Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Modeled after Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus (1993), which is listed in Guide to Reference Books (11th ed., 1996, entry AC142), this innovative thesaurus enters a field long dominated by Roget. Authorities were Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961) and Merriam-Webster's extensive word files. The 340,000 terms, alphabetically arranged, are concerned with the general vocabulary of English; most obsolete, archaic, and highly technical terms are omitted. It is not as extensive as Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms (1984). The editors pinpoint the core or elementary meaning of each word (essentially a brief definition), derived by isolating segments and senses of words, and indicating the sense in which a group of words is synonymous. They considered a word to be a synonym "only if it or one of its senses shares with another word or a sense of another word one or more such elementary meanings." Main and secondary entries (synonyms in a main entry list) are indicated by boldface headwords. Each main entry is followed by a part-of-speech label, sense numbers when needed, a meaning core with a short verbal illustration, and a list of synonyms. Nearly always, the main entry also lists related words (near-synonyms), contrasted words (near-antonyms), idiomatic equivalents, and antonyms. Secondary entries include a see reference to their main entry listings. "Compare" cross-references are used when two or more groups of synonyms are closely related. Rigorous criteria and all features with examples are clearly explained in the introduction and explanatory notes. A key to abbreviations and symbols is reprinted at the bottom of each page. With a wide range of choice and ease of use, New Explorer is recommended for all types of libraries. M. F. Morris; East Carolina University

Booklist Review

These two volumes are just the latest in easy-to-use desk-reference sources. Both of them are produced in cooperation with the Merriam-Webster company, of which Federal Street Press is a subsidiary. As such, they can draw on the editorial expertise of America's foremost producer of dictionaries and thesauri. The main portion of the dictionary is an A^-Z listing of more than 70,000 main entries. Most of the entries come with definitions, and those without are usually cross-referenced to a definition. The definitions are concise and easy to read. They include a pronunciation guide and in some instances the etymology of the word. However, most of the words that the dictionary advertises as "new words," such as cyberspace, factoid, and morph, are also covered in other works, such as the Random House Webster's College Dictionary [RBB N 15 99]. This volume does offer some useful appendixes that have pulled information from various other resources, such as almanacs and atlases. These include common names, a list of presidents of the U.S. and prime ministers of Canada, population lists, and a handbook of style. The end pieces also have current political maps of the U.S. and the world. The thesaurus is a very simple, easy-to-use tool, providing more than 340,000 synonyms, antonyms, and idioms and more than 5,000 usage examples. As with the dictionary, the main entries are arranged alphabetically. The entries give a brief definition of the word and its synonyms, and this is followed by a list of these synonyms. There are also lists of related words, antonyms, and contrasted words. In addition, each entry is cross-referenced to related entries. The words used in the thesaurus come from Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Merriam-Webster, 1993). These are authoritative and inexpensive volumes. However, they offer little that is new from the dictionaries and thesauri that most libraries already have on their shelves. They would be better used as desk tools. A single volume combining both books and adding full-color maps is also available ($39.95, 1-892859-06-8).