Comparison of English dictionaries

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This is a comparison of English dictionaries, which are dictionaries about the language of English. The dictionaries listed here are categorized into "full-size" dictionaries (which extensively cover the language, and are targeted to native speakers), "collegiate" (which are smaller, and often contain other biographical or geographical information useful to college students), and "learner's" (which are even smaller, targeted to English language learners, and which all use the International Phonetic Alphabet to indicate pronunciation).

Contents

Full-size

These dictionaries generally aim for extensive coverage of the language for native speakers. They typically only cover one variety of English.

TitlePublisherFirst

published

Latest editionDatePagesEntries

(approx.)

Main dialectPronunciation

guide

American Heritage Dictionary (AHD) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 19695th ( ISBN   0-547-04101-2)20112,07470,000 American Diacritical
The Chambers Dictionary Chambers Harrap 187213th ( ISBN   9781473602250)20141,92062,500 [1] British Diacritical
Collins English Dictionary HarperCollins 197914th ( ISBN   978-0008511340)2023 (17 - 31.8)2,336200,000 British IPA
Concise Oxford English Dictionary (COED) Oxford University Press 191112th ( ISBN   9780199601080)20111,728240,000 British IPA
Macquarie Dictionary Macquarie 19819th ( ISBN   9781761267741)2023 (12.09)1,856N/A Australian IPA
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (MWD) Merriam-Webster 182818th (rev., ISBN   978-0877790952)2022 (25.10)960 (mass-market)75,000 American Diacritical
New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD) Oxford University Press 20013rd ( ISBN   0-19-539288-4)20102,096350,000 American Diacritical
Oxford Dictionary of English Oxford University Press 19983rd ( ISBN   0-19-957112-0)20102,112355,000 British IPA
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Oxford University Press 18952nd (20 vols., ISBN   0-19-861186-2)198921,730291,500 British IPA
Random House Webster's Random House 19662nd (rev., ISBN   978-0375425998)20022,256315,000 American Diacritical
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED) Oxford University Press 19336th (2 vol., ISBN   9780199206872)20073,804125,000 British IPA
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (W3) Merriam-Webster 19613rd ( ISBN   0-87-779201-1)20022,783263,000 American Diacritical

Collegiate

These dictionaries generally contain fewer entries (and fewer definitions per entry) than their full-size counterparts but may contain additional material, such as biographical or geopolitical information, that would be useful to a college student. They may be revised more often and thus contain more up to date usage. Sometimes the term collegiate or college is used merely to indicate a physically smaller, more economically printed dictionary.

TitlePublisherFirst

published

Latest editionDatePagesEntries

(approx.)

Main dialectPronunciation

guide

The American Heritage College Dictionary Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 20024th [2] ( ISBN   0-547-24766-4)20101,664 American Diacritical
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Merriam-Webster 189811th, revised ( ISBN   0877798079)2019 (01.08)1,664165,000 American Diacritical
Webster's New World College Dictionary HarperCollins 19535th ( ISBN   0358126614)2020 (02.06)1,728163,000 American Diacritical

Learner's

These dictionaries generally contain fewer entries than full-size or collegiate dictionaries but contain additional information that would be useful to a learner of English, such as more extensive usage notes, example sentences or phrases, collocations, and both British and American pronunciations (sometimes multiple variants of the latter). In addition, definitions are usually restricted to a simpler core vocabulary than that expected of a native speaker. All use the IPA to indicate pronunciation.

TitlePublisherFirst

published

Latest editionDatePagesUsage examples

(approx.)

Main dialect
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary Cambridge University Press 2003 [3] 4th ( ISBN   9781107619500)2013 (24.06)1,856140,000 British
Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary Collins Cobuild 198710th ( ISBN   978-0008444907)2023 (13.04)1,920 British
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Pearson-Longman 19786th ( ISBN   9781447954194)2014 (17.04)2,224165,000 British
Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners Macmillan Education 20022nd ( ISBN   9781405025263)20071,748 British
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's English Dictionary Merriam-Webster 20082nd ( ISBN   9780877797364)2016 (01.10)1,994160,000 American
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary Oxford University Press 194810th ( ISBN   9780194799485)2020 (09.01)1,960185,000 British

Notes

  1. Kaminski, Mariusz (2013). A History of the Chambers Dictionary. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 95–96. ISBN   9783110312737.
  2. The 2010 "4th edition" of The American Heritage College Dictionary ( ISBN   0-547-24766-4) is the second revision of the original "4th edition" published in 2002; it was originally derived from the 4th edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, which was published in 2000.
  3. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary was originally published as Cambridge International Dictionary of English in 1995.

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<i>New Oxford American Dictionary</i> Collection of American English words and their meanings

The New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD) is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press.

Webster's Dictionary is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by Noah Webster (1758–1843), an American lexicographer, as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's name in his honor. "Webster's" has since become a genericized trademark in the United States for English dictionaries, and is widely used in dictionary titles.

A defining vocabulary is a list of words used by lexicographers to write dictionary definitions. The underlying principle goes back to Samuel Johnson's notion that words should be defined using 'terms less abstruse than that which is to be explained', and a defining vocabulary provides the lexicographer with a restricted list of high-frequency words which can be used for producing simple definitions of any word in the dictionary.

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<i>The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language</i> Collection of English words and their meanings, published by HarperCollins

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (AHD) is a dictionary of American English published by HarperCollins. It is currently in its fifth edition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English as a second or foreign language</span> Use of English by speakers with different native languages

English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages, often with students whose native language is not English and are learning to speak and write English, commonly among students. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a foreign language (EFL), English as a second language (ESL), English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), English as an additional language (EAL), or English as a new language (ENL), which refers to the practice of studying English in a country where it is not the dominant language. These programs, especially ESL, are usually an academic subject, course, or program designed to teach English to students who are not yet proficient in the language. While some people only refer to learning in an English-speaking country, learning this language can also entail learning in a non-English speaking or non-native nation.

<i>Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary</i> First advanced learners dictionary of English

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<i>Kenkyushas New Japanese-English Dictionary</i> Japanese-English dictionary published by Kenkyūsha

First published in 1918, Kenkyusha’s New Japanese-English Dictionary has long been the largest and most authoritative Japanese-English dictionary. Translators, scholars, and specialists who use the Japanese language affectionately refer to this dictionary as the Green Goddess or GG because of its distinctive dark-green cover.

The Nihon kokugo daijiten (日本国語大辞典), often abbreviated as the Nikkoku (日国) and sometimes known in English as Shogakukan's Japanese Dictionary, is the largest Japanese language dictionary published. In the period from 1972 to 1976, Shogakukan published the 20-volume first edition. The 14-volume second edition was published in the period from November 2000 to December 2001. It includes substantial additions to and improvements over the first edition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic dictionary</span> Dictionary whose data exists in digital form and can be accessed through a number of different media

An electronic dictionary is a dictionary whose data exists in digital form and can be accessed through a number of different media. Electronic dictionaries can be found in several forms, including software installed on tablet or desktop computers, mobile apps, web applications, and as a built-in function of E-readers. They may be free or require payment.

Japanese dictionaries have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic dictionaries. According to Nakao Keisuke (中尾啓介):

It has often been said that dictionary publishing in Japan is active and prosperous, that Japanese people are well provided for with reference tools, and that lexicography here, in practice as well as in research, has produced a number of valuable reference books together with voluminous academic studies. (1998:35)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese dictionary</span>

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<i>Oxford Dictionary of English</i> Single-volume dictionary, first published in 1998

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<i>A Dictionary of the Chinese Language</i>

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<i>The Five Thousand Dictionary</i>

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<i>ABC Chinese–English Dictionary</i>

The ABC Chinese–English Dictionary or ABC Dictionary (1996), compiled under the chief editorship of John DeFrancis, is the first Chinese dictionary to collate entries in single-sort alphabetical order of pinyin romanization, and a landmark in the history of Chinese lexicography. It was also the first publication in the University of Hawaiʻi Press's "ABC" series of Chinese dictionaries. They republished the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary in a pocket edition (1999) and desktop reference edition (2000), as well as the expanded ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary (2003), and dual ABC English–Chinese, Chinese–English Dictionary (2010). Furthermore, the ABC Dictionary databases have been developed into computer applications such as Wenlin Software for learning Chinese (1997).