dictionary
Syllables: dic·tion·a·ry/ˈdɪk.ʃə.nə.ɹi//ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/
dictionary noun: a reference work listing words or names from one or more languages, usually ordered alphabetically, explaining each term's meanings or senses, often also containing information on its etymology, pronunciation, usage, semantic relations, translations, as well as other relevant information.
Noun
dictionary (plural dictionaries)
- A reference work listing words or names from one or more languages, usually ordered alphabetically, explaining each term's meanings or senses, often also containing information on its etymology, pronunciation, usage, semantic relations, translations, as well as other relevant information.
- If you want to know the meaning of a word, look it up in the dictionary.
- But what other kind(s) of syntactic information should be included in Lexical Entries? Traditional dictionaries such as Hornby's (1974) Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English include not only categorial information in their entries, but also information about the range of...1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 339
- A synchronic dictionary of a standardised language held to only contain words that are properly part of the language.
- Look it up in the dictionary, and what do you find?1930, Norman Lindsay, chapter 6, in Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, section I, page 106
- By 1986 the name Walkman was included as a word in the English dictionary.2019, John Hughes, Life Pre-Intermediate Student's Book, National Geographic Learning, page 188
- A reference work on a particular subject or activity in which the entries are arranged alphabetically; an alphabetical encyclopedia.
- a law dictionary
- a dictionary of sports
- The collection of words used or understood by a particular individual.
- Synonyms:
- lexicon, vocabulary
- Someone or something regarded as a repository or compendium of information.
- walking dictionary
- An associative array; a data structure where each value is referenced by a particular key, analogous to words and definitions in a dictionary (noun sense 1).
- User calls RouteCollection.GetVirtualPath, passing in a RequestContext, a dictionary of values, and an optional route name used to select the correct route to generate the URL.2011, Jon Galloway, Phil Haack, Brad Wilson, Professional ASP.NET MVC 3
Verb
dictionary (third-person singular simple present dictionaries, present participle dictionarying, simple past and past participle dictionaried)
- To look up in a dictionary.
- To add to a dictionary.
- By a reference to the following dictionaried abbreviations, the simplicity and harmony of each sentence will be manifestly apparent; although it does not embrace everything, and could not, as it would be far too voluminous for general use.1866, William Henry Ward, The international day, night, and fog signal telegraph, page 12
- Should I use a word that a lot of people use but isn't in the dictionary? Uncle Phil would rather get a root canal than say he was scrapbooking, because the word isn't dictionaried.2001, The Michigan Alumnus, page 25
- To compile a dictionary.
- They [dictionary-makers] may have had their romance at home—may have been crossed in love, and thence driven to dictionarying; may have been involved in domestic tragedies—who can say?1864 September, “The Alphabeticals”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 96, number 587, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, page 334, column 2
Proper noun capitalized: Dictionary
Dictionary
- Nickname for a swot or studious person, or one who uses needlessly complicated words.
- His friends called him "Dictionary." There were other names they called him that were far worse.1993, Fred Hartley, That Morals Thing, page 31
- He won a scholarship to a prestigious British inspired secondary school, Government College in Umuahia, and also gained a reputation for knowledge in his home village, where they called him Dictionary.1996, Kirk H. Beetz, Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction
dictionary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
dictionary in Hindi
- reference work of words and their meanings
- शब्दकोश śabdkoś, कोश koś, डिक्शनरी ḍikśanrī, डिश्कनरी ḍiśkanrī, शब्दसंग्रह śabdasaṅgrah, शब्दवारिधि śabdavāridhi
dictionary in Tamil
- reference work of words and their meanings
- அகரமுதலி akaramutali, அகராதி akarāti, நிகண்டு nikaṇṭu
dictionary in Marathi
- reference work of words and their meanings
- शब्दकोष śabdakoṣ, विश्वकोष viśvakoṣ
dictionary in Urdu
- reference work of words and their meanings
- لُغَت luġat, ڈِکْشَنْری ḍikśanrī, فَرْہَن٘گ farhaṅg, شَبْدَکوش śabdakoś, شَبْد کوش śabd koś, قامُوس qāmūs
More languagesFewer languages
- dictionary in Bengali
- অভিধান obhidhan, ডিকশনারী ḍikośnari, ডিকশনারি ḍikośnari
- dictionary in Telugu
- నిఘంటువు nighaṇṭuvu, పదకోశము padakōśamu, శబ్దకోశము śabdakōśamu
- dictionary in Malayalam
- നിഘണ്ടു nighaṇṭu, കോശം kōśaṁ, പദാവലി padāvali, ശബ്ദകോശം śabdakōśaṁ
- dictionary in Kannada
- ನಿಘಂಟು nighaṇṭu, ಅರ್ಥಕೋಶ arthakōśa
- dictionary in Punjabi
- ਸ਼ਬਦਕੋਸ਼ śabdakoś, ਡਿਕਸ਼ਨਰੀ ḍikśanarī, ਅਭਿਧਾਨ abhidhān
- dictionary in Gujarati
- શબ્દકોશ śabdakoś, અભિધાન abhidhān
- dictionary in Odia
- ଅଭିଧାନ abhidhāna, ଶବ୍ଦକୋଷ śabdakoṣa
- dictionary in Sanskrit
- शब्दकोश śabdakośa, निघण्टु nighaṇṭu, अभिधान abhidhāna, शब्दसंग्रह śabdasaṃgraha
- dictionary in Sinhala
- ශබ්ද කෝෂය śabda kōṣaya, ශබ්දකෝෂය śabdakōṣaya
- dictionary in Assamese
- অভিধান obhidhan
- dictionary in Nepali
- शब्दकोश śabdakoś, शब्दकोष śabdakoṣ
- dictionary in Pashto
- وييپانګه wëyipānga, قاموس qāmus
- dictionary in Tagalog
- talatinigan, talahuluganan, diksyunaryo, diksiyonaryo
- dictionary in Arabic
- قَامُوس qāmūs, مُعْجَم muʕjam, قاموس qāmūs
- dictionary in Malay
- kamus, buku katan, bausastera
- dictionary in Indonesian
- kamus, bausastra, logat
- dictionary in Persian
- لُغَتنَامَه luġat-nāma, فَرْهَنْگ farhang, وَاژَهنَامَه wāža-nāma, لُغَت luġat
- dictionary in Thai
- พจนานุกรม pót-jà-naa-nú-grom, ดิกชันนารี dìk-chan-naa-rîi, ดิก dìk, ปทานุกรม bpà-taa-nú-grom
- dictionary in Vietnamese
- từ điển, tự điển
- dictionary in Myanmar
- အဘိဓာန် a.bhi.dhan
- Sindhi
- لُغَتُ luġatu, کوش koś, فَرھَنگَ farhanga, लुग़ति luġati
- Dhivehi
- ރަދީފު radīfu, ބަސްފޮތް basfot̊
- Dzongkha
- ཚིག་མཛོད tshig mdzod
Examples of dictionary in a sentence
- The name Wiktionary is a play on the words wiki and dictionary.
- Your dictionary defines "brave" as "courageous", and "courageous" as "brave". That's a circular definition.
- Samuel Johnson compiled one of the most influential dictionaries of the English language.
Synonyms of dictionary
Forms of dictionary
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | dictionaries |
| alternative form (obsolete) | dictionnary |
| alternative pronunciation-spelling (obsolete) | dixnary |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | dictionaries |
| present participle | dictionarying |
| past participle | dictionaried |
| past | dictionaried |
Origin of dictionary
From Middle English dixionare, a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin dictiōnārium, from Latin dictiōnārius, from dictiō (“a speaking”), from dictus, perfect past participle of dīcō (“to speak”) + -ārium (“room, place”). By surface analysis, diction + -ary.
From dictionary.
Words formed from dictionary
- anagram dictionary
- antidictionary
- bilingual dictionary
- data dictionary
- desk dictionary
- dicktionary
- dictionarial
- dictionarian
- dictionaric
- dictionarily
- dictionarist
- dictionarization
- dictionarize
- dictionary attacker
- dictionary attack
- dictionary definition
- dictionaryese
- dictionary form
- dictionaryless
- dictionarylike
- dictionary-monger
- dictionary on historical principles
- e-dictionary
- encyclopedic dictionary
- explanatory dictionary
- fictionary
- frequency dictionary
- have swallowed a dictionary
- historical dictionary
- hyperdictionary
- interdictionary
- law dictionary
- long-haired dictionary
- metadictionary
- minidictionary
- morphological dictionary
- multidictionary
- nondictionary
- pedagogical dictionary
- Pictionary
- picture dictionary
- pillow dictionary
- pocket dictionary
- predictionary
- pronouncing dictionary
- pronunciation dictionary
- reverse dictionary
- rhyme dictionary
- rhyming dictionary
- rime dictionary
- sleeping dictionary
- subdictionary
- superdictionary
- swallow the dictionary
- translating dictionary
- translation dictionary
- visual dictionary
- walking dictionary
- Wiktionary
- undictionaried
Phrases with dictionary
Words that rhyme with dictionary
Questions about dictionary
- What does dictionary mean?
- Dictionary means a reference work listing words or names from one or more languages, usually ordered alphabetically, explaining each term's meanings or senses, often also containing information on its etymology, pronunciation, usage, semantic relations, translations, as well as other relevant information.
- What is dictionary in Hindi?
- Dictionary in Hindi is शब्दकोश (śabdkoś), कोश (koś), डिक्शनरी (ḍikśanrī). See Dictionary meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is dictionary?
- Dictionary can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce dictionary?
- Dictionary is pronounced /ˈdɪk.ʃə.nə.ɹi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of dictionary?
- The plural of dictionary is dictionaries.
Words near dictionary in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dictionary (page history and authors); Dictionary (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-dictionary.ogg, En-us-dictionary.ogg.
Cite this entry: “dictionary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dictionary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.