A merriam-webster's dictionary or a oxford one ?

Sorry pal I only know the online version of w-m, but as far as it concerns my taste it's not too bad and pretty helpful.
www.m-w.com

For myself I got me a "Collins Cobuild" dictionary when taking ESL classes in Canada.
My teacher advised me to get one. She said it would be some kind of a reprint of the Oxford(??) dict - it's just cheaper.

Well anyhow, the Collins one works excellent for me. A lot of clear crisp explanations and it's all very untderstandable and complete (it also distinguishes pretty clearly between British English and American English and gives a lot of notes and advices in regards to that). There's also an edition of the Collins dictionary on the market with theasurus.

Thank you, thehamster!
I know the Collins .And i have seen one.
A teacher once told me the M-W dictionary is the appointed reference dictionary of the ETS for the GRE test.
Is there any student take the GRE test in Canada?
We, here in China, who want to goto USA and to enter the university or college with scholarship there, must take the GRE exam.
I think it is a boring thing, but i am confident.
Thx again!

The Oxford English Dictionary is not just the best current dictionary but the greatest lexical work of all time in any language (if not the greatest literary work of all time).

But it's wicked expensive if you get the good one and might not make a difference in your use of it.

I used to prepare students for the GRE. Knowing vocabulary is all well and good but the kinds of things you really need to know are analogies, antonyms, sentence completion and reading comprehension, problem solving, interpreting information and quant. comparison. So, yes, learn words, but you need to be able to interpret context in addition to understanding what they mean. And, you need to know mathematical concepts to get the quantitative ability questions right.

Here is a link to practice questions: http://www.gre.org/practice_test/

I've edited tests for the GED. Also edited books designed to help people study for the GED. The dictionary of choice is Webster's. In fact, many publishing companies in the United States insist that their editors and authors use Merriam Webster's New Collegiate dictionary.

The Oxford is probably the best in the world. But you're better off sticking with an American dictionary.

Good luck on the test.

If I could afford the OED, and had space for it, I would own it.

I will have to yield to Roberta's advice. This is her field - she's an editor, and has even written a style manual.

Of course, the Oxford, in it's many versions, is best.

But, it's for English, not the language they speak in America! If you're set on heading for US - then use a US dictionary!

The Oxford, of course!!!!!

Like jespah, I'm not sure that what dictionary you use is a major consideration.

However, if you're in school right now, and you get on the web through the school's service, you can probably get to the OED online through their subscription.

(Was so relieved that the year I took the GRE they switched over to a writing sample instead of the old analytical section. Hated those damn things...)

margo, as far as I know does the Oxford dict distinguish between BE and AE.

For you iaiau, I would suggest you get a copy of the M-W, since it does seem like a real reference in the US, according to some of the replies above.

But if I were you, I would take some time on that decision. Try to test to content of the dicts in question by looking up the same expressions in all of them.
Maybe you get along with the explanations of one dictionary better than you do with the others - so it may be a matter of personal taste indeed.

thx to all of u!