''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition'' is a

gazetteer A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or wikt:directory, directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas.Aurousseau, 61. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup, social statistics and physical features of a co ...

by the publisher

Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Incorporated is an list of companies of the United States by state, American company that publishes reference work, reference books and is mostly known for Webster's Dictionary, its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary pub ...

published in 1998. The original edition was published in 1949 as ''Webster's Geographical Dictionary''. The second edition in 1972 was called ''Webster's New Geographical Dictionary''. The completely new third edition features 252 maps produced by the

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

cartography department. The latest edition was released in 2001, edited by Daniel J. Hopkins and contained over 54,000 entries. The dictionary has currently over 54,000 alphabetically arranged entries of mountains, lakes, towns, and countries. It includes almost all places in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

with a population greater than 2,500. The threshold for inclusion of places outside the U.S. varies (from those over 4500 in Canada to those over 100,000 in Bangladesh and China). Included are 250 maps in black and white.

Editions

*''Webster's Geographical Dictionary: A Dictionary of Names of Places, With Geographical and Historical Information and Pronunciations''. 1949. Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Co. 1293 pages, 40,000 entries, 24 colored and 153 b/w maps. *''Webster's New Geographical Dictionary''. 1972. () Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Co. 47,000 entries, 218 maps. *''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary'', 3rd ed. 1997. () Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc. 1,361 pages, 48,000 entries. * ''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary'', 3rd rev. ed. 2001. () Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc. 1,392 pages, 54,000 entries, 252 maps.

Similar works

* ''Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer of the World''. Cohen, Saul B. (ed.). 1998. () Columbia University Press. 3578 pages, 165,000 entries *''Lippincott's New Gazetteer'': A Complete Gazetteer or Geographical Dictionary of the World. 1905. Heilprin, A. and L. (eds.). Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co. *''Longmans' Gazetteer of the World''. Chisholm, George C. (ed.). 1895. London and New York: Longmans, Green and Co., about 74,000 names.

References

{{reflist

External links

MW books page
English dictionaries Gazetteers