“When I worked at BigTech, we pushed the envelope on real-time global trading.”
Push the envelope is an idiom because you can define push and envelope and still not understand the phrase.
Idioms are not always explained in a U.S. dictionary such as Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate or the American Heritage Dictionary. Yet learning idioms is vital to newer Americans, who benefit from an advanced learner’s dictionary (ALD). In fact, these dictionaries may well deserve a place on everyone’s desk.
In job interviews, if applicants misuse an idiom, they may disqualify themselves. If I misuse an idiom on my CV, résumé, or website, my prestige will plummet. And graduate students may be writing to a higher standard, so they might appreciate a resource that builds their confidence. Further, Americans who come from Scotland or Nigeria may want to know which British idioms (such as ticking over) puzzle Americans.
ALDs and learner’s dictionaries (LDs) represent the same category, and you choose a level from basic to advanced. The category includes editions from
Merriam-Webster available as an app via iTunes
Oxford also available as an app
The Cambridge Intermediate LD is even searchable online.
Before you buy an ALD, you might want to look at a web page by Tomasz P. Szynalski. He has exhaustively compared five of these dictionaries, not including the Merriam-Webster’s. He finds no clear winner. Your choice may depend on whether you will use the dictionary online, as a book, or as an app or DVD.
As always, I have no financial interest in any of the products mentioned here. I currently own the Cambridge ALD, and I’m contemplating adding a Merriam-Webster’s and a Longman to my collection. New idioms appear often, and, sadly, my Cambridge ALD (2003) does not include “push the envelope.”
