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The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary may only appear online and never appear in print.
Despite the title being in development for 20 years its publisher has said the impact of the internet could mean the third edition of the dictionary may never be published.
As reported in the Sunday Times, Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press, said: "The print dictionary market is just disappearing. It is falling away by tens of percent a year." Asked if he thought the third edition would appear in printed format, he said: "I don't think so."
The Guardian reported that an OUP spokeswoman said no decision had been made: "It is likely to be more than a decade before the full edition is published and a decision on format will be taken at that point," she said.
She added: "Demand for online resources is growing but large numbers of people continue to purchase dictionaries in printed form and we have no plans to stop publishing print dictionaries."
The OED online has been available for a decade and receives two million hits a month. A new version of the OED website is due to be launched in December.