Meaning & use
dictionary
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Meanings
nouncountable
A book or electronic resource that lists words in alphabetical order and gives their meanings, spellings, and pronunciations.
Grammar: Takes a plural; say 'a dictionary of biology' for a specialized one.
Patterns
- look something up in a dictionary
- a dictionary of something
- consult a dictionary
- an online dictionary
She looked up the unfamiliar word in a dictionary.
The library has a large dictionary of American idioms on the reference shelf.
nouncountablecomputingtechnical
In computing, a data structure that stores items as pairs, with each item reached through a unique key.
Grammar: Takes a plural; a computing term learners meet in programming courses.
Patterns
- store something in a dictionary
- look up a key in a dictionary
The program saves each user's settings in a dictionary keyed by username.
Retrieving a value from a dictionary is faster than searching a long list.
Word forms
| plural | dictionaries |
|---|
Common combinations
- look up a word (in a dictionary)
- If you are unsure of the spelling, look the word up in a dictionary.
- bilingual dictionary
- A bilingual dictionary helps her check the French words she is unsure of.
- online dictionary
- An online dictionary usually includes recordings of pronunciation.
- dictionary definition
- The report quoted a dictionary definition of the term 'worker'.
Synonyms and how they differ
Commonly confused: dictionary or thesaurus?
dictionary vs thesaurus
A dictionary explains what words mean; a thesaurus groups words with similar meanings and is used to avoid repetition, not to check definitions.
Practice
You have used the same adjective three times in one paragraph. Which resource should you open to find alternatives?
Choose one answer.
A thesaurus lists words with similar meanings, so it helps you find alternatives. A dictionary would only define the word you already keep repeating.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dictionary”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.