Based on a vast database of over two hundred million words, the Oxford Pocket American Dictionary of Current English offers superb coverage of American English. Oxford's U.S. Dictionaries Program has taken a state-of-the-art approach to the design of reference works, focusing on the wordsusers most commonly encounter, and omitting those rarely used. All Oxford American dictionaries use an easy-to-use respelling system to show how entries are pronounced. It uses simple, familiar markings to represent common American English sounds. The result is the most reliable word resourceavailable, one that is more practical and less expensive, perfect for students or the general reader. Its features include: · Grammar, Style, and Usage Notes that give guidance on correct English · Hundreds of Word Histories that provide a fascinating background to our language · 225 illustrations, commissioned by Oxford's U.S. Dictionaries Program, that add important visual information to complement the definitions · Reference appendices with information on weights and measures, metric conversions, chemical elements, countries of the world, U.S. states and presidents, and much more Affordable, durable, easy to read and completely up to date, this is the finest dictionary of its size available. date, this is the finest dictionary of its size available. [On Cover] · 180,000 concise definitions and entries · 3,000 biographical and geographical entries Read Less