The Oxford Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus

"The Oxford Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus" is an excellent compact sized lexicon, one which I've found to be the most useful desktop reference book in my office. Word definitions are clear, concise and easy to understand. Synonyms appear directly following each word's definition, rather than in a separate list. For me, this is probably the best overall feature of "The Oxford Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus," because it makes it much easier to look up a word, understand its definition, and see its synonyms without thumbing through different sections of the book. Page layout is pleasing, with two columns set reasonably large and easy to read print. There are several useful appendices in the back, including: signs and symbols; heat index and wind chill; metric/English conversion; countries of the world; and Presidents of the United States. "The Oxford Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus" is the little brother to the 1,800 page "The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus." Despite its relatively diminutive size, this desktop version, which claims to have "over 150,000 entries, synonyms, and senses," has consistently proven itself comprehensive enough for the kind of reading and writing I do on a daily basis. Only on rare occasions have I found it necessary to pull out my unabridged dictionary to find a word not listed in "The Oxford Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus."For those needing a compact dictionary and thesaurus which offers a good degree of comprehensiveness and excellent portability, "The Oxford Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus" is an excellent choice.

This dictionary is a great 2-in-1 reference tool. You can look up a word's meaning for greater clarification and get synonyms at the same time. The definitions are clear and concise; you don't need to look up the definition since they're in layman's terms. It's also pretty complete. I hate looking something up and not being able to find it in the dictionary; that's hardly ever happened to me with this one. They also have many different reference charts in the back which have come in handy, some of which I've actually copied and taken home. It's almost like 3-in-1 rather than 2-in-1, actually--those charts give this dictionary a flavor of the Columbia Encyclopedia.The only thing they left out (which I wish they hadn't) is word origin. But if you want it all (or close to it), this is the one.