THIS DICTIONARY IS BASED ON THE DIALECT OF DAMASCUS, AS SPOKEN BY EDUCATED MUSLIMS. DAMASCUS OCCUPIES A CENTRAL POSITION IN MORE THAN THE OBVIOUS GEOGRAPHICAL SENSE. THE CITY IS A MAJOR ADMINISTRATIVE CENTER OF THE AREA AND, HISTORICALLY, AN IMPORTANT SEAT OF ISLAMIC CULTURE AND LEARNING. A NUMBER OF POLITICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL, AND GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS HAVE COMBINED TO MOLD A DIALECT OF UNCOMMON UNIFORMITY AND FIXITY. FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES, THE SPEAKER OF DAMASCUS ARABIC WILL BE PERFECTLY UNDERSTOOD AND ACCEPTED IN MOST OF THE SYRIAN-ARABIC DIALECT AREA AND, WITH SOME QUALIFICATIONS, A GOOD DEAL BEYOND. THE DICTIONARY IS AN EXPRESSION DICTIONARY, THAT IS, ITS FORMAT AND PRESENTATION ARE GEARED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE NEEDS OF THE NATIVE SPEAKER OF AMERICAN ENGLISH. ITS CORPUS OF APPROXIMATELY 15,000 MAIN SUBENTRIES REPRESENTS AN ESSENTIALLY COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY INTENDED FOR A FAIRLY WIDE RANGE OF CONVERSATIONAL USAGE. THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS, INSTITUTE OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20007, 269 PAGES. (TC)