For the first time, the editors of the acclaimed American Heritage(R) Dictionary have applied their efforts to word usage as its own subject. The result is this

"Specially designed to meet the needs of ESL students ... [covers] American English ..."--Back of dust jacket.

Discusses the nature, origins, and development of language and lists the meanings and associated word for more than thirteen thousand Indo-European root words.

Contains over seventy thousand entries including 1,000 new words and their meanings.