The present work, the Fourth College Edition, was published in July 1999. It is the result of more than four years of concentrated editorial effort and of half as much time again spent in long-range planning. It retains the many acclaimed virtues of the Webster's New World tradition while bolstering the coverage of the rapidly growing lexicon of contemporary English and introducing important and innovative lexicographic features.

As society changes, adapting to technological innovation and cultural shifts, language changes along with it. New words are coined, existing words take on new meanings, pronunciations change, words shift in tone-all part of the continuing process by which a language maintains its vigor and usefulness. The editorial staff of Webster's New World conducts a wide-reaching program of language monitoring to document such change. Linguistic evidence is collected on a daily basis in the form of citations of words and expressions used in print and speech; the program collects several thousand new citations every month. It is these citations which have served as the foundation for this latest full-scale, authoritative revision of the dictionary.

The results of these efforts to keep the dictionary current can be seen in the thousands of new words and meanings added in this edition. Ranging from the technical terminology ushered in by the computer revolution to the jargon of professional sports and from the specialized terms that have accompanied America's new-found preoccupation with cooking and dining to slang terms that appear to have achieved permanence, these new entries help document the continuing evolution of American English and reflect the subtle interplay between language and culture. Changes in spelling and pronunciation are also covered, for these are no less fluid than the lexicon itself.

(c) 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio