With so many additions to the language occurring so rapidly the choice has become ever more difficult and the skill required in making the choice much more important. Deciding which words to include and which to exclude presents great difficulty.
Lexicographers may have linguistic pet hates or loves but to them no word is ever totally unimportant. The selection of entries for a dictionary has never been an easy task, for space in dictionaries has always been at a prémium. The editors of the new edition of Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary have tried to consider all these developments when making their selection of words to include. The dramatically changing worlds of science, medicine and technology, the world of politics, both national and international, the world of industrial relations, even the world of military conflict -all these have made their mark on the words we use.
Recent years have seen important new developments in almost every aspect of living and most of these have affected the language in somé way. Dictionaries, which should be faithful recorders of the language, must follow suit. As people develop and widen their interests and capabilities, the language develops with them. It is, after all, the very substance of communication. Each new age brings with it new developments and new attitudes and this is as true of the English language as of anything else. The new edition of the dictionary has been carefully prepared with the demands of the modern age in mind.
In common with all the best institutions it has evolved and altered with the times. Of course this is not to say that the dictionary never changes - far from it. Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary has become, over the decades, a national, and in many cases international, institution.
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