Is this usage of the word "concerned" correct?
Dictionaries are not generally concerned with phonetic transcription, but rather with phonemic transcription of the words presented.
Sentence by myself. I just wanted to see if this sentence makes sense, specifically the usage of the word "concerned." I checked the meaning of "concerned" in Oxford Dictionary of English, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, but still I'm not sure if this specific usage is correct.
Thank you in advance.
PS: Also, is the rest of the sentence grammatically correct?
PPS: Here are links to the entries for "concerned" in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and American Heritage Dictionary, respectively: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concerned https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=concerned
And simply googling "define concerned" will bring up the Oxford definition. It was requested that I quote this definition. Here it is:
Worried, troubled, or anxious.
Although Merriam-Webster (with the link provided above) provides more definitions with different shades of meaning, and American Heritage Dictionary gives at least two.
I do realize that some of the definitions linked may apply in this case, but, to me at least, none of the definitions (alongside the examples) prove that this word can be used here too, because it is not exactly clear in which contexts the word can be used. All I'm asking for is, if possible, a native's word on whether this usage sounds right or not.
On a second thought, I guess I've just been too finicky about possibly limited applicabilities of the definitions, and maybe I should just accept them as showing that my sentence is correct. Still, I'd be really grateful if a native said how this usage sounds to them. Sorry for bothering.
The Farlex Dictionary of Idioms definition of 'bother about [someone or something]' in this sense:
- To expend one's energy [/devote space to] considering or addressing a particular person or issue
is also a good definition of 'be concerned with' in this particular usage. (There are other senses of 'be concerned with', like 'be worried about'). But 'bother about' is pretty informal (and incidentally heading towards being a 'negative polarity item', usually used with a negator etc, 'He's not bothered about ...').
Finding a definition of this precise sense of 'be concerned with' is difficult; Lexico comes close with
- 1.4 be concerned with: Regard [it] as important or interesting to do something.
‘I was mainly concerned with making something that children could enjoy.’
The Cambridge Dictionary gives a clinical definition, 'address', which perhaps does not do justice to the connotation of 'careful consideration' 'concern' imputes:
- be concerned with: to be about a particular thing or person:
Today's lesson is concerned with punctuation.
I'd admittedly choose 'usually do not address' rather than 'are not generally concerned with' (needs later adjustment to the sentence) here (in your original sentence), as there's less of the hint of human involvement/preference/choice/partiality, but the original is totally acceptable.