Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms. A Dictionary of Discriminated Synonyms with
Antonyms and Analogous and Contrasted Words. (G. Bell and Sons. 3os.) THIS should prove an invaluable work to scholars and writers just as Webster's International Dictionary has proved itself to be. In fact Webster's big dictionary is a more useful book in one writer's experience than the two-volume Shorter Oxford and is only surpassed by the big Oxford Dictionary, which, however, occupies many times the space and is in a class by itself. Many authors consider it a confession of weakness to resort to Roget's Thesaurus, and certainly it is a bad habit to turn to it immediately when in search of an alternative word, or a different shade of meaning, because this habit weak-ens the memory. If used as a last resource, or read for pleasure as one reads a dictionary, Roget's Thesaurus has its indispensable place, and its method of arrangement offers some advantages over the new Webster. On the other hand, it was found by Roget's editors that in practice one always turned for quick convenience to the alphabetical word index and not to the group classification, and here the Webster scores by its purely alphabetical order and its increase in matter. It also represents a step forward in analysis of synonyms and antonyms on a basis wider than mere logic. Use alone can properly test such a book as this, but a casual reference reveals that the attractive adjective " woebegone " does not occur in it. Can it be that this common word is unknown to the American editors? Even the word " woeful " does not appear. We always feared that Nietzsche's prophecy about the Americans becoming permanently happy was likely to prove true. This, however, cannot explain the absence of " incandescent " and " unregenerate." But there will always be gaps in a work of this kind • in the meantime it can be described truthfully as a landmark (another missing word!) in the history of English Synonymy.
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