Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus (Jewel Case)

The Essential Dictionary & Thesaurus - Find the Right Word!



The Webster's New World? Dictionary & Thesaurus Express Edition is themodern, efficient double CD-ROM program of essential reference tools for yourPC. 

As easy to install as it is to use, this indispensable suite offers unparalleledlanguage authority on 2 discs. Webster's New World? Dictionary & Thesauruscomes loaded with over half-a-million definitions, synonyms, and antonym, allaccessible even when you're unsure of an entry's spelling. 

Round out your virtual reference library with The Visual Dictionary, thefull-color archive of over 3,500 images encompassing more than 600 subjectsoffering detailed identification and translations in English, French, andSpanish.

• Thousands of new & updated entries
• Instant access from any application
• Clearest definitions for immediate understanding
• More than 500,000 definitions, synonyms, and antonyms

Webster's New World? Dictionary & Thesaurus
Combining the efficiency of software technology with the authority of theWebster's name, this dictionary and thesaurus lets you simply click on a word toaccess both its definition and full list of synonyms. The intuitive searchengine enables you to find words rapidly, even with inexact spelling! With over500,000 entries, and a bonus comprising hundreds of ready-to-use lettertemplates, this dictionary and thesaurus suite is truly state-of-the-art.

Features include:

• Over 500,000 definitions, synonyms and antonyms
• Smart search engine locate a word without knowing the exact spelling
• Expandable spell checker
• Bonus! Include
  
  

In the most important ways, this is pretty good. No word processor macros are included but the program can run in the background and respond to a certain key combination, providing dictionary and/or thesaurus info for the word under the mouse pointer. This doesn't work consistenty in my web browsers but it seems to work a little better in my word processors. The interface for the dictionary program is pretty good, the window size is not resizeable but boolean wildcard searches of the dictionary and thesaurus contents are available, which is a nice feature.

The dictionary/thesaurus itself is stored in a somewhat standard Windows helpfile, which might be useful for people in other programs.

The package includes a couple of bonus programs, one is a bunch of sample fill-in-the-blanks letters which someone must have thought would be useful for some strange reason, the other is a "Visual Dictionary." This is a sort of interesting program which matches words to pictures for no apparent reason. It wants to install QuickTime 2.03, a six year old version of QT, which is probably not worth the trouble for most people. Amazon is wise to not make a big deal about these bonuses in the product listing.

This dictionary appears to be a repackage of something sold by Macmillan several years ago. The most recent copyright in the program is 1998 and the README is also dated 1998, on the box the date 2003 is printed. Probably Topics Entertainment bought this title from Macmillan but it's not listed on their website. Don't expect any meaningful support in the event you have problems with the program.


Doesn't play well with XP   July 19, 2003
Tricia Lou 904 (Simsbury, CT United States)
41 out of 41 found this review helpful

I originally bought this software when I had Windows ME. It worked really well and I loved it. It's simple to use--click the icon and you are ready to look up words. When I got a new computer which came with Windows XP, my original software would not work. I bought a new version thinking my old version just was not compatible. As it turns out, there is some issue with all versions of the software working with XP. Topics Entertainment is aware of the issue, but unable to resolve it. Topics Entertainment had a relatively friendly and helpful technical support department (though somewhat slow) and they offered to take the software back after the problem failed to be resolved. But that still leaves me without my much-missed dictionary program. If you don't have XP, then I highly recommend this program. If you have XP, find an alternative (which I am searching for presently.)


A mixed bag   June 26, 2003
Yadda 2x (Area 51)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

In the most important ways, this is pretty good. No word processor macros are included but the program can run in the background and respond to a certain key combination, providing dictionary and/or thesaurus info for the word under the mouse pointer. This doesn't work consistenty in my web browsers but it seems to work a little better in my word processors. The interface for the dictionary program is pretty good, the window size is not resizeable but boolean wildcard searches of the dictionary and thesaurus contents are available, which is a nice feature.

The dictionary/thesaurus itself is stored in a somewhat standard Windows helpfile, which might be useful for people in other programs.

The package includes a couple of bonus programs, one is a bunch of sample fill-in-the-blanks letters which someone must have thought would be useful for some strange reason, the other is a "Visual Dictionary." This is a sort of interesting program which matches words to pictures for no apparent reason. It wants to install QuickTime 2.03, a six year old version of QT, which is probably not worth the trouble for most people. Amazon is wise to not make a big deal about these bonuses in the product listing.

This dictionary appears to be a repackage of something sold by Macmillan several years ago. The most recent copyright in the program is 1998 and the README is also dated 1998, on the box the date 2003 is printed. Probably Topics Entertainment bought this title from Macmillan but it's not listed on their website. Don't expect any meaningful support in the event you have problems with the program.