Poor Linkage between Resources & English Dictionaries

I'm often surprised (disappointed) to find that when selecting an English word in a resource to get a definition, that there won't be any hits in my main English dictionaries (Concise Oxford and Merriam-Webster's). I've learned it's usually because the word selected for lookup is not in the exact form as the main entry in the dictionaries. So for example, selecting the word "look" will result in a hit, but "looks", "looked", and "looking" will not.

I don't see any "settings" option in Logos that deals with this but am hoping there's something somewhere that I'm just not aware of.

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Comments

Dave Hooton

That's not unusual with dictionaries/lexicons as they only have entries for the lexical form of a word and indicate other forms and plurals within that entry.

Concise Oxford and Merriam-Webster's 11th edition do just that, but Merriam-Webster's 10th edition has an index of the alternative forms so that 'looks' will open it at the entry 'look'. Same applies to "looked" and "looking".

Rick Ausdahl

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/691878#Comment_691878

That's not unusual with dictionaries/lexicons as they only have entries for the lexical form of a word and indicate other forms and plurals within that entry.

Concise Oxford and Merriam-Webster's 11th edition do just that, but Merriam-Webster's 10th edition has an index of the alternative forms so that 'looks' will open it at the entry 'look'. Same applies to "looked" and "looking".

Thank you, Dave!

Very interesting... in the description for the 10th edition of Merriam-Webster's it does make the following statement, which is notably missing from the description for the 11th edition.

"This special Logos Library Edition allows users to instantly look up any word in the dictionary by direct link from any word in any book in the Logos Library."

With all of the "linkage" benefits touted in Logos marketing, why, oh why, is the 10th edition of this dictionary not included as part of every base package if it's required for this kind of lookup functionality. A couple of observations.

If reading a regular Kindle book on either my Kindle Touch (the original model) or my Kindle Fire HD, selecting any form of the word for which I want a definition, will bring up the lexical entry as well as the other forms of the word, and provide a slew of info for them all. This is done using the New Oxford American Dictionary. So this functionality is available by default in very inexpensive Kindle books but it's not available using expensive (by comparison) Logos resources even from within the latest/greatest version of the Logos software, unless I spring for an older version of the Merriam-Webster's dictionary. The phrase "Good grief, Charlie Brown" comes to mind.
My dictionary of choice for quick definitions is the Concise Oxford--I like the way it just jumps straight into the definition up front before getting tangled up in the etymology so I'd really like it to work with that. But I'd still be grateful for the functionality in a Merriam-Webster's version--I just think it should be part of the base packages.

I do very much appreciate though, knowing that there is an option within Logos if I'm willing to buy a third English dictionary, so "Thank You!" for bringing that option to my attention. I may spring for it simply because of how many times I can't get a definition using the dictionaries provided, but it definitely won't be a purchase that gives me "warm fuzzies" down the road, knowing I had to make it to get the same basic functionality that comes standard with every Kindle book.

[:S]

PS: I'm over my whining, now. I know I can get the definition for most words by "highlighting" just the lexical/root portion of the word, right-clicking on it, and then selecting the "look up" option. It's just not nearly as convenient as the "double-click on the word" approach that works if the word is in it's lexical/root form within the resource.