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Published	1951
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, HarperCollins
Media type	Dictionary

Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language is an American dictionary published first in 1951. As of 2022, the work is owned by HarperCollins Publishers.^[1]

Overview

The first edition was published by the World Publishing Company of Cleveland, Ohio, in two volumes or one large volume, including a large encyclopedic section. In 1953, World published a one-volume college edition (Webster's New World College Dictionary), without the encyclopedic material. It was edited by Joseph H. Friend and David B. Guralnik^[2]^[3]^[4] and contained 142,000 entries, said to be the largest American desk dictionary available at the time.

The second college edition, edited by Guralnik, was published in 1970. World Publishing was acquired by Simon & Schuster in 1980 and they continued the work with a third edition in 1989 edited by Victoria Neufeldt. A fourth edition was edited by Michael Agnes and published by John Wiley & Sons in 1999, containing 160,000 entries; a fifth, edited by Andrew N. Sparks et al. and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2014, contains around 165,000 and 1703 pages.^[5] The latest publication of the Fifth Edition is 2020, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. The newest edition contains 1728 pages.^[6]

One of the salient features of Webster's New World dictionaries has been its unusually full etymology, that is, the origin and development of words and the relationship of words to other Indo-European languages. The work also labels words which have a distinctly American origin.

The college edition is the official desk dictionary of The New York Times,^[7] The Wall Street Journal,^[8] The Washington Post,^[9] and United Press International.^[10] It was the primary dictionary of the AP Stylebook from 1977^[11]^[12] until 2024, when it reverted to Merriam-Webster.^[13]^[14]

Publisher

Although the title refers to Noah Webster, the work is unrelated to the series of Webster's dictionaries published by the Merriam-Webster Company, which indeed are descended directly from Noah Webster's original publications. By contrast, Webster's New World Dictionary merely cites Webster as a generic name for any American English dictionary, as does Random House's line of Webster's Unabridged and derived dictionaries.

Webster's New World student and children's editions were produced for younger readers but were discontinued since 1996. Dictionaries for foreign languages, American English, Large Print, and English writing style guides have also been produced.

As of 2024, its current publisher offers only the following works: Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition (2020 hardcover), Webster’s New World Dictionary, Fifth Edition (2016 mass market paperback), Webster's New World Pocket Dictionary, Fourth Edition (2016 Trade Paperback), Webster's New Roget's Pocket Thesaurus (2008 Trade paperback), and Webster’s New World® Crossword Puzzle Dictionary, 2nd Ed. (2017 Trade paperback.)^[15]

References

^ "Editors of Webster's New World College Dictionaries". HarperCollins. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
^ Gottlieb, Mark. "David B. Guralnik, Lexicographer, 1921–2000". Cleveland Arts Prize. Archived from the original on November 14, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
^ Cushman, John H. Jr. "David Guralnik, Lexicographer, Dies at 79". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 3, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
^ Guralnik, David B. (1953). The making of a new dictionary : a paper read before the Rowfant Club, November 30, 1951. Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company. p. 11. LCCN 53005527.
^ McIntyre, Michael K. (October 17, 2014). "With publication of Webster's 'College 5' dictionary, the book that defined Cleveland editors' work is closed". The Plain Dealer. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
^ https://isbnsearch.org/isbn/9780358126614
^ Siegal, Allan M.; Connolly, William (2015). "spelling". The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage (5th ed.). The New York Times Company. ISBN 9781101903223. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
^ Martin, Paul (2002). "dictionary". The Wall Street Journal Guide to Business Style and Usage. Simon & Schuster. p. 68. ISBN 9781439122693. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
^ Lippman, Thomas W. (1989). The Washington Post Deskbook on Style. McGraw-Hill. pp. 219–220. ISBN 9780070684140. Archived from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
^ Martin, Harold; Cook, Bruce (2004). UPI Style Book & Guide to Newswriting (4th ed.). United Press International. p. xvii. ISBN 9781931868587. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
^ Angione, Howard, ed. (1977). "dictionaries". The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual (1st ed.). New York: Associated Press. p. 68. ISBN 9780917360015. Archived from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
^ The Associated Press Stylebook. New York: Associated Press. 2016. ISBN 9780465093380. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
^ Meir, Nicole (April 5, 2024). "A new primary dictionary for the AP Stylebook". Associated Press.
^ Winkler, G. P., ed. (1970). "Spelling 6.1". The Associated Press Stylebook (Revised ed.). New York: Associated Press. p. 20.
^ Editors of Webster's New World College Dictionaries | URL: https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/editors-of-websters-new-world-college-dictionaries-74661 | HarperCollins Publishers (accessed 30 September 2024)