Author Description

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.; Endangeredspecies 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, Guideli