Treatment of multi-word lexical items in the dictionary: the current situation and the potential problems facing dictionary users

In this article, we first discuss the inclusion of idioms in the latest printed editions of monolingual learner’s dictionaries; we then consider and evaluate the success of look-up operations in connection with the recognition of the correct part of speech. The central part of the article discusses and justifies the macro- and microstructural treatment of multi-word lexical items. Finally, we address the issue of including idioms in the microstructure as special senses of the lemma, as usage examples and/or in the idioms section. The inclusion and treatment of multi-word lexical items depends on the needs of potential dictionary users. Lexicographers should therefore strive to adopt a pragmatic approach that would help the user to locate a multi-word lexical item with minimal effort. When compiling a bilingual dictionary, contrastive differences between source and target languages should also be taken into consideration.