Collins Concise Dictionary

The Collins Concise has a strong encyclopaedic element. Alongside vocabulary words it has numerous entries on people and places. The latter are particularly good, ranging from modest towns to entries on whole countries, which give information on population, languages, currency, religion, capital city and geography. It also has excellent usage notes , giving, for example, clear guidance on the different uses of "emotional" and "emotive", or pointing out that "abrogate" and "arrogate" are often confused, although their meanings are opposite. As a Scottish publisher, Collins also has the best coverage of Scots words. The design and layout of the text makes this the easiest of the three dictionaries to read, and if you want to buy just one reference book to sit on an office or student desk, this is probably the best book to buy. --Julia Cresswell