The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms

I teach at a language school in Fort Lauderdale. Dozxens of students each month ask me, "How can I improve my English?" I tell them, "Get a dictionary with synonyms and opposites." The Webster S and A is the best I've found -- and portable, too.

It is vital for language learners to have something interesting to pull them forward. We tend to learn by what we are interested in and in what the opposite is. "That movie was ________" (interesting, great, fantastic...not boring, not slow, not hard to understand.) We tend to think in similars and opposites, so why not use a book that is designed to give you shades of meaning as well as the opposites? I highly recommend this book and I encourage students to pick it up. What is very good in this book? There is an example sentence to show the meaning, such as:

weak, feeble frail weak is broad, like a weak muscle, a week excuse, foundation. feeble usually shows ineffectiveness or smoethign we should pity: a feeble old man, feeble joke. frail suggests an inherited weakness, that something is weak in the structure: her frail body, a frail conscience.

You see what a valuable tool this is? I urge you to recommend this book to your learners of English, even if they are native speakers.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms (Dictionary) (Purchased on 09/03/2008) it is very helpful to me.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms is an interesting research - and I dare to say: entertaining - resource. Because, contrary to what some might think, this is not a thesaurus, but a book which groups words of similar meanings into a topic and explains in a very didactic way and with examples what distinguishes in nuance one from each other so you can use the most appropriate words depending on the situation.

For being small, you will certainly not find about everything you want and when you need, but however, this has a reasonable scope of words that is worth the purchase. In the worst case, you can perfectly take this as a regular book that you could read in your spare time since is pleasantly organized and well written. Trust me, it is not as boring as reading purposeless a regular dictionary.

I find this book extremely helpful with all of my assignments and daily tasks, as well as in assisting my children with their homework!

This book is compact and you can take it to school with you. This book saved me on plenty of essays.