The ''Oxford American Dictionary'' (''OAD'') is a single-volume
dictionary of
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances i ...
. It was the first dictionary published by the
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
to be prepared by American lexicographers and editors.
The work was based on the ''Oxford Paperback Dictionary'', published in 1979. It is no longer in print and has been superseded by the ''
New Oxford American Dictionary
The ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' (''NOAD'') is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press.
''NOAD'' is based upon the ''New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (''NODE''), published ...
''. It was criticized by Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner in their well-regarded treatise, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts (2012), as "abridged, outdated
ndnonscholarly," a book known "in lexicographic circles ... to have been hastily put together by two editors on short notice, and very much on the cheap. ... Later editions of that dictionary, by contrast, are better works of scholarship"--referring to the New Oxford American Dictionary.
[Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner in their well-regarded treatise, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts 75, 415, 423 (2012)]
See also
Other Oxford Dictionaries:
* ''
New Oxford American Dictionary
The ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' (''NOAD'') is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press.
''NOAD'' is based upon the ''New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (''NODE''), published ...
'' (''NOAD'')
* ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...
'' (''OED'')
* ''
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'' (''SOED'') is an English language dictionary published by the Oxford University Press. The SOED is a two-volume abridgement of the twenty-volume ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'').
Print editions ...
'' (''SOED'')
* ''
Oxford Dictionary of English'' (''ODE'')
* ''
Concise Oxford English Dictionary'' (''COED'')
* ''
Australian Oxford Dictionary
The ''Australian Oxford Dictionary'', sometimes abbreviated as ''AOD'', is a dictionary of Australian English published by Oxford University Press.Warden, Ian "Some Balltearers For The Scrabble Board" 27 October 1999 Canberra Times P7
The ''AOD' ...
'' (''AOD'')
* ''
Canadian Oxford Dictionary
The ''Canadian Oxford Dictionary'' is a dictionary of Canadian English. First published by Oxford University Press Canada in 1998, it became a well-known reference for Canadian English.
The second edition, published in 2004, contains about 300 ...
'' (''CanOD'')
* ''
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
The ''Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary'' (''OALD'') was the first advanced learner's dictionary of English. It was first published in 1948. It is the largest English-language dictionary from Oxford University Press aimed at a non-native au ...
'' (''OALD'')
References
{{Dictionaries of English
1980 non-fiction books
English dictionaries
Oxford dictionaries