The comparison of dictionaries

My research consists of comparing three dictionaries:

1. Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture

2. Longman Language Activator
3. Oxford Collocations Dictionary

Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture

 Consists approximately 80 thousand words including definition of words, word class

restriction, compound words, prefixes and suffixes, phrasal verbs, proper names and table
of irregular verbs at the end of the dictionary
 The definition of words are clear and easy to understand there are transcription to each
word and the example
E.g. beauty /‘bju:ti/ n 1 [U]the qualities in someone or something that give pleasure to
the senses or lift up the mind or spirit: a woman / a poet of great beauty / enchanted by
the beauty of the scenery 2 [C] someone ( usu. female) or something beautiful: His
mother was a great beauty. / the beauties of our city 3 [C] infml someone or something
very good ( or bad); a perfect example: That apple is a real beauty./ That black eye you
got in the flight is a beauty! 4 [the (of)] the advantage (of something); a particularly
good quality that makes something special or valuable: The beauty (of my idea) is that it
would cost so little! 5 a thing of beauty is a joy for ever quote a phrase from a poem by
John Keats 6 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder saying different people have
different opinions about what is beautiful 7 Beauty is only skin deep saying a person
may be attractive, but they may also be an unpleasant person underneath
 Іn addition to the definition there are word phrases with the word you are looking for
E.g. Except the word beauty you may find the explanation for the following phrases:
beauty contest, beauty mark, beauty parlour/salon, beauty shop, beauty queen, beauty
sleep, beauty spot/beauty mark.
 the dictionary also explains the names of writers and the titles of English books and
newspapers
E.g. Beauty and the Beast a French fairy story about a beautiful young girl who has to
live with an ugly, half-human creature (the Breast) to repay the favour he did her father.
She finally agrees to marry him, at which point the SPELL in broken and he changes into
a HANDSOME PRINCE.
 The dictionary contains colour llustrations ( e.g. Olympic Sports, Wild West), maps ( e.g.
Central London, British Isles, New York City) and other images (the explanation of the
word baseball)
 There are also some cultural notes (e.g. Government in Britain and the USA, Declaration
of Independence)
 In this dictionary you may find British vocabulary as well as American

Longman Language Activator

  Consists approximately 100 thousand words including definition of words, word
translation, compound words, word collocations and examples
 The dictionary consists mostly of nouns, adjectives and verbs
 The definitions of words are understandable
E.g. beauty /’bju:ti/ [n U] the beautiful appearance of something or someone
Her beauty was accentuated by the dark clothes she wore.\ the beauty of The beauty of
the countryside and the friendliness of the people made him decide to settle in Tuscany.|
visual/physical/natural etc beauty The sheer physical beauty of the Malagasy people
was a constant surprise to me.
 The dictionary also presents all possible synonyms to the word beauty ( e.g. good looks
and adj. beautiful)
 A number of words are written in a special frame and highlighted in large bold
 In this dictionary you may find British vocabulary as well as American

Oxford Collocations Dictionary

 Consists of 9 thousand nouns, verbs and adjectives and 150 thousand variants of its
collocations
 There are clear definition of words and examples but there is no transcription
E.g. beauty noun
1. quality of being beautiful
o ADJ. breathtaking, extraordinary, great, outstanding, sheer an area of
breathtaking beauty | classical the classical beauty of her face | natural |
physical | scenic
o BEAUTY + VERB last|fade Her beauty faded as she got older.
o BEAUTY + NOUN competition, contest | queen | parlour, salon |treatment |
spot
o PHRASES beauty is in the eye of the beholder, beauty is only skin-deep

2. beautiful person or thing

o ADJ. great She was known as a great beauty in her time. | absolute, real My new
car’s a real beauty! | little Isn’t she a little beauty?
 The dictionary includes Study Pages which consists of practical exercises on a specific
topic (e.g. education, politics, using a verb entry, money etc) where you should complete
sentence, match each of the adjectives on the left with a suitable noun from the facing
column, cross out any incorrect word in a sentence etc.
At the end of the dictionary there are keys to these exercises
 You can also find small images and tables for some words (e.g. clothes)