Merriam-Webster's Intermediate Dictionary - Middle School Dictionary - Features 70,000+ entries, usage examples, illustrations & more

Why it's worth it

Merriam-Webster's editorial standards applied at a middle school reading level, with more than 70,000 entries, illustrations and sample sentences. It's the right book for grades 6 through 10, and buying up to a collegiate edition too early backfires.

Collegiate dictionaries define hard words using other hard words. That's the whole problem this book solves. A twelve-year-old looks up an unfamiliar term, hits three more unfamiliar terms in the definition, and gives up. The Intermediate edition runs every definition through a grade-appropriate filter, so a middle schooler can work out the meaning without an adult sitting next to them.

The 70,000-plus entries cover what students in these grades actually run into. Class reading lists, science units, state assessments, the PSAT. You're not paying for archaic literary vocabulary a fourteen-year-old will never meet. The scope is narrower than the Collegiate on purpose, and that's the point.

From our review of 7 dictionaries and thesauruses for students, by Genevieve Dubois, Home & Living Expert

What we like

• +Collegiate dictionaries define hard words using other hard words
• +The 70,000-plus entries cover what students in these grades actually run into
• +Sample sentences come from contexts a kid recognizes
• +It carries the same editorial process as the Collegiate

What to know

• –It runs out by junior year
• –No usage guidance for disputed grammar
• –It's about 155,000 entries short of the Collegiate