Webster's New World Italian Dictionary: Italian/English, English/Italian

Compiled in collaboration with a team of expert linguists, the Webster's New World concise bilingual dictionaries are the perfect choice for beginning students and advanced speakers as well. Comprehensive and authoritative, yet clear and concise, the dictionaries offer a full array of features, as well as wide-ranging coverage of current expressions. Long-standing favorites in hardcover, the dictionaries will continue to be standard references for years to come -- especially now that they are available in unabridged paperback editions.

More than 100,000 words, giving wide-ranging coverage of current terms and expressions
Detailed definitions so the user can understand and translate idiomatically
Extensive examples of usage, showing how translations of words can vary according to context
Verb tables, including irregular verbs
Cross-references from every verb to the appropriate verb table

Customer Reviews:

Good Basic Dictionary with One Small Caveat

By J. Hoopes - December 20, 2002

I'm new to Italian. I'm studying the language in college. So I was looking for a good dictionary and this is a good one. It has quite a few idiomatic expressions in it as well as the standard definitions of words. My professor has had a few minor disagreements with the dictionary in regard to a couple of definitions. For example, her word for graceful is different than the one provided. But she didn't say the word the dictionary gave was wrong, just not as commonly used.My one caveat is that this is actually a British-Italian dictionary; after all, it's printed in England. As an American, for the most part, that doesn't matter much. When you look up the Italian word, colore, you'll find the British spelling, colour. That's very minor. However, it does make a bit more different in the examples provided. Sometimes, when words are used in a sentence in this dictionary, the example is specific to England. For example, they'll use Pound Sterling in a sentence about money instead of... read more

Best Italian dictionary on the market!

By Italophile - October 3, 2004

In the three years that I have been studying and speaking Italian, this is the single best dictionary that I have come across. I have several others (Oxford, Langenscheidt's, etc.) which are all fine, but don't come close to the Websters. The Websters includes practical examples, idioms, verb conjugation and several other useful tools that really make it top notch.

I spent the better part of a year at a language school in Italy, and the Websters was invaluable. When I was preparing to return to the U.S., my instructors asked if I would leave them my copy!

I will concede that the Websters is too big for carrying on your travels, but if you are studying or corresponding with Italians, you simply cannot find a better dictionary.

Great choice for autodidacts

By Charles S. Houser - July 27, 2006

I chose this Italian-English/English-Italian dictionary over the others I was able to examine in a bricks-and-mortar store because (1) the print was crisp, clear, and larger than that of the mass-market size paperback dictionaries, (2) the paper is a higher-quality free sheet that won't yellow with age (dictionaries are the kinds of books you tend to hold on to for many years), (3) at 5 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches it is portable and fits nicely in my backpack, (4) the book lies open nicely and is not pinched in the gutter, (5) it covers a very generous 100K+ words and phrases, and (6) it was the only dictionary in its price category that had an easy-to-decipher pronunciation guide for the Italian terms. As someone who is trying to teach himself Italian, the latter point is very important to me. Io molto contento!