Bernstein's Reverse Dictionary

by Theodore M. Bernstein

A reverse dictionary is a dictionary organized in a non-standard order that provides the user with information that would be difficult to obtain from a traditionally alphabetized dictionary. Reverse dictionaries of this type were historically difficult to produce before the advent of the electronic computer and have become more common since the first computer sorted one appeared in 1974. A reverse dictionary is useful for linguists and poets who might be looking for words ending with a particular suffix, or by an anthropologist or forensics specialist examining a damaged text (e.g. a stone inscription, or a burned document) that had only the final portion of a particular word preserved.

Genres: Reference, Language, Nonfiction

276 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Carla Bonney · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother gave this to me somewhere around 1980...I could not have survived without it.

Seriously. It helps make those "argh -what's that word" moments so much less frustrating.