Meaning & use
English-Polish dictionary
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A reference book or app that gives Polish words for English words and often English words for Polish words.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a dictionary, two dictionaries. It is often used with the definite article when both speakers know which one is meant.
Patterns
- an English-Polish dictionary
- look something up in an English-Polish dictionary
I keep an English-Polish dictionary on my phone for reading Polish news.
She looked up the word in an English-Polish dictionary and wrote down the Polish translation.
This English-Polish dictionary shows example sentences, not just single words.
Word forms
| plural | English-Polish dictionaries |
|---|
Common combinations
- look up a word in an English-Polish dictionary
- If you don't know the Polish for 'receipt', look it up in an English-Polish dictionary.
- an English-Polish dictionary app
- The English-Polish dictionary app works offline.
- a bilingual English-Polish dictionary
- Our teacher recommends a bilingual English-Polish dictionary for beginners.
- an English-Polish dictionary entry
- Each English-Polish dictionary entry gives the part of speech.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Polish-English dictionary
- This puts Polish first, so it is the better name when you start from Polish words and want English.
- bilingual dictionary
- This is the general term for any dictionary in two languages; it fits when you do not need to name the languages.
Commonly confused: English-Polish dictionary or Polish dictionary?
English-Polish dictionary vs Polish dictionary
A Polish dictionary explains Polish words in Polish. An English-Polish dictionary gives translations between the two languages.
Practice
You are reading an English article and need the Polish word for 'bridge'. Which do you use?
Choose one answer.
An English-Polish dictionary starts from English and gives Polish, which is what you need here. A Polish-English dictionary starts from Polish, so it would not help you find the Polish word from an English one.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “English-Polish dictionary”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.