This review is from: Longman Dictionary of American English (Paperback)
This is the dictionary I always like to recommend for my students. [...]What are the strong points for the Longman Dictionary? All the definitions are very direct and easy-to-understand. The dictionary uses just 3,000 highly used English words for all the definitions.

Also, this dictionary uses the IPA or International Phonetic Alphabet for the pronunciation guide for each word. The IPA is easier for most all international students to understand, compared to traditional American systems for pronunciation.

Plus, I love the thesaurus that's built-in. And, the usage guide. All these features help make learning English a lot less mysterious. I really like the Longman's dictionary!