There are a number of problems with the current studies on the classification of verbal illustrations in English learner ’s dictionaries ，which concern one of the rules of dividing the extension of a concept ，the inherent flaw of the method of inductive generalization ，connections between different classifications ，and researchers ’conception of decoding and encoding as- pects of lexical knowledge． To address those problems ，the present paper proposes three new classifications of verbal illustrations．