The new comprehensive American rhyming dictionary

Library Journal

Having used various rhyming dictionaries in the past and found them ``difficult to work with, unimaginative, and terribly outdated,'' Young conceived and compiled her own over a 20-year period. Notable among the 65,000 entries are slang, colloquialisms, phrases, and near-rhymes (pretty/giddy, lemon/women) such as those used by rappers. A student of linguistics, Young employs a simple system of letters to signify sounds, and she groups rhymes by number of syllables. The rhymes reflect variations in American speech. Unlike some rhyming dictionaries, this one omits frequently added matter such as principles of prosody or advice on versification. Users of rhyming dictionaries prefer one over the others due to familiarity, format, or vocabulary; likely many wordsmiths, lyricists, and poets will come to favor this new and entertaining version.-- William A. Donovan, Chicago P.L.