Encarta Webster's College Dictionary

Book excerpt: Encarta® Webster’s College Dictionary Second Edition 90,000 HEADWORDS WITH 220,000 DEFINITIONS NEW EDITION WITH UP-TO-DATE WORDS AND MEANINGS 8,000 ENTRIES ON PEOPLE AND PLACES ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS, PHOTOS, AND TABLES QUICK FACTS ON ARTS, SCIENCES, AND LITERATURE EXCLUSIVE ONLINE LANGUAGE ADVICE SERVICE Ideal for students, teachers, families, and anyone who wants to use English with precision and accuracy, the Encarta® Webster’s College Dictionary captures a worldwide view of the English language as it’s used today. Encarta® Webster’s lexicographers have hunted down the latest terms from the worlds of information technology, science, popular culture, and business. They also include words entering common parlance from other languages, and note the derivation of English words and phrases. The dictionary features 90,000 headwords and 220,000 definitions drawn from the World English Database. Written in a clear, accessible tone, up-to-date and expansive in its vision of English as an evolving and global tongue, the Encarta® Webster’s College Dictionary is an invaluable resource for English speakers everywhere. Innovative features include: • Quick definitions: concise definitions that make the text easy to navigate • Quick facts: summaries of key concepts in the arts and sciences • Literary links: more than 100 notes on major works of literature • Incorrect spellings: hundreds of commonly misspelled words entered where they will be looked up and cross-referenced to their correct spellings • Spellchecks: warnings about words that are often confused • Usage notes: advice on common questions of style, punctuation, and grammar • Internet guide: a helpful guide to navigating and researching on the Internet • Illustrations, maps, photos, and tables: hundreds of visual aids that enhance the text