Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
These caustic aphorisms, collected in The Devil's Dictionary, helped earn Ambrose Bierce the epithets Bitter Bierce, the Devil's Lexicographer, and the Wickedest Man in San Francisco. First published as The Cynic's Word Book (1906) and later reissued under its preferred name in 1911, Bierce's notorious collection of barbed definitions forcibly contradicts Samuel Johnson's earlier definition of a lexicographer as a harmless drudge. There was nothing harmless about Ambrose Bierce, and the words he shaped into verbal pitchforks a century ago--with or without the devil's help--can still draw blood today.
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Customer Reviews: Read 40 more reviews...
 Bitterly Funny July 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Devil's Dictionary / 0-19-512627-0
DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.
This "dictionary" by Ambrose Bierce is witty, scathing, and totally hilarious. In his characteristic style, he dishes out his contempt and distaste for those societal norms which he sees as foolish, hypocritical, and dangerous. This is not a book to read, but - truly - a dictionary to reference whenever the mood takes. The aphorisms ring true, even today, and the only real complaint is that we would wish for so much more - the dictionary is "only" 219 pages long, and while that is quiet a fair lot of words, oh, we wish he could have left us even more...
 Funny, satirical humour of Ambrose Bierse May 8, 2008
A GREAT read! Just open the book anywhere and peruse the definitions. Bierce is satirical and puts his finger right on the nub of the thing!
the Devilish Ambrose Bierce strikes back May 7, 2008
Ambrose Bierce obviously had some fun at the expense of his fellow 19th century Americans with the cynical and sarirical word entries in his wicked dictionary.
Bitter Bierce at his very best... December 6, 2007
Also known as "The Cynic's Workbook" this collection is classic and belongs in any library. Ambrose Bierce, like Mark Twain and few other of his contempories, had a biting wit that always left a mark.
Here is just a taste of his humor.
Philosophy: A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.
Eulogy. Praise of a person who has either the advantages of wealth and power, or the consideration to be dead.
The large font is a plus in this book. Good illustrations.
Good good stuff.
A most accurate Dictionary August 28, 2007
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
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If you, from time-to-time, need a little whimsy in your day; a little humor to add a smile when else it would not shine, then open to any page and read at will. You will be rewarded with a chuckle and perhaps a laugh and perhaps a new perspective on the word you just learned.
If you think you have a potent vocabulary, read this book; because you will get the most from it. These definitions, while not literal, are in fact most accurate and as it seems, timeless.
It must have been a great privilege to know and converse with such a man as Ambrose Bierce.
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