Rating: 
Summary: The Best Dictionary ever found
Review: In the late 70's, I was living in New York City, learning english, among other things, an uncle of mine gave me my first Webster Dictionary, you will not believe, how much help it was for me, a native spanish speaker. After a few years, I became a english-spanish translator, so, my "pillow book" has always been, a Webster Dictionary, I think it is the best ever done. Now a days, it's very important to have a CD version, at least, for my work.Thanks, Fernando Callirgos G.
Rating: 
Summary: A fixture in my home office
Review: It bothers me somewhat, as others have noted below, that the main 2662-page text of the Third New International is unchanged from the 1961 original, but the bulk of formal American English has remained surprisingly constant since that time. I had been relying upon an old Seventh New Collegiate by Merriam-Webster until now, and had come to appreciate their particular brand; "the genuine article", as it were. When I uncrated this book, I realized that it had to have a place of easy access where it could stay opened all the time, for it is so large. I ended up needing to clear a whole shelf, and I installed its own overhead fluorescent lamp. It gets a lot of everyday use, and if I don't find the word, I know I should think twice before continuing to use it in my speech and writings. I only wish the Addendum were integrated with the main portion. I, too, will be interested in their Fourth edition.
Rating:
Summary: More than a dictionary
Review: It has all the listings and pictures of the actual book. It does not include the word lists. Such as all words starting with "un-" that did not include a defination. So you can't look to see if "uncashed" is really a word. But, it does have some extra features. It allows you to guess at the spelling of word to find it. It has a program to help you solve crosswords. It allows you to copy and paste words (really handy for the difficult words). You can even get a list sorted by nouns, trademarks and such. And it is much easier to look up a word from the program on the computer rather than that 40 pound tomb of the print version!
Rating: 
Summary: Descriptive Rather Than Prescriptive -- a Major Flaw
Review: None of the other Amazon reviewers, even those who only give this book 1 star, seem to mention what was an enormous controversy in literary circles when this book first appeared in 1961 -- that it was "descriptive" rather than "prescriptive." The great Second Edition Webster's Unabridged, originally published around 1930, had set the standard for dictionaries but was unashamedly prescriptive -- it told you clearly what each word meant and which words were correct to use and which words were not. It didn't matter if millions of people used the word "ain't": it was incorrect usage and that's all there was to it. The Third Edition, of 1961, switched this around. It said that if enough people used a word a certain way, then it was, at the very least, acceptable usage. As I recall, the eminent critic Dwight Macdonald immediately wrote a long, scathing article about the Third Edition in The New Yorker and absolutely trashed the book. Jacques Barzun and others wrote similar reviews. And in a detective novel that followed not long after, that beloved fatty of West 35th Street, Nero Wolfe, sits in front of his fireplace and tears his copy of the dictionary to pieces page by page, feeding them into the flames. Its crime: saying that "infer" could be used in place of "imply." But not to Dwight Macdonald, not to Rex Stout and Nero Wolfe, and not to me, either. I found a used copy of the Second Edition in a bookstore in Harvard Square around 1965 and have carried its enormous bulk around the world with me ever since. If you want to find out the *correct* usage of a word, get the Second Edition -- if you can possibly find it....
Rating:
Summary: It provides the depth I love!
Review: Often what I discover is that I know a general meaning for a word but cannot put my finger on it's precise meaning, when it comes to words... I like to know the precise meaning. The Websters' Third International Dictionary provides the excellence I am looking for. Plus I love the feature it contains of using each shade of meaning in a sentence. Add to that the comparison meanings of synonyms and I am estatic. Not to mention that I find both the software version and the hardbound - helpful to have on hand. They both have their time and place as the most useful at the time. I comparison shopped and found that you can't even come close to the deal Amazon.Com gives.
Rating:
Summary: Superb BUT....
Review: Please note that CD-Rom version is v2.5. From the listing title you would expect the CD-Rom is v3.0 but that is for the Dictionary Version. This is more than confusing. Anyways, after a lot of hassle I received a replacement with no CD-Rom at all so I had to replace the replacement. Somewhat poor quality control. (I decided to re-rate this just to be fair. The Merriam-Webster website is not particularly helpful in this regard.)
Rating:
Summary: The W3 is unequaled by any single-volume English dictionary
Review: Several so-called unabridged dictionaries are available to me and my legal-writing colleagues. That residing in my personal office is the W3. Frequently, colleagues cannot locate a word or word usage in other unabridgeds, but find it in my W3. It never occurs the other way around. If you need more, you've got to go to the OED. At Amazon.com's price, the W3 is a steal.
Rating:
Summary: I bought this book for winning at Scrabble
Review: Sure, I know that the Scrabble Player's Dictionary has most of the 2-8 letter words in it, but large compound words are also legal, as long as they are made from shorter words that were previously on the board. Example:
1) One person spells MAN
2) Next, someone spells OARSMAN
3) Finally, someone spells OARSMANSHIP If your only authority in a Scrabble game is the Scrabble Player's Dictionary, OARSMANSHIP isn't possible, because it's 10 letters. But it's perfectly legal according to the rules. And, while it doesn't happen often, if someone has an opportune letter or word placed between two "double word score" or "triple word score" spaces, you can increase your chances of obtaining a rare, "quadruple word score" or a "nonuple [9X] word score," by having the most complete dictionary to validate it. Obviously, the real consideration for giving the Scrabble Player's Dictionary the "Official" endorsement was economic. Let's face it, the biggest words are worth more points, and I'm not going to throw away a chance to rake in a huge score, just because of an INCOMPLETE dictionary. Trust me, I have no intentions of ever using any other dictionary for Scrabble than the BEST: Webster's Third New International Dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: It's good, but it is an electronic era!
Review: The informative contents of The Third New International is a feature makes it uncomparable. I have been using it for more than 10 years. However, more and more dictionaries have moved to CD-ROM. The first OED on CD-ROM has been released for more than 10 years. For Merriam Webster, the real dictionary on CD-ROM is Merriam Webster¡¦s Collegiate Dictionary Deluxe Audio Edition. It was too bad that the former edition was still non-audio. In my daily use, I usually have difficulty in making the space of 9.125 x 12.875 inches footprint for The Third New International on my desk. When opened, it will require more than twice of the space. Because of this I used Merriam-Webster¡¦s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary and the following Tenth Edition more often than I used The Third New International. However, that was all I¡¦d been doing before Microsoft released the Bookshelf. Currently I prefer to use the CD-ROM edition of OED, Random House Webster¡¦s Unabridged Dictionary CD-ROM, and Microsoft Bookshelf. Only when they can not solve my problem, I will open The Third New International. But it is rare! When I started to use OED CD-ROM, I will never go back to its print version. Likewise, when I had Random House Webster¡¦s Unabridged Dictionary CD-ROM, I will never use its print version again. I am such a computer user that my PC has never been turned off. Every time I need to check any word in dictionaries the only thing I have to do is turning on the monitor and the information is only a few clicks away. There are one CD-ROM, one DVD-ROM, and one MO in my PC. The OED CD-ROM, Encarta DVD, and a copy of RHD CD-ROM on MO always reside in these drivers. It¡¦s an electronic era. Merriam Webster¡¦s hesitation in releasing the CD-ROM of its flagship has degraded its importance in the arena!
Rating: 
Summary: No support for low screen res
Review: The interface may be horrific or it may be brilliant; either way, I wouldn't know as that I am running on a laptop with a vertical resolution of 480 dpi. When running at this resolution, the bottom of the dialogue boxes are chopped off - scroll bars, lists of words, et al - instead of resizing as would be expected of even a sub-par user interface. And tech-support's response to my dilemma? Increase your resolution. Sorry, it's a laptop with a fixed resolution; not an option. Guess I'm stuck with Encarta's less-than-inspiring definitions of words.
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