Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Dictionary |
DictionaryNoun1. A reference book containing an alphabetical list of words with information about them. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "dictionary" was first used: 1526. (references) |
Etymology: Dictionary \Dic"tion*a*ry\, noun; plural Dictionaries. [Compare to the French expression dictionnaire. See Diction.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Satire | DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Dream Interpretation | To dream that you are referring to a dictionary, signifies you will depend too much upon the opinion and suggestions of others for the clear management of your own affairs, which could be done with proper dispatch if your own will was given play. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Math | An abstract data type storing items, or keys, associated with values. Basic operations are insert, find, and delete. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Most modern dictionaries are descriptive, although many, such as the American Heritage dictionaries make extensive efforts to provide information on the best usage, and almost all dictionaries provide some information on words considered erroneous, vulgar, or easily confused. In any case, in the long run, usage alone determines the meaning of words, although dictionaries provide conservative continuity, even the most descriptive.
Dictionaries also differ in the degree to which they are encyclopedic, providing considerable background information, illustrations, and the like, or linguistic, concentrating on etymology, nuances of meaning, and quotations demonstrating usage.
Noah Webster's dictionary was published by the G&C Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts which still publishes Merriam-Webster dictionaries, but the term Webster's is considered generic and can be used by any dictionary.
The DICT protocol is a client/server model for dictionaries. Many free dictionaries are appearing in the dict format.
Word order
Dictionaries of alphabetic languages list words in alphabetical order. With non-alphabetic languages, it may be different. The order in a dictionary with ideographic entries such as Chinese character is often troublesome and controversial because each character has different readings. Collation systems for logographs do exist. In Japanese and Korean, words containing Chinese characters (called Kanji in Japanese and Hanja in Korean) can be spelled in Hiragana and Hangeul respectively, and so are inserted in their proper alphabetical order in dictionaries, alongside words not derived from Chinese characters. Furthermore, in entries for words derived from characters, the main entry words are spelled in Hiragana (for Japanese dictionaries) and Hangeul (for Korean dictionaries), with the Chinese characters inserted in parentheses after each entry word.Special-purpose dictionaries
There are different types of dictionaries, including bilingual, multilingual, historical, biographical, and geographical dictionaries.Bilingual dictionaries
In bilingual dictionaries, each entry has translations of words in other language. For example, in a Japanese-English dictionary, the entry tsuki has the corresponding English word, moon. In dictionaries between a language using a non-Roman script and English, entry words in the non-English language may either be printed and sorted in the native order, or romanized and sorted in Roman alphabetical order.Character dictionaries
In East-Asian languages, a dictionary specialized in Han (Chinese) characters has developed, called Kan-wa jiten (lit Han-Japanese dictionary) in Japanese and Okpyeon (literally, "Jewel Book") in Korean. Each entry has one Chinese character with the description about strokess, reading and a list of words using that character.Glossaries
Another variant is the glossary, an alphabetical list of defined terms in a specialized field, such as medicine or science. The simplest dictionary, a defining dictionary, provides a core glossary of the simplest meanings of the simplest concepts. From these, other concepts can be explained and defined, in particular for those who are first learning a language. In English the commercial defining dictionaries typically include only one or two meanings of under 2000 words. With these, the rest of English, and even the 4000 most common English idioms and metaphors, can be defined.Variations between dictionaries
Prescription and Description
Dictionaries come in two basic philosophies, prescriptive and descriptive. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is descriptive, and attempts to describe actual usage. Noah Webster, on the other hand, who was intent on forging a distinct identity for the American language changed the meanings and pronunciation of numerous words. Other variations
Since words and their meanings develop over time, dictionary entries are organized to reflect these changes. Dictionaries may either list meanings in the historical order in which they appeared, or may list meanings in order of popularity and most common use. History
The art and craft of writing dictionaries is called lexicography. The first large English dictionary was Thomas Blount's of 1656. This was followed by Samuel Johnson's famous and more comprehensive dictionary of 1755.Miscellanea
The Irish mathematical physicist, J. L. Synge, created a game, Game of Circ, to emphasize the circular reasoning implicit in the defining process of any standard dictionary.List of major dictionaries
English
Japanese
Publishers
List of online dictionaries
List of collaborative dictionaries
A dictionary project not unlike Wikipedia is the GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English (GCIDE). This dictionary uses Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) and WordNet as its sources and is being developed collaboratively under the terms of the GNU General Public License. It describes itself as "a freely-available set of ASCII files containing the marked-up text of a substantial English dictionary".
Other collaborative dictionary projects:
See also: DICT, the dictionary server protocolFurther reading
Related articles
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Dictionary."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| dicautom | English | Automatic dictionary look-up | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: DictionarySynonym: lexicon (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Interpretation | Equivalent, equivalent meaning; synonym; paraphrase, metaphrase; convertible terms, apposition; dictionary; polyglot. |
List | Dictionary, lexicon; vocabulary, glossary; thesaurus. |
School | School book, horn book, text book; grammar, primer, abecedary, rudiments, manual, vade mecum; encyclopedia, cyclopedia; Lindley Murray, dictionary, lexicon. |
Word | Dictionary, vocabulary, lexicon, glossary; index, concordance; thesaurus; gradus, delectus. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I looked up fubar in the German dictionary and there's no fubar in here (Saving Private Ryan; writing credit: Robert Rodat) I know someone who's getting a dictionary for Christmas (Caroline in the City; writing credit: Angela Carneiro) Now what is a wedding, well Webster's dictionary describes a wedding as: the process of removing weeds from one's garden (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) You could've learned it. You learned the entire Klingon dictionary in two and a half weeks (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) What, you get a dictionary for Christmas (Shannon's Deal; writing credit: John Sayles) | |
Clever | The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Dictionary of Sex (1964) Delving Into the Dictionary (1927) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
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Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
High Tech |
| ||
Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Dr. Evans, Cliff has been searching the dictionary for words to adequately express his feelings ... Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Books. Webster's new standard dictionary front cover. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Napoleon Bonaparte | Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | Guy showed me a dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | This dictionary defines words that are often used when people talk or write about kidney diseases. (references) | |
The dictionary defines BPD as abnormal development or growth (dysplasia) of the lungs and air passages. (references) | ||
Business | Major ROM users include TV-game firms (80 percent) and electronic dictionary manufacturers (10 percent). (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | TYPE, n. Pestilent bits of metal suspected of destroying civilization and enlightenment, despite their obvious agency in this incomparable dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Dictionary" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Dictionary" is used about 1,849 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 1,849 | 4,606 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "dictionary": bilingual dictionary ♦ collegiate dictionary ♦ computer dictionary ♦ computing dictionary ♦ concise dictionary ♦ custom dictionary ♦ data dictionary ♦ data dictionary file ♦ desk dictionary ♦ Dictionary [Publication Type] ♦ dictionary APL ♦ dictionary catalogue ♦ dictionary definition ♦ dictionary entry ♦ dictionary flame ♦ dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures ♦ dictionary of Computing ♦ dictionary of correct usage ♦ Dictionary of Occupational Titles ♦ electronic Commerce Dictionary ♦ electronic dictionary ♦ end of dictionary ♦ etymological dictionary ♦ explanatory dictionary ♦ illustrated dictionary ♦ jejune dictionary ♦ learner's dictionary ♦ little dictionary ♦ living dictionary ♦ machine readable dictionary ♦ manageable dictionary ♦ Oxford English Dictionary ♦ pocket dictionary ♦ pronouncing dictionary ♦ refer to a dictionary ♦ rhyming dictionary ♦ school dictionary ♦ small dictionary ♦ talking dictionary ♦ this dictionary ♦ This dictionary has nothing to do with Systems Science Inc. or its ♦ translating dictionary ♦ unabridged dictionary ♦ walking dictionary ♦ Webster's Dictionary. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "dictionary": dictionary-based, dictionary-chasing, dictionary-definition, dictionary-making, dictionary-specific. | |
Ending with "dictionary": domain-dictionary. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "dictionary"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | woordeboek (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Albanian | fjalor (glossary, lexicon, thesaurus, vocabulary, wordbook). (various references) | |
Arabic | معجم (lexicography, lexicon, vocabulary), قاموس (lexicon, thesaurus). (various references) | |
Asturian | diccionariu. (various references) | |
Basque | hiztegi. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | речник (diction, lexicon, vocabulary, wordbook). (various references) | |
Catalan | diccionari (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Cebuano | diksyonario. (various references) | |
Chamorro | diksinario. (various references) | |
Chinese | 字典 (character dictionary). (various references) | |
Cornish | gérlyver. (various references) | |
Czech | slovník (reference book, vocabulary). (various references) | |
Danish | ordbog (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Dutch | woordenboek (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Ecuadorian Quechua | shimiyuc p'anca. (various references) | |
Esperanto | vortaro (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Faeroese | orðbók, orðabók (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Farsi | فرهنگ (Culture, Lexicon), کتاب لغت (Lexicon), واژه نامه (Lexicon). (various references) | |
Finnish | sanakirja. (various references) | |
French | dictionnaire, lexique. (various references) | |
Frisian | wurdboek (vocabulary). (various references) | |
German | Wörterbuch (glossary, lexicon, thesaurus, vocabulary, wordbook), Lexikon (encyclopaedia, encyclopedia, lexicon), Verzeichnis (catalog, catalogue, directory, file, index, list, memorandum, prospectus, record, register, schedule, table, tablet, tabulation). (various references) | |
Greek | λεξικό (lexicon, wordbook). (various references) | |
Hebrew | אוצר מילים (lexicon, vocabulary). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szótár (lexicon, vocabulary). (various references) | |
Icelandic | orðabók (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Indonesian | kamus (lexicon). (various references) | |
Inuktitut | uqausiit tukingit. (various references) | |
Italian | dizionario (thesaurus, vocabulary), lessico (language, lexicon, vocabulary). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 辞林 , 辞書 , 辞書 (lexicon), 辞彙 , 辞典 , 辭典 , 言海 (wordbook), ディーゼル電気車 (daemon, daily news, day, day and date, day bed, day pack, day'n'date, dealer, debate, debug, debugger, decay, decentralization, deduction, deep, deep kiss, default, defender, Defender Plan, defense, definition, delay, delayed steal, delay-line, demand-pull inflation, deoxyribo, depletion, deregulation, deschooling, describe, descriptor, destination, destructor, detail, detector, Deus, developer, device, dieldrin, diesel electric car, differential gear, differentiation, diffusion index, digital, digital camera, digital voltmeter, dilettante, dilettantism, dimension, diminuendo, dimple, dinghy, dinner, dinner dress, dinner jacket, dinner party, dinner set, dinner suit, dip, diploma, director, directory, disc jockey, disclosure, Discman, disco, disco sound, discography, disconnect, discontinue, discotheque, discount, discount sale, discount store, discover, discoverer, discrete, discussion, disinflation, disk, disk brake, disk jockey, diskette, diskless, diskman, Disney, Disneyland, dispatch, dispatcher, dispel, dispenser, displacement, display, disposer, disrupt, dissolve, distance, distortion, distribution, distributor, disturb, divertimento, divided skirt, divider, divot, French kiss), 字書 , 字引 , 字引 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ディクショナリー , ディクショナリ , '"かい (bound, limit, strange or mysterious and troubling, strict guard, wordbook), じしょ (autograph, document with the emperor's seal, estate, lexicon, one's own writing, signature), じびき (seine, seine fishing), じい (court physician, demonstration, intention to resign, masturbation, second place, second rank, self consolation, show of force), じり", じて" (character dictionary, cyclopedia, encyclopedia, occasion, point in time, rotation, runner-up, spin, turning). (various references) | |
Korean | 사 (Dictionaries). (various references) | |
Lombard | dizionari (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Macedonian | recnik. (various references) | |
Manx | fockleyr (lexicon, thesaurus, wordbook). (various references) | |
Norwegian | ordbok (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Occitan | diccionari. (various references) | |
Papiamen | dikshonario (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ictionaryday.(various references) | |
Polish | słownik (vocabulary). (various references) | |
Portuguese | dicionário (lexicon, vocabulary). (various references) | |
Portuguese Brazilian | dicionário. (various references) | |
Provencal | diccionari. (various references) | |
Romanian | dicţionar (lexicon, vocabulary, word book). (various references) | |
Romansch | dicziunari. (various references) | |
Russian | словарь (glossary, lexicon, vocabulary, wordbook). (various references) | |
Samoan | lolomi fefiloi. (various references) | |
Scottish | foclair (vocabulary. See <A HREF="mf05.html#faclair">faclair</A>), faclair (vocabulary; also foclair), briathrachan (vocabulary, word-book), abardair. (various references) | |
Sepedi | pukuntau. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | rečnik (lexicon, vocabulary), leksikon (lexicon, vocabulary, wordbook). (various references) | |
Sicilian | vocabbulariu. (various references) | |
Spanish | diccionario (thesaurus, vocabulary). (various references) | |
Swazi | sí-chazamagâma. (various references) | |
Swedish | ordbok (thesaurus, vocabulary, word book, word-book), lexikon (flexicon, lexicon). (various references) | |
Thai | พจนานุกรม. (various references) | |
Turkish | sözlük (glossary, lexical, lexicon, thesaurus, wordbook), ansiklopedik sözlük. (various references) | |
Turkmen | sцzlьk. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | словник (glossary, lexicon, nomenclator, vocabulary, wordbook), довідник (calendar, catalogue, digest, directory, enchiridion, handbook, reference book, repertory). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | có tính chất sách vở. (various references) | |
Welsh | geirlyfr (wordbook), geiriadur (lexicon). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | dictionarius. (various references) |
| Medieval Latin | 700-1500 | dictionarium. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Dictionary" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: dectionary, Diccionario, diccionary, dicionary, dicktionary, dicshonary, dicsionary, dictenary, dicticnary, dictinary, dictioanry, dictioary, dictiona, dictionaary, dictionaery, dictionafy, dictionairy, dictionalry, dictionaly, dictionar, dictionari, dictionarie, Dictionarium, dictionarys, dictionaryt, dictionay, dictionery, dictionnary, dictionry, dictonary, dictoonary, dicyionary, diktionary, distionary. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "dictionary" (pronounced di"kshune'rē) |
| 7 | -k sh u n e' r ē | confectionary, confectionery, functionary, reactionary. |
| 6 | -sh u n e' r ē | cautionary, concessionary, counterrevolutionary, deflationary, discretionary, disinflationary, evolutionary, expansionary, expeditionary, inflationary, missionary, noninflationary, probationary, recessionary, revolutionary, stationary, stationery. |
| 5 | -u n e' r ē | bicentenary, cardiopulmonary, centenary, coronary, culinary, disciplinary, diversionary, exclusionary, extraordinary, illusionary, imaginary, interdisciplinary, luminary, mercenary, ordinary, preliminary, pulmonary, seminary, urinary, veterinary, visionary. |
| 4 | -n e' r ē | quaternary. |
| 3 | -e' r ē | actuary, adversary, ancillary, apothecary, arbitrary, aviary, beneficiary, Blackberry, blueberry, budgetary, capillary, Cassowary, cemetery, cometary, commentary, commissary, Constabulary, contemporary, corollary, cranberry, customary, depositary, Dewberry, dietary, dignitary, itinerary, judiciary, lapidary, Dogberry, dromedary, dysentery, emissary, epistolary, estuary, fiduciary, formulary, fragmentary, funerary, gooseberry, hackberry, hereditary, honorary, Huckleberry, interplanetary, involuntary, legendary, library, literary, military, momentary, monastery, monetary, mortuary, mulberry, necessary, nonmilitary, obituary, paramilitary, pecuniary, pituitary, planetary, primary, proprietary, raspberry, Rosemary, salutary, sanctuary, sanitary, savagery, secondary, secretary, sedentary, semilegendary, solitary, statuary, strawberry, subsidiary, temporary, Tilbury, topiary, tributary, undersecretary, unitary, unnecessary, unsanitary, vocabulary. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: indicatory. | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-d-i-i-n-o-r-t-y" | |
-1 letter: indicator, rancidity, tyrocidin. | |
-2 letters: acridity, actinoid, caryotin, diatonic, indictor, tornadic. | |
-3 letters: acidity, aridity, carotid, carotin, conidia, crinoid, dacoity, diatron, diction, dinitro, noritic, tardyon, triacid, triadic, tyronic. | |
-4 letters: action, adroit, anodic, aortic, aroint, aroynt, atonic, cairny, candor, cantor, carton, cation, citrin, citron, contra, cortin, craton, crayon, cyanid, dacoit, dainty, iatric, idiocy, indict, inroad, ironic, nitric. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-d-i-i-n-o-r-t-y" | |
+1 letter: vindicatory. | |
+3 letters: discretionary, idiosyncratic. | |
+4 letters: aerodynamicist, antidromically, directionality, discriminatory. | |
+5 letters: aerodynamicists, bidirectionally, contradictorily, hydrodynamicist, inconsiderately. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Abbreviations | 17. Acronyms 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
