The New Oxford Dictionary Of English

First published in book format, and now on CD-ROM, it is, to quote the preface, "a completely new dictionary, written on new principles, a dictionary of current English that is informed by currently available evidence and current thinking about language and cognition." In other words, this is a dictionary that tracks English as it is currently used and understood around the world. Take, for example, the entry for "hello". Not only are you given alternative pronunciations ("also hallo or hullo") but also examples of how the word may be used in conversation (Brit. used to express surprise: hello, what's all this then?) and a brief nod to history (ORIGIN late 19th cent: variant of earlier hollo; related to HOLLA).

There is deep coverage of usage throughout the dictionary. The entry for "have" includes a paragraph on the debate on the difference between "have" and "have got": "a traditional view is that have got is chiefly British, but not correct in formal writing, while have is chiefly American. Actual usage is more complicated: have got is in fact also widely used in US English." Some encyclopaedic information is also included in many of the entries. Definitions are linked to related entries, making the New Oxford Dictionary of English on CD-ROM gloriously browsable. There is a animated "how to use this dictionary" feature that reminds you what each part of a dictionary means, and which even those who use dictionaries regularly may find useful. The CD-ROM is put out by Versaware, and includes bookshelf and research applications plus links to Versabook's site. It's unfortunate that at present this dictionary can't be used with other applications--you can't, for example, highlight a word on a Web site and look it up in the dictionary. Still, its 350,000 entries (including 12,000 encyclopaedic entries and 52,000 scientific and technical words) renders contemporary English more accessible than ever. --Kathleen Keefe