Dictionaries How-To Guide

Overview

The following is a selection, with brief descriptions, of some of the best English language dictionaries. A few of these dictionaries are available online,
but most of them are in printed format in the Central Reference Department. For advice in using these and other dictionaries consult one of the reference librarians.

Online Dictionaries

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 4th ed. 2000. Contains over 90,000 entries with audio word pronunciations and some illustrations. Part of the Bartleby Collection.

Blogossary A dictionary for blogs describing the community of bloggers or blogosphere.

Google Glossary Good for finding definitions not in most dicationaries, for slang, technical and other specialized words.

Hypertext Webster Gateway Searches for words in various online dictionaries.

Merriam-Webster Online Includes the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesuarus.

Oxford English Dictionary PE 1625 .O86 (Ref)
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is an historical dictionary of English, covering the language from the earliest times to the present day. It provides not only the current meanings of words, but also traces their development through time. Entries contain detailed etymological analysis, and are illustrated by quotations from a wide range of English language sources from around the world, making the OED a unique historical record. Click "Enter OED Online" and start searching.

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, 3rd ed. Containing 35,000 synonyms in an easy-to-use format, this thesaurus features succinct word definitions. Part of the Bartleby Collection.

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged
This online dictionary covers the current standard written and spoken English from the 1961 an 1993 editions of Webster's, with additional addenda included since those publications.

yourDictionary.com A comprehensive dictionary site containing links to dictionaries of over 200 different languages.  Includes specialty dictionaries and thesauri, acronyms, etc. 

Historical Dictionaries / Etymology

If you are looking for the most comprehensive historical dictionary of the English language, with often exhaustive word histories of the major words in English that have been used in England, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other countries where English is a major language consult The Oxford English Dictionary.

Oxford English Dictionary PE 1625 .O86 (Ref)
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is an historical dictionary of English, covering the language from the earliest times to the present day. It provides not only the current meanings of words, but also traces their development through time. Entries contain detailed etymological analysis, and are illustrated by quotations from a wide range of English language sources from around the world, making the OED a unique historical record. Click "Enter OED Online" and start searching.

Online Etymology Dictionary Based on Ernest Weekley's An Etymological Dicationary of Modern English (1921, reprinted 1967 by Dover Publications) and then greatly expanded.

Unabridged Dictionaries

If you don’t have the need for the full scholarly detail of the OED but still want to consult a large so-called unabridged dictionary try one or all of the following titles. (There is no set definition of what an unabridged dictionary is; for our purposes here let’s understand the term as meaning a large dictionary with a great many more words than an abridged one.)

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged
This online dictionary covers the current standard written and spoken English from the 1961 an 1993 editions of Webster's, with additional addenda included since those publications.

Abridged Dictionaries

Consult an abridged dictionary when you don’t need the detail of an unabridged one. The following dictionaries are not always simply condensed versions of their unabridged "parents", but separate "children" with their own point of view themselves.

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 4th ed. 2000. Contains over 90,000 entries with audio word pronunciations and some illustrations. Part of the Bartleby Collection.

Merriam-Webster Online Includes the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesuarus.

New Words

No dictionary can keep up with all the new words and new meanings for old words that are constantly entering English. Recent editions of classic sources, such as the unabridged third edition of Random House, the Oxford English Dictionary, and the Addenda section at the front of Webster's Third New International Dictionary include many new words.

Blogossary A dictionary for blogs describing the community of bloggers or blogosphere.

Google Glossary Good for finding definitions not in most dicationaries, for slang, technical and other specialized words.

Synonyms

While general dictionaries often provide selective lists of synonyms, or words of similar meaning, at the end of some entries, there are some books - often called thesauri - specifically devoted to listing synonyms. If the synonym book does not include definitions and you are not sure of the sense in which a word is used it is very advisable to use a dictionary to complement the thesaurus.

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, 3rd ed. Containing 35,000 synonyms in an easy-to-use format, this thesaurus features succinct word definitions. Part of the Bartleby Collection.

Specialized Dictionaries

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Ask A Librarian

Galen E. Rike, E-mail: galen.rike@wmich.edu
Phone: 269-387-5181
Last updated: July 2006