Shorter Oxford English Dict

SOED automatically opens when I startup my Mac Book Pro. I'm running SOED 6th ed. version 4.2 (4.2) and Mac OS Catalina version 10.15.7

Yes it is not the full OED. The app NEVER claimed to be! The title is the SHORTER Oxford English Dictionary. If you buy this dictionary and expect the OED you simply have not looked at what you are buying. The app itself is really fine and will meet the needs of almost everone.

Not sure why some reviewers have a low opinion of this app. As far as the comment posted in the "Not as advertised" review that the dictionary "barely cover [sic] a moducum [sic] of depth, the dictionary correctly reports "moducum" is spelled "modicum!" I have two masters degrees and currently a doctoral student; this dictionary certainly meets my needs.

First, regarding the “Beware” review: OBVIOUSLY this is not the full Oxford English Dictionary. That would take 30 gigabytes and cost over $700 (USD) to license, and contains mostly historical roots. That is a great product, but totattly different. It’s really unfair to judget this great product just because the purchase could not figure out that this is a totally different product for a different purpose. What a great deal it would be to get a $700 product for $10. But for ordinary writing, and research this is the best dictionary I find. Here is my review of this product: These WordWeb dictionaries (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary in this case) are basically an exceptional replacement for the built-indictionaries in MacOS. The content is very well organanized, and the interface is up-to-date with the latest improvements in MacOS. As far as content, it does not get any better than Oxford and Chambers. Of course it would be amaziang to have the entire Oxford English Dictionary, but that license is impossible to obtain and would cost $1,000. But for everyday use this is a fantastic set of products. If you have not looked, check out the other offerings by this developer. I have used these WordWeb softwares for 9 years (since 2009) before they were on the App Store. They are truly excellent for writers, academics, and other researchers. Fast, efficient with good content. (I am also putting this review on the other WordWeb App Store products I own, because they really are part of an integrated product.)

The definitions in in this dictionary barely cover a moducum of depth. Shallow and rather boring content.

Once I get past the concern that the “Shorter Oxford English Dictionary” has nearly twice the words as the “Oxford Dictionary of English” and the corresponding concern that the bizarre nomenclature is reflected in the content, this is an excellent dictionary and I use it as my go to for writing, over the built in dictionary. Would love greater intigration with the OS.

I used to have the two volumes of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary when I was at University in London, but that wasn’t nearly as useful as this version, which is always right here in OS X's Dock. For the past year or two I’ve also had a copy (made by MobiSystems) on my iPad, which, beside being with me everywhere, has a nicer interface. But I still use this version more often, when I’m writing on my Mac. It is the content which is important, not the interface. The description in the iOS App Store version also notes that the Shorter OED, while containing only one-third of the coverage of the full 20-volume OED, contains every English word in use from 1700 to the present, plus the vocabularies of older major authors. I use other dictionaries most of the time, but this dictionary is indispensable when you need additional clarification.

This is not the OED, which is OK. It’s a strikingly useful dictionary with a more business-like approach than the OED, though there are still some nice discussions of connotations. It’s sad, and amusing, that this work is not available for IOS, and the American Heritage is not available for OS-X. And the Collins Roget is not available in either.

Many users wouldn't spend $24.99 for a mere dictionary app, but those are the users who are more likely to believe that reading books is a waste of time. If you read book-length texts as often as I do, or at least as often as the typical college student should read, this app is indispensable. Etymology hounds will find good hunting in these definitions. No, the dictionary entries aren't nearly as long as they are in the full OED, but for your money you get more than what you pay for. If you can afford the subscription for the complete Oxford English Dictionary, by all means buy it instead. For the rest of us who have less money to spend on our reference tools, this app is almost as good as it gets. The reason that the title is deceiving is because the Shorter Oxford Dictionary is by no means a short dictionary; it's merely shorter than the the 12-volume OED. It's still longer than any other English dictionary that can be found in the App Store. Incidentally, I find myself using dictionaries even more after finishing grad school, not less. Go ahead and look of the entry for 'irony' in this dictionary, and read all the way to the end of the etymology. Then you can understand why no one really has a right to sneer at a perceived misuse of the word since it rarely is used these days according to its oldest meaning.

I'm running this app on a late 2008 MBP. It has never crashed. It is much more comprehensive than eReference (which is a total pain if you have to reinstall). Etymologies included. It is not as Mac-like as it needs to be at this point. I can minimize it (Cmd-M), but it can't be hidden (Cmd-H). I would buy it again. The sound files work perfectly. If it were more Mac-like, it would get 5 stars from me.