The New Penguin English Dictionary

This volume explores and explains every angle of the word's most widely spoken language. It defines the latest scientific and technical terms, as well as surveying more unusual, literary or archaic vocabulary. It gives detailed information about correct usage (different from?, different than? different to?) and words that are commonly confused with one another (imply and infer, uninterested and disinterested). It contains thousands of illustrative examples, many of them drawn from the works of major literary figures, that serve not only to show how individual words work in context, but also to give a sense of the richness and variety of English. It includes word histories that explain the often tortuous routes by which individual words have developed their meaning over the centuries. And it supplements definitions of key concepts in subject areas as diverse as physics, philosophy, politics, and music with contributions from leading experts in the filed -Anthony Grayling on reason, Rudy Rucker on infinity, Donald Lopez on reincarnation, Catherine Belsey on deconstruction, and David Thomson on film noir.