Macmillan English Dictionary

COMMENTS BY ADVISERS

The Macmillan English Dictionary is unbeatable with up-to-date information on many cultural items. It does a great job explaining differences between British and American vocabulary. For reliable and easy-to-understand information about hard words, reach for your Macmillan English Dictionary. It's a great resource!
Dr. Don McCreary, University of Georgia, USA

Clear layout and excellent coverage ... the central idea is that users don't want long definitions with unnecessary grammar and usage details when they look up a word while reading, but do need lots of information about meaning and behaviour when they use a dictionary to speak and write.
Dr. Hilary Nesi, University of Warwick, UK

Very attractive ... As the idea of using a lexical syllabus spreads, the Macmillan English Dictionary is the ideal tool for giving students plenty of information on grammar and vocabulary.
Sara Walker, Brazilian Diplomatic Academy, Brazil

The menus for the long entries are a real strength – they make it much easier to find one's way around an entry; the metaphor help notes are novel and very useful for vocabulary building, and the feature, 'Other ways of saying', is exceptionally valuable for learners who need to write and speak English.
Prof. Michael Hoey, University of Liverpool, UK

I very much like the way core vocabulary has been presented, which will help teachers to organize materials and lessons, and students to prioritize items for study. I will certainly recommend it to my students as the monolingual dictionary best suited to their needs as university learners.
Prof. Kevin Mark, Meiji University, Japan

What is immediately striking to the reader is just how clear and attractive each page appears to the eye. It makes it so easy to find one's way around.
Adrian Underhill, teacher trainer, UK

Students will particularly welcome the clear layout and the wealth of information about how words behave in company.
Susan Maingay, teacher trainer, UK

It is the first time that an English monolingual learner dictionary provides separate treatment of words for decoding and encoding purposes, and I believe EFL learners will find the dictionary extremely valuable and companionable.
Amy Chi, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

The usage information is especially helpful, as are the plentiful lists of synonyms and collocational information.
Jane Magee, University of St. Andrews, Scotland

Extremely user-friendly. The definitions are clear and concise. The examples are informative and interesting.
Susan Stempleski, City University of New York, USA

COMMENTS BY STUDENTS

This is the best dictionary that I have ever seen.
André Luiz da Silva Sanches, student, Brazil

I bought your Macmillan English Dictionary with CD a few months back and it is now an indispensable tool for my learning. It is just incredible - just the CD I was looking for.
Sivaram Balakrishnan, computer science student, D. G. Vaishnav College, Chennai, India

Thank you for your amazing Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners! It is a great pleasure to work with!
Anna, student, Pardubice University, Czech Republic

I am student of English and I use your MED. It is great. I just want to thank you for your e-lessons, those are super too.
Martin Huncovsky, student, Czech Republic

I think the Macmillan English Dictionary is really helpful for students who study English as a Second Language. It is very useful for learning idiomatic English. I like the rich example sentences and the information about collocations. the MED is the perfect dictionary for advanced learners!
Machiko Uehara, ESL student, Japan

I am a student at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. I was very excited when I got the MED. It's really a perfect dictionary. Thank you.
Honghai Dai, student, China

The dictionary is wonderful. I love it very much. Many teachers recommend that we use this dictionary. My first language is Chinese. I used to use a bilingual dictionary. But my teacher said that if I wanted to improve my English, I had to use a monolingual dictionary. And the Macmillan English Dictionaryis the best choice. I bought it a couple of days ago. The more I use it, the more I love it.
Eric, EFL learner, Taiwan

Your dictionary is SUPER! I've been learning English for one year and I use it very often.
Mr Jacek Glogowski, EFL student, Poland

COMMENTS BY TEACHERS AND WRITERS

Clearly superior to anything comparable on the market right now.

Dr Richard Stinshoff, Academic Director for British Studies, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, Oldenburg, Germany

What a wonderful dictionary the MED is! I am still overwhelmed by its ability to read the text I have on my screen and search for it in a few seconds. Most of my teaching is one to one, and should I forget to reinitialise my copy, my students get very cross and frustrated. The explanations are superb. Once they have used the MED in my lessons, most of my students have gone out and bought a copy for home use, which means that the product is its own best advertisement. Every teacher teaching one to one, should have one! So should ever student. Well done Macmillan. I used to be a Cambridge girl, but it's only stupid people who never change their minds.

Wanda Lipski, France

The Macmillan English Dictionary is one of my favourite tools and I recommend it to all my FCE and CAE classes because it is handy, very readable, easy to use and full of helpful supplementary information. I am an adept of the Lexical Approach and therefore like teaching language in chunks and raising my learners' awareness for collocations, I couldn't do this without a good dictionary.

Catherine Hugener, Switzerland

I would like to commend you on the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners. It is the single most valuable reference book available – a powerful resource for all learners and teachers of English. I, in particular, like the sections of Language Awareness, defining vocabulary and the 16 full-page pictures that explain groups of words visually.

K. B. Tan, Malaysia

I'm a big fan of the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners of American English, and really appreciate every effort you've made to publish a great dictionary. I have the first edition released in 2002, and enjoy referring to it for practical use and as a reference book in my class - I'm a high school teacher in South Korea. It's greatly helpful to me and my students.... I really love this dictionary ... because it's a close friend and adviser for my study and teaching - It has a lot of advantages: adequate explanations [which are] easy to understand with a great store of example sentences, a well-organized page layout, clear print which is easy to read, inspiring-red cover design, etc. I'm looking forward to seeing the revised edition in the near future.
Kim So Young, Teacher, Daegu Science High School, Daegu, South Korea

Thank you very much for sending me your wonderful dictionary with the Workbooks! It's a terrific dictionary, really. Especially for someone like me who is far from perfect, it is a great help to find immediately e.g. the adjectives that best accompany a certain noun. Whenever I put my nose into it - I find I can't stop, it's so fascinating. You can be sure that I will recommend it most enthusiastically to our teachers. The Workbook that goes with it is great too! How many generations of teachers had to make do without such good help and excellent propositions?
Sabine Deitmer, Course Administrator for English, VHS Dortmund, Germany

Concerning the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners with CD ROM - I consider it [to be] a really modern dictionary...[enhanced] by the extraordinary illustrations and explanations, [and enriched] by the Language Awareness section. These chapters are never found before in dictionaries, [and are] useful to every occasion.
Michael Mario Lintz, Teacher of adults and children, Prisma e.V., Homburg/Saar, Germany

Finding relevant and good-quality teaching materials which use English in a natural way is not always easy when living in a non-English-speaking country...The cooperation between Macmillan Publishers and Learning English/Guardian Weekly is of great benefit to teachers like me...The dictionary is excellent. The use of colour and pictures throughout are of great assistance to students. Just now, I teach English to executives in the business and IT sectors. I will be recommending this dictionary to the students I teach. ...I look forward to using this dictionary and the other materials with my students.
Trudy Berscheid, English Teacher, Malmö, Sweden

The Macmillan English Dictionary is the best English-English dictionary for understanding and translating very complicated commercial and legal documents.
Juha Simola, Area Manager - Middle East and Africa, Elecster Oyj, Finland

I am just writing to say that in my opinion you have met your challenge to issue dictionaries that are accessible and easy to use. I can tell you that I have been using the Macmillan English Dictionary for a year, perhaps even longer, and I am delighted, particularly with the CD-ROM design. Although I have other dictionaries on my shelves, Macmillan's is the one which I use and which makes my life as a teacher easier. Since I have just found out that you have won the British Council Innovation Award, I would like to congratulate you on that project. I would also like to thank you for providing such a useful 'tool', but a tool with a heart, for English learners.
Danijela Dardic, Teacher, Banja Luka, Srpska

I feel I have gained a lot of useful, practical and rewarding strategies in playing my role as a teacher. I keep recommending your site and the Macmillan dictionary to both my colleagues and students. They are marvelous. I really appreciate your sending me the e-lessons and all the rest.
Shahram Sabbaghzadeh, English Teacher, Kaveh English Academy, Canada

I received the Macmillan English Dictionary last Friday. I had already seen the dictionary and I attended a great talk by Michael Rundell. I would like to congratulate you because the dictionary is not just a dictionary, it's a masterpiece!
Maria Amalia Lorenzo Almeida, Teacher, CNA, Maceió, Brazil

I've been getting very good, positive feedback from students and colleagues on the Macmillan English Dictionary. What is really helpful to students (and to us too!) are the usage and grammar explanations, e.g. on the use of modal verbs, which are very often problem areas for students. The various meanings words have and how they can be used in everyday language are also very well presented.
Frank Caruso, university teacher, Milan, Italy

I was so enthusiastic about the Macmillan English Dictionarywith CD-ROM that I wrote a five-star review of it for both amazon.co.uk and amazon.de. I recommend it highly to all language lovers and particularly to foreign language university students. Thank you so much for your kindness and for the precious dictionary!
Dr Viviana Venturini, Università Cattolica, Brescia, Italy

Thank you, Macmillan, for this fantastic idea. This web site has become my NUMBER ONE resource to prepare my lessons. I have found the Word of the Week section fascinating. Congratulations, once more, for this great idea, and thank you very much for the precious information.
Laura, Argentina

I think the MED is a superb reference book which successfully combines all the best features of modern ELT dictionaries and clearly stands out from its competitors thanks to its comprehensive treatment of both content and form. Its clear and visually attractive layout is the perfect framework to present thorough and up-to-date corpus information on words, collocations, cultural and grammar notes together with numerous self-explanatory and memorable pictures. And if the printed MED is that good, the electronic version is even more impressive: the CD-ROM has an appealing and friendly interface that allows the user to do many things apart from just looking up words quickly and efficiently: you can add your own notes, create personalised wordlists to revise vocabulary, listen to British and American pronunciations, record and contrast your own voice with that of native speakers so that you can improve your diction, and delight in browsing through a wonderful collection of clickable pictures, the only drawback being the impossibility of copying them from the CD-ROM directly into a Word document! Fortunately, its many functions in just one CD together with further online support (invaluable tips in the MED monthly magazine to fully exploit its capabilities in the classroom and the free ready-made lessons you can download from the website) more than compensate for that aspect and deserve my deepest appreciation.
Karina Debard, ESP teacher (hotel management, tourism, business and librarianship), Argentina

I like the way the collocations have been highlighted and the general layout is much better than other learners’ dictionaries. It’s clearly a step ahead.
Cheryl Thomas, lecturer in English, University of Pavia, Italy

I find the resources on all the Macmillan sites really great and useful. As for the MED, it is fantastic! One of my colleagues told me that she is using it with her students, and that it really works! Since some of my students need a dictionary, I will show it to them and encourage them to buy copies themselves. We are thinking of running a new course on how a dictionary can be used to its best advantage, and I think that the Macmillan one is the best to do it.
Tatiana Perini, EFL teacher, English Studio, Villafranca, Verona, Italy

By the way your dictionary's the best one at the moment on the market. It's excellent! Yours is particularly good compared to what's available now.
Michael Cotton, Modern English Study Centre, Bologna, Italy

The CD has proved to be of great help, like you have a native speaker by your side always ready to provide you with the most accurate pronunciation.”
Vu Quoc Tuan, Viet-Art company, Ho Chi Minh City

I've recently bought the MED and enjoy it a lot! The CD-ROM saves a lot of time.
María Fernanda Pignataro, freelance translator and ESL teacher, Buenos Aires, Argentina

This dictionary supported by a CD-ROM should be the dictionary of the decade. Keep up your good work and please accept my gratitude.
Lau Chin An, Principal, CA Lau English Language Centre, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

I love your dictionary. It's the best on the market!
Anila Scott-Monkhouse, English teacher at the University of Parma, and teacher trainer

I am absolutely delighted with the Macmillan English Dictionary: it is even better than I expected. I do my best to give my students the most efficient materials; that is why the MED is the one I needed greatly. It is extremely useful for me when I get ready for my lessons, and to check whether I know the meaning of those 7,500 red words. I have already found a lot of new collocations and idioms. And I know that new 'discoveries' are awaiting me.
Ludmila Denisova, Secondary English teacher, Kirovsk, Russia

Many thanks for the dictionary!!! This is the greatest present I have ever received! I really appreciate your kindness and will use it immediately for my daily work.
Svetlana Kim, (A Very Happy Teacher), Tashkent, Uzbekistan

The Macmillan English Dictionary is interesting and user-friendly. Putting the most frequently used words in red and the system of using stars is just brilliant. Another strong point is the way phrasal verbs are presented - absolutely clear and easy to find.
Cláudio Henrique Borges Viana, EFL teacher, Brazil

I've recently purchased the Macmillan English Dictionary and what is there to say other than it's absolutely fantastic! The definitions that are given leave very little explanation from me. Everyone should have a copy! A million thanks to all who have contributed towards this masterpiece.
Marina D'Silva, EFL teacher, Germany

I really think it's a very good work of reference – with a user-friendly structure and design and with all the newest expressions – I am sure I can profit a lot from it and it's fun even browsing!
Katja Schulz, trainee teacher, Germany

Yesterday the postman brought the Macmillan English Dictionary. It has become one of the most memorable days of my life.
Uliana Lee, EAP and EFL teacher, Uzbekistan

I would like to congratulate you on this excellent dictionary. I teach a group of advanced students and they love looking up words in it! They also love the 'Word of the Week' feature of the website.
Mariana Martinez, EFL teacher, Argentina

The Macmillan English Dictionary is a very good dictionary. It's really a great achievement and reflects the expertise of all those involved.
Attila Cserep, ELT teacher, Hungary

The Macmillan English Dictionary with CD is really unique and very special. I recommended it to all my clients here in Germany.
Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim, teacher trainer for business English, Bremen, Germany

Two of the main strengths of the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners are, firstly, its clear layout and, secondly, a plethora of corpus-based examples which provide particularly useful information on collocations and grammar patterns. The dictionary covers everything upper-intermediate to advanced learners will ever need or want to know about the English language and is an excellent reference tool. The Macmillan English Dictionaryfor Advanced Learners is, in my opinion, one of the best advanced learners’ dictionaries on the market today.
Professor Diana Phillips, Faculty of Applied Economics, Department of Languages and Communication, University of Antwerp, Belgium

I am delighted with the Macmillan English Dictionary and I will definitely recommend it to my numerous students.
Marian Estebaranz, EFL teacher, Spain

I browsed around the dictionary, and I can honestly say that this is one of the best, if not actually *the* best, electronic dictionary for learners of English I have seen (and I have seen quite a few of them). I hope other people will enjoy your CD as much as I do.
Vasyl Feodosiyovych Starko, graduate student in linguistics and English teacher, Ukraine

I am very impressed with the dictionary and the CD. They are just what I need for my students and I have recommended them to get a copy. It is the best one I have seen so far.
Leslie, EFL teacher, Thailand

I am very pleased with the user navigation and overall presentation of the MED. I would like to congratulate the Macmillan team on bringing out an excellent product. I have no hesitation in recommending this product to others as it is the best product in its class.
Jacob S. Veedon

What I particularly liked is the phonetic search facility, a must for serious users of machine-readable dictionaries (MRDs), and a functionality I have long been appealing to lexicographers to implement in their dictionaries. As far as I can see, the MED is now the only learners’ MRD to provide for fully-fledged phonetic searches. Congratulations!
Professor W. Sobkowiak, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan

I really like the Macmillan English Dictionary

It has very comprehensive coverage; the countless meanings of ‘heavy-duty’ words like go, get, come are laid out admirably clearly; the ‘menus’ at the top of multi-meaning words are an excellent idea and very helpful; collocations, idioms and other fixed expressions stand out well and are easily spotted; the listing of words that most frequently collocate with the headword is a revolutionary innovation of great usefulness; information on usage and synonyms is generously and intelligently provided; the ‘Metaphor’ boxes unique to this dictionary will really help students to develop a lively, graphic and varied style.

I spent a whole train journey reading the ‘Language Awareness’ section inserted in the middle of the dictionary. These essays on such topics as ‘Phrasal verbs’, ‘Academic writing’, ‘Spoken discourse’, ‘Avoiding offence’, ‘British and American English’, ‘Business English’, and ‘Word formation’ are completely state-of-the-art and well written – a systematic ‘extra’ that ideally complements the abundant alphabetical information.

The whole product is extremely pleasing aesthetically.

It’s an excellent dictionary with extraordinary coverage and interesting special features and I am going to recommend it widely.
Hans G. Hoffmann, writer of textbooks, grammars, etc.