Webster's Third New International Dictionary

by Philip Babcock Gove (Editor)

The largest, most comprehensive American dictionary available in print! The great, unabridged dictionary includes over 476,000 entries, including an expanded and updated Addenda Section of new words and meanings. The dictionary features 140,000 etymologies detailing word origins, 200,000 verbal illustrations and quotations, and over 3,000 illustrations. Includes a complimentary one-year subscription to Merriam-Webster Unabridged.com.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Language, Dictionaries, Literature, Writing, Academic

2662 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1909

Reviews

[احسان کیانی‌خواه · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Read" doesn't really determine my relation to this book - and the company. It should be instead "always reading", or better still, "always referring to". Websters are simply the best dictionaries in English world - I can't think of any other to befit their status. I'm eagerly looking forward to newer editions.

[Ulf Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have seen the colossal paper version of this dictionary often enough, and it’s always struck me as too imposing, and too heavy to carry around. So when I saw that the good people at Merriam-Webster had released it as a Kindle book, well, being a Dictiophile pretty much beyond compare, I did buy it. Not even an ounce of buyer’s remorse.

The Merriam-Webster folks have done an admirable job with the Kindle conversion and it is a joy to use. Admittedly, I have not made it all the way through the novel-length article on pronunciation, but I have now used it often enough as the last word on some definitions (I have several dictionaries on my Kindle) to delight over its excellent definitions and etymology—along with the synonym studies and the many author-attributed citations to illustrate the use of the word in various contexts.

No, it’s not cheap at nearly sixty dollars, but if you, like me, like to understand every word you read (or write) it is sixty dollars well spent.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my bedroom dictionary. It's bulky, heavy, but years ago I obtained a wooden podium with a slanted surface which works well and allows easy reference to this tome. While I keep an Encarta Dictionary on the desk near the primary computer for convenience, its relatively small size means that I must needs often turn to the big Webster's for the definitions of words encountered in my reading.

I'm quite fond of this book.

[S.F. Fury · Rating 5 out of 5]

This by far is one of the best references that I have on my author shelf at home. I have the 1993 version...coupled with a couple of different thesauri and English Comp/Grammar...the set is a must for me. Not to forget the classic Elements of Style...

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know what you're thinkin, 'what's a dictionary doing on Matthew's book list?' Truth is, I love to read the dictionary. Not straight through, mind you. I usually start with one word that I find while reading elsewhere, and then BAM! I'm off on a wild chase of related words. Mostly I'm interested in etymology (study of word origins). I liken it to studying a word's family tree and finding out who's related to whom...

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I wanted the Oxford English, but I couldn't afford it. I went with this. The poor man's good dictionary. This is an excellent dictionary. Obviously, there are always flaws with reference materials and now nearly 20 years since published, newer words are missing. But this is the standard bearer for "normal" dictionaries. This is all I need in my life.

Good stuff! Of course, I rarely use it any longer as I research my words online these days.

[Anne Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

chance-medley n [AF chance medlee mingled chance]1b: any accidental homicide in a sudden encounter where the killer is partly at fault but where there was no premeditation or evil intent 2: haphazardness

[jOsEpHiNe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I have 3 of these, one was donated to the library, and if you actually read it, you'll like it. That is, if you're a nerd like me. The best dictionary you could ever own. Forget those ridiculous, utterly-not-concise online dictionaries. This is the real stuff.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like the Oxford Atlas, I am pretty much in a perpetual state of reading this one. Thus certain entries fall differently into "Read," "Currently Reading," and "To Read."

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Webster's Third New International Dictionary of The English Language Unabridged, under the editorial of Philip Babcock Gove, Ph.D. from 1986, is a remarkable edition.

Being an enthusiast of unabridged dictionaries, I can express my overall opinion in saying that the 1986 edition is about as close to the 1957 edition as it can get.

For those who have not read or paged through the 1957 edition, the 1957 edition contains many useful detailed charts of colour pigment percentages, the constellations, the anatomy of a dog, the anatomy of a horse, etc. The 1986 edition is equally comparable in this scholarly preciseness.

A word of caution though, the 1986 edition is a diamond in the rough, meaning that it is very difficult and rare to come across for sale online. I went through a great length of time to obtain the 1986 edition. It was worth all of the aggravation though.

[millie ✿ · Rating 5 out of 5]

dope

[ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the most fun books out there

[Canielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first experience of the book, I thought I was fluent in English until I read Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. As I started reading the pages, I was introduced to a collection of words which I was not familiar with before but enjoyed the learning process regardless. The editions that I have read in the library are Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged (1993) and Webster's Third New International Dictionary(2000) both will be included in this review.

During the time when I was reading the dictionary I was learning the definition of some words for a study I was doing. If I were to definitely re-read a book in the future, the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary would be one of them. it has an important use for every situation when in need of using advanced english, quick and easy to read when you run out of words. Highly recommend the pocket editions and the app if needed to carry around the guide.

[Nastassja Riemermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is specifically for the Kindle edition. While this dictionary seems to be thorough, it isn't terribly useful as a primary English dictionary on my Kindle, as the pronunciation guide and etymological information are dependent on other entries. Fore example, the entry for "neanthropic" gives the pronunciation as roughly "ne+" (requiring one to look up the pronunciation of anthropic separately), and the etymological information as "ne- + anthrop- + -ic", requiring one to look up the meanings of these morphemes separately as well. I got this dictionary on sale for only $15 plus tax, but don't have enough of an income to waste that much money on a dictionary that's a pain to use.

[Byrd Alyssa]

All 2,500 hundred pages of it...I have an old (not CD-ROM)version of this beauty. Refer to this tome daily. Have been lugging around this beast for more than 15 habnab years...

[Tracy Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most fantastic dictionary in the world! 1961 edition, 2700 pages; 450,000 entries--every word you could possibly want to gobble up.