Random House Webster's College Dictionary

Rating:
Summary: A must for the college bound!
Review: Do you know of anyone whom will be going to a private or state college this fall; then this title, i.e., Random House Webster's College Dictionary by Random House (Editor), is a must have. The book starts out with an informative and well-written preface; sample page; using this dictionary section; an article called defining our language for the 21st century; abbreviations key;from sounds to spellings; pronunciation key; and then the dictionary; guide for writers; avoiding insensitive and offensive language; signs & symbols; continents; nations of the world; presidents of the united states and ends up with a plethora of maps. Fir under ..., this book is a must have and the college person in question will thank you for buying it for them.

Rating:
Summary: Another confused consumer but....
Review: I bought the April 1999 edition after spending an hour or two in the bookstore looking at several dictionaries so that I could find the best one for me.

This one won easily. I can't remember whether the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary was among the others, but I do remember being confused at some point in time by the similarities in appearance and name of these dictionaries. So I found the "No likelihood of consumer confusion?" review very helpful as I hadn't bothered to run it down so thoroughly. Thanks! It seems to me that only a legal system trapped in its own ever-diminishing circle could have concluded that there was no attempt by Random House to imitate.

The dictionary, however, I have found to be excellent. In the three years or so I've had it I've found one mistake - a typo where "liberal" was used instead of "literal" in the definition of the word 'Pharisee'. I measure that against the innumerable occasions where its concise and elegant definitions have been a great help and source of knowledge. I really can't speak too highly of it, but I'll now just have to go out and compare it in my "relatively sophisticated" way to the Merriam-Webster.

Rating:
Summary: A Handy Resource
Review: I use this dictionary at home many times so it doesn't have to be just college students using this excellent resource. It has indexes so it's easy to find words you need to look up. It's a keeper in anyone's library.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent dictionary for students
Review: I would recommend this dictionary for students as it has a reasonable size and covers various words that are foreign or weird that do not match conventional spelling rules. It will do as a reference whether you are writing about feisty feists, the seizure of counterfeit sovereigns, the science of glaciers, or seismic effects on gneiss. It covers both spellings and both pronunciations of sheikh, and includes words with similar pronunciations such as cay, key, and quay. It has sufficient coverage to include place names such as Aqaba. It has the usual deficiency of dictionaries in this size range, i.e., it does not include lesser known place names such as Sequim, Kalaloch, and Quilcene.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent dictionary for students
Review: I would recommend this dictionary for students as it has a reasonable size and covers various words that are foreign or weird that do not match conventional spelling rules. It will do as a reference whether you are writing about feisty feists, the seizure of counterfeit sovereigns, the science of glaciers, or seismic effects on gneiss. It covers both spellings and both pronunciations of sheikh, and includes words with similar pronunciations such as cay, key, and quay. It has sufficient coverage to include place names such as Aqaba. It has the usual deficiency of dictionaries in this size range, i.e., it does not include lesser known place names such as Sequim, Kalaloch, and Quilcene.

Rating:
Summary: Essential dictionary for writers and college students
Review: I write as a hobby and am a reference book addict. I own 10 dictionaries. I've had my copy of RH/Webster's for 3 years and have yet to find a word not listed in stunning detail. Buy this dictionary!

Rating:
Summary: Your Best Freind
Review: In 1991, Merriam-Webster (M-W), the market leader in college dictionaries, sued Random House (RH) after RH changed the name of its dictionary (from RH College Dictionary) to Random House Webster's College Dictionary. In addition, RH adopted a trade dress similar to Merriam-Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. Among the similarities between the two competing works were:

1. Bright red dust jackets
2. The use of the generic word "Webster's" in combination with the descriptive term
3. "College" or "Collegiate" on the cover
4. The name "Webster's" in large white vertical letters on the spines.

Concluding RH acted with malice, a six-person jury awarded M-W millions in damages and granted it a permanent injunction preventing RH from distributing its dictionary. Downplaying RH's "bad faith" attempt to capitalize on M-W's trade dress, the Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the District Court, and vacated the injunction and damages award.

Merriam-Webster, Inc. v. Random House, Inc., 35 F.3d 65, 70-72 (2d Cir. 1994).

In finding there was no likelihood of consumer confusion (the test for trade dress infringement), the appeals court placed special emphasis on the conspicuous use of the publishers' names and logos (including R-H's own distinctive "bull's eye" logo) which served to distinguish the two dictionaries. The court also noted that M-W had not objected to red jacketed college dictionaries published by other houses. In addition, the court found that the relative sophistication of dictionary purchasers cut against finding a likelihood of confusion.

All this sure confused me, until I spent way too much time researching dictionaries. Merriam-Webster is the "original" "Webster's" dictionary. If you want "Websters," get the Merriam-Webster Collegiate instead.

Rating:
Summary: The latest college dictionary
Review: The second edition of Random House Webster's College Dictionary first published in 1997 when it was the latest at college dictionary market. Then, the publisher launched an annual update program in 1998. The 1999 update have more than 207,000 definitions with more new words than any other dictionary. The new words in science, computing, business, society etc were comprehensively updated. I always go to Random house first because I find it always give me a satisfactory answer.

Rating:
Summary: The Last Word in Dictionaries
Review: You don't have to be a college student to appreciate this with-it dictionary. As a professional writer, I swear by it. It's not only useful for spelling and capitalization, it has proved invaluable in indicating when hyphenated compound words "graduate" to single words by virtue of their popular usage. (Examples: "head-hunting" became "headhunting" when employment recruiters began doing it; "email" is taking over the place that "e-mail" established; even "weekend" was hyphenated at first.) Accept no substitutes ... insist on the Random House Webster's College version. I buy nearly every edition of this classic, and I am always amazed at the number of new words it includes. I have also given it to friends, family, colleagues, and even my editor.