The New Penguin English Dictionary explores and explains every angle of the world’s most widely spoken language. It defines the latest scientific and technical terms, as well as surveying more unusual, literary or archaic vocabulary. It gives detailed information about correct usage (different from? different than? different to?) and words that are commonly confused with one another (imply and infer, uninterested and disinterested). It contains thousands of illustrative examples, many of them drawn from the works of major literary figures, which serve not only to show how individual words work in context, but also to give a sense of the richness and variety of English. It includes word histories that explain the often tortuous routes by which particular words have developed their meaning over the centuries. And it supplements definitions of key concepts in subject areas as diverse as physics, philosophy, politics and music, with contributions from leading experts in the field – Anthony Grayling on reason, Steven Rose on DNA, Donald Lopez on reincarnation and David Thomson on film noir. The result is a meticulously researched, superbly versatile dictionary that encompasses the huge range of the language and offers clear guidance to its many complexities.