This edition when published was said to give more word definitions than any other British desk dictionary; including its main competitor, The Concise Oxford . But in 1986 it was moved into second place by the second edition of Collins Dictionary of the English Language .  ( Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language seems about the same size as the Oxford ; the Gage Canadian Dictionary is slightly smaller.)
This dictionary was more comprehensive than all other British dictionaries when it was published.