dictionary

dic·tion·ar·y  (dksh-nr)

n. pl. dic·tion·ar·ies

1. A reference book containing an alphabetical list of words, with information given for each word, usually including meaning, pronunciation, and etymology.

2. A book listing the words of a language with translations into another language.

3. A book listing words or other linguistic items in a particular category or subject with specialized information about them: a medical dictionary.

4. Computer Science

a. A list of words stored in machine-readable form for reference, as by spelling-checking software.

b. An electronic spelling checker.

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[Medieval Latin dictinrium, from Latin dicti, dictin-, diction; see diction.]

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dictionary [ˈdɪkʃənərɪ -ʃənrɪ]

n pl -aries

1. (Library Science & Bibliography)

a.  a reference book that consists of an alphabetical list of words with their meanings and parts of speech, and often a guide to accepted pronunciation and syllabification, irregular inflections of words, derived words of different parts of speech, and etymologies

b.  a similar reference book giving equivalent words in two or more languages. Such dictionaries often consist of two or more parts, in each of which the alphabetical list is given in a different language a German-English dictionary

c.  (as modifier) a dictionary definition See also glossary, lexicon, thesaurus

2. (Library Science & Bibliography) a reference book listing words or terms of a particular subject or activity, giving information about their meanings and other attributes a dictionary of gardening

3. (Library Science & Bibliography) a collection of information or examples with the entries alphabetically arranged a dictionary of quotations

[from Medieval Latin dictiōnārium collection of words, from Late Latin dictiō word; see diction]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

dictionary - a reference book containing an alphabetical list of words with information about them lexicon dictionary entry, lexical entry - the entry in a dictionary of information about a word wordbook - a reference book containing words (usually with their meanings) bilingual dictionary - a dictionary giving equivalent words in two languages collegiate dictionary, desk dictionary - an abridged dictionary of a size convenient to hold in the hand etymological dictionary - a dictionary giving the historical origins of each word gazetteer - a geographical dictionary (as at the back of an atlas) learner's dictionary, school dictionary - a dictionary specially written for those learning a foreign language little dictionary, pocket dictionary - a dictionary that is small enough to carry in your pocket spell-checker, spelling checker - an electronic dictionary in a word processor that can be used to catch misspelled words unabridged, unabridged dictionary - a dictionary that has not been shortened by the omitting terms or definitions; a comprehensive dictionary

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dictionary

noun wordbook, vocabulary, glossary, encyclopedia, lexicon, concordance, word list, vocabulary list If you don't know what it means, look it up in the dictionary.

Quotations
"Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true" [Dr. Johnson]
"When I feel inclined to read poetry I take down my Dictionary. The poetry of words is quite as beautiful as that of sentences. The author may arrange the gems effectively, but their shape and lustre have been given by the attrition of the ages" [Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. The Autocrat's Autobiography]
"dictionary: 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" [Ambrose Bierce The Devil's Dictionary]

Translations

dictionary [ˈdɪkʃənrɪ] N → diccionario m

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dictionary [ˈdɪkʃ^ənəri] n → dictionnaire m
a dictionary of business English → un dictionnaire d'anglais commercial
dictionary definition n → définition f donnée par le dictionnaire

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dictionary

n → Wörterbuch nt

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dictionary [ˈdɪkʃ/ənrɪ] n → vocabolario, dizionario

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dictionary [ˈdɪkʃ/ənrɪ] n → vocabolario, dizionario

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dictionary

n dictionary [ˈdikʃənəri]

1 a book containing the words of a language alphabetically arranged, with their meanings etc This is an English dictionary. woordeboek قاموس речник slovník ordbog das Wörterbuch λεξικό diccionario sõnaraamat واژنامه sanakirja dictionnaire מִילוֹן शब्दकोश rječnik, leksikon szótár kamus orðabók dizionario 辞書 사전 žodynas vārdnīca kamus woordenboek ordbok słownik dicionário dicţio­nar словарь slovník slovar rečnik ordbok, lexikon พจนานุกรม sözlük, lügat 詞典 словник قاموس từ điển 词典

2 a book containing other information alphabetically arranged a dictionary of place-names. datawoordeboek, pleknaam woordeboek, leksikon كِتاب معلومات مُرَتَّبَةٌ أبْجَدِيّا речник slovník opslagsbog; leksikon; håndbog das Wörterbuch λεξικό diccionario sõnastik فرهنگ tietosanakirja dictionnaire מִילוֹן शब्दकोश imenik lexikon, szótár kamus uppsláttarrit dizionario 事典 사전(事典) žodynas vārdnīca kamus lexicon oppslagsbok, leksikon słownik dicionário dicţionar справочник slovník slovar rečnik ordbok, lexikon ปทานุกรม; นามานุกรม; ประมวลคำศัพท์; อภิธานคำศัพท์ ...sözlüğü 字典 довідник کسی موضوع پر کوئی حوالے کی کتاب từ điển 字典

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dictionary → قاموس slovník ordbog Wörterbuch λεξικό diccionario sanakirja dictionnaire rječnik dizionario 辞書 사전 woordenboek ordbok słownik dicionário словарь ordbok พจนานุกรม sözlük từ điển 词典