The arrangement of the selected lexical units

There are two modes of presentation of entries, the alphabetical order and the cluster-type, i.e. when the units entered are arranged in nests, based on this or that principle. For example, in synonym-books words are arranged in synonymic sets and its dominant member serves as the head-word of the entry.

Entries may be grouped in families of words of the same root as in case of, for example, some general explanatory and translation dictionaries. The basic units are given as main entries that appear in alphabetical order while the derivatives and the phrases which the word enters are given either as subentries or in the same entry as run-ons that are also alphabetized. The difference between subentriesand run-ons is that the former do include definitions and usage labels, whereas run-on words are not defined as their meanings are clear from the main entry.

The setting of the entry

The most complicated type of entry is that found in general explanatory dictionaries of the synchronic type. In such dictionaries the entry usually presents the following data: accepted spelling and pronunciation; grammatical characteristics including the indication of the part of speech of each entry word, whether nouns are countable or uncountable, the transitivity/intransitivity of verbs and irregular grammatical forms; definitions of meaning; modern currency; illustrative examples; derivatives; phraseology; etymology; sometimes synonyms and antonyms.

The compilers of a dictionary of the same type may choose a different setting of a typical entry: they may omit some of the items or add some others, choose a different order of their arrangement or a different mode of presenting the same information.

Compare the setting of the entries in the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (1) and the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2):

(1)

excel/ik'sel/ [I] to do something extremely well: We aim to give every student the opportunity to excel. ♦+ excel in/at:Robbie had always excelled at sport.

excel yourself 1to do something much better than you usually do 2 humorous used when someone has in fact done even worse than they usually do

(2)

excel/ik'sel/ v excelled, excelling 1[I,not in progressive] to do something very well, or much better than most people: [+at/in] Rick has always excelled at foreign languages. 2 excel yourselfBrE to do something better than you usually do: Graham has excelled himself with the new exhibition.