Tom McArthur

Thomas Burns McArthur (23 August 1938 – 30 March 2020) was a Scottish linguist, lexicographer, and the founding editor of English Today. Among the many books he wrote and edited, he is best known for the Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English (the first thematic monolingual learner's dictionary, which complemented the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English by bringing together sets of words with related meanings); Worlds of Reference; and the Oxford Guide to World English (2002, paperback 2003).

McArthur's most notable work was The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992), a 1200-page work with 95 contributors and 70 consultants. It was hailed by The Guardian as a "leviathan of accessible scholarship" and was listed on the Sunday Times bestseller list. and in 1997 he co-founded the Asian Association for Lexicography. taught at a secondary school in Sutton Coldfield (where he was also part-time reporter for the local newspaper), and later at the Cathedral School in Bombay. researched and wrote about the languages of Scotland, and penned several unpublished novels.

McArthur died at age 81 on 30 March 2020.

Appointments Lecturer and Director of Studies at Extra Mural English Language Courses, University of Edinburgh 1979–1983: Associate Professor of English, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada 1987–2000: Visiting Professor, Dictionary Research Centre, University of Exeter 2001: Visiting Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lingnan University, Xiamen University