Editorial Reviews:
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This newly updated edition of America's favorite dictionary features
revised biographical and geographical entries as well as up-to-date
charts and tables for topics such as world currencies and chemical
elements. Among the 500 entries new to this update are Amber Alert,
blogosphere, gravitino, halo effect, hawala, lycopene, malware, micropolis,
proteome, Qi Gong, SARS, shout-out, speed dating, sudoku, Texas hold'em,
text message, and wiki.
The renowned American Heritage® Usage Panel, a group of more
than 200 distinguished writers, scholars, and scientists, offers advice on
problems of grammar and style; engaging notes explain word histories
and clarify differences among synonyms; thousands of quotations and
example sentences show words in context; and elegant definitions are
enhanced by 4,000 full-color photographs, drawings, and maps, making
this one of the most readable dictionaries available anywhere.
This dictionary can also be purchased with a fully loadable
Windows® / Mac® CD-ROM that contains the entire text of the
updated Fourth Edition, 68,000 audio pronunciations, 1,000 full-color
photographs and illustrations, and a college-level thesaurus with more
than 260,000 synonyms. The CD-ROM has spell-check capability and
can be used in conjunction with any Microsoft® Office application to get
definitions at the click of a mouse.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: The dictionary I own, what follows is criticism:
Comment: 1. Many missing highly intellectual words, however I'm paranoid about the death of English
2. Otherwise of dictionaries pleasant to read, useful, durable, and with extensive and useful etymologies [e.g. I became curious and developed a psychic intuition for old french, although I didn't take it in school]
3. Otherwise, creativity is the only way to really change the dictionary: a different organizational system would be more useful for some creative uses
Customer Rating:
Summary: time to update
Comment: I just bought several of these for my adult kids. I got one for myself last summer, and have been thrilled with the quality.
My last dictionary was 25-30 years ago, and this new book has pictures of many people who have starred in my lifetime as legendary in entertainment, science, and politics. {as well as those from the past}
The descriptions are easy to follow and quite adequate for my purposes. I highly recommend it.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Several pages damaged on corners
Comment: Don't get me wrong, I love this dictionary. However, I'm only giving it four stars because Amazon shipped me a "new" copy that actually has several flawed pages. I suspect this is a copy that was supposed to be rejected but somehow slipped through a hole in the quality control and ended up being shipped to me. The defect is annoying and makes me feel like I paid a new price for a damaged product. Otherwise, the defect does not interfere with the use of the dictionary.
Customer Rating:
Summary: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
Comment: I read a review of this dictionary in the Wall Street Journal and(based on the author's opinion)I purchased two copies, one for myself and another for my grandson who is a freshman at a local Jesuit High School. Personally, I believe this dictionary is the most comprehensive one to which I have ever had access.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Dictionary Dilemma Is Over
Comment: This dictionary is a gem for use at school, at home, at work. The color plates make this particular dictionary reader-friendly to any age from 12 years and older. The entries are complete enough for use by a sophisticated reader, but yet in language that is understandable to a younger reader. I have used lots of different dictionaries in the classroom over the years, and this one is certainly my favorite.
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