivaled citation files of the world-renowned Oxford English Dictionary to provide the most accurate and richly descriptive picture of American English ever offered in any dictionary. The Third Edition offers a thoroughly updated text, with revisions throughout and approximately 2,000 new words, phrases, and meanings. Many new words relate to fast-moving areas such as computing, technology, current affairs, and ecology, while others have recently entered the popular lexicon. Usage notes have been updated in light of the most recent Corpus evidence, and a completely new in-text feature on Word Trends charts usage for rapidly changing words and phrases such as carbon, mobile, or tweet. In addition, the volume has an attractive, modern new text design that makes entries easier to read and find.

One of the hallmarks of the New Oxford American Dictionary is the way it reflects the living language. Unlike in more traditional dictionaries, where meanings are ordered chronologically according to the history of the language, each entry plainly shows the principal meaning or meanings of the word, organized by importance in today's English. Thus readers can be confident that the first definition they see is the one most likely to be used by people today, and is not a sense that has been obsolete for two centuries.

Offering clear, authoritative, and precise information, with the in-depth and up-to-date coverage that users need and expect, the New Oxford American Dictionary is the benchmark by which all other American dictionaries are measured.

Preface to the Third Edition

Preface to the First Edition

Introduction

How to Use This Dictionary

Key to the Pronunciations

Key to the Abbreviations

The New Oxford American Dictionary

Ready Reference (in center)

Illustration Credits (at back)