Dictionary
Look up word definitions, pronunciations, parts of speech and examples, with notes on why dictionaries record usage rather than prescribe it.
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Definitions come with their own synonyms and antonyms attached, sense by sense, which is worth more than a flat list: "light" as a noun and "light" as an adjective have almost nothing in common, and a thesaurus that has lost the part of speech cannot tell you which one you asked about. Those are shown against each sense below. For a word taken on its own, the Thesaurus covers ten kinds of relatedness, and the Rhyme Dictionary covers five kinds of sounding alike.
How to use
- Enter a word.
- Read the definitions by part of speech.
- Check the pronunciation guide.
- Read the example sentences for how it is actually used.
Frequently asked questions
Do dictionaries decide what words mean?
No — they record how words are used, which is called a descriptive approach and is how essentially all modern lexicography works. When usage shifts, dictionaries follow, which is why entries change and why appealing to a dictionary to settle an argument about what a word should mean rarely works.
Why does a word have so many definitions?
Because common words accumulate senses over centuries. 'Set' is often cited as the record-holder in English, with hundreds of distinct senses. Definitions are usually ordered either by frequency or by historical development, and which convention a dictionary uses affects what you see first.
What do the pronunciation symbols mean?
Most dictionaries use the International Phonetic Alphabet, where each symbol maps to exactly one sound regardless of spelling. It exists precisely because English spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation, and learning even a few symbols repays the effort.
How does a word get into a dictionary?
By being used widely enough, for long enough, across enough different sources. Lexicographers monitor large collections of real text looking for evidence of established use. There is no committee approving words — the threshold is evidence, not permission.
What is the difference between a dictionary and a thesaurus?
A dictionary tells you what a word means; a thesaurus tells you what other words are near it in meaning. The thesaurus is the more dangerous of the two, because near-synonyms carry different connotations and registers, and swapping one for another can quietly change what you said.
Are British and American dictionaries different?
In spelling, pronunciation and some vocabulary, yes, and occasionally in meaning — a word can be neutral in one and loaded in the other. For anything published for a specific audience, using that audience's reference avoids a class of small errors that accumulate.
🌐 This tool looks up results using the free Dictionary API (dictionaryapi.dev). The word you enter is sent to that service to fetch results; nothing is stored by this site.