Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners
Encyclopedia
Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, also known as MEDAL, was first published in 2002 by Macmillan Education
. MEDAL is an advanced learner’s dictionary
and shares most of the features of this type of dictionary: it provides definitions in simple language, using a controlled defining vocabulary
; most words have example sentences to illustrate how they are typically used; and information is given about how words combine grammatically or in collocation
s. MEDAL also introduced a number of innovations. These include:
The Macmillan English Dictionary also exists as an electronic dictionary
, available free on the Web. Like most online dictionaries, it benefits from being able to update content regularly with new words and meanings. In addition to the dictionary, the online version has a thesaurus
function enabling users to find synonyms for any word, phrase or meaning. There is also a blog (the Macmillan Dictionary Blog) with daily postings on language issues, especially on global English and language change. An "Open Dictionary" allows users to provide their own dictionary entries for new words they have come across. The online edition has been recognised as a good example of this emerging genre of reference publishing.
Macmillan Education
Macmillan is one of the world’s leading publishers of English Language teaching and school curriculum materials, with over 150 years of publishing experience. Based in Oxford, UK, and operating in over 40 countries worldwide.-History:...
. MEDAL is an advanced learner’s dictionary
Advanced Learner's Dictionary
The advanced learner's dictionary is the most common type of monolingual learner's dictionary, that is, a dictionary written for someone who is learning a foreign language and who has a proficiency level of B2 or above according to the Common European Framework...
and shares most of the features of this type of dictionary: it provides definitions in simple language, using a controlled defining vocabulary
Defining vocabulary
A defining vocabulary is a list of words used by lexicographers to write dictionary definitions. The underlying principle goes back to Samuel Johnson's notion that words should be defined using 'terms less abstruse than that which is to be explained', and a defining vocabulary provides the...
; most words have example sentences to illustrate how they are typically used; and information is given about how words combine grammatically or in collocation
Collocation
In corpus linguistics, collocation defines a sequence of words or terms that co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. In phraseology, collocation is a sub-type of phraseme. An example of a phraseological collocation is the expression strong tea...
s. MEDAL also introduced a number of innovations. These include:
- ‘collocation boxes’ giving lists of high-frequency collocates, identified using ‘Word Sketch’ software
- word frequency information, with the most frequent 7500 English words shown in red and categorised in three frequency bands, based on the idea, derived from Zipf's law, that a relatively small number of high-frequency words account for a high percentage of most texts
- ‘metaphor boxes’, showing how the vocabulary used for expressing common concepts (such as ‘anger’) tends to reflect a common metaphorical framework. This is based on George LakoffGeorge LakoffGeorge P. Lakoff is an American cognitive linguist and professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1972...
’s ideas of conceptual metaphorConceptual metaphorIn cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor, or cognitive metaphor, refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another, for example, understanding quantity in terms of directionality . A conceptual domain can be any coherent organization of human experience... - a 50-page section providing guidance on writing academic English, based on a collaboration with the Centre for English Corpus Linguistics in Louvain, Belgium and using the Centre’s learner corpus data
The Macmillan English Dictionary also exists as an electronic dictionary
Electronic dictionary
An electronic dictionary is a dictionary whose data exists in digital form and can be accessed through a number of different media. Electronic dictionaries can be found in several forms, including:*as dedicated handheld devices...
, available free on the Web. Like most online dictionaries, it benefits from being able to update content regularly with new words and meanings. In addition to the dictionary, the online version has a thesaurus
Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning , in contrast to a dictionary, which contains definitions and pronunciations...
function enabling users to find synonyms for any word, phrase or meaning. There is also a blog (the Macmillan Dictionary Blog) with daily postings on language issues, especially on global English and language change. An "Open Dictionary" allows users to provide their own dictionary entries for new words they have come across. The online edition has been recognised as a good example of this emerging genre of reference publishing.
Editions
- First edition published in 2002 (ISBN 978-0-3339-6672-3)
- Second edition published in 2007 (ISBN 978-1-4050-2526-3)