Patterns of misinterpretation in the productive use of EFL dictionary definitions

This paper describes some of the errors produced by non-native speakers of English when they are asked to use dictionaries to help them write sentences containing unfamiliar words. The data have a close resemblance to similar data collected from L1 speakers by Miller and Gildea [Scientific American September, 86–91 (1987)], and strongly suggest that many adult language learners systematically misinterpret dictionary entries.