Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (OALD) was the first advanced learner's dictionary of English. It was first published 69 years ago. It is the largest English-language dictionary from Oxford University Press aimed at a non-native audience. Users with a more linguistic interest, requiring etymologies or copious references, usually prefer the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, or indeed the magnum opus, the Oxford English Dictionary, or other dictionaries aimed at speakers of English with native-level competence.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English was first published in 1948; the current edition is the ninth. The following editions exist:

The book's cover title was changed beginning with 4th edition. However, the old name was still being referenced by foreign language versions of the dictionary up to 6th edition.

It is a demo version of Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, which includes 100 sample entries from the OALD.

The thesaurus was originated in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary 7th edition, where over 200 sets of synonyms were located at specific lexical entries.

Simplified Chinese versions of Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary (牛津高阶英汉双解词典/牛津高階英漢雙解詞典) has been published by The Commercial Press since 1988. Traditional Chinese version has been published by Oxford University Press (China) Ltd. since 4th edition.

Oxford Elementary Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary (牛津初階英漢雙解詞典) is targeted for primary school readers. It was first published in 1998.

Oxford Intermediate Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary (牛津中階英漢雙解詞典) is targeted for secondary school readers. It was first published in 2001.

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, previously entitled the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English, started life as the Idiomatic and Syntactic Dictionary, edited by Albert Sydney Hornby. It was first published in Japan in 1942. It then made a perilous wartime journey to Britain where it came under the wing of OUP, which decided it would be the perfect counterpart for the prestigious OED.

A. S. Hornby was a teacher of English studies at a small college in Japan; he had gone there in 1923 to teach literature, but his experiences in the classroom drew his attention to the need for sound principles of language teaching. At that time Harold E. Palmer headed the Institute for Research into English Teaching in Tokyo, and in 1931 he invited Hornby to work on vocabulary development at the Institute. The result of this was the Idiomatic and Syntactic Dictionary, published by Kaitakusha in 1942. A year before publication, Hornby had managed to send an advance copy in sheets of the book to B. Ifor Evans at the British Council, a tough feat during the war. Ifor Evans offered him a job, and in 1942 Hornby came back to Britain and joined the Council, which posted him to Iran.

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