dictionary

• dictionnary (obsolete)
• dixnary (pronunciation spelling, obsolete)

From Middle English dixionare,^[1] a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin dictiōnārium, from Latin dictiōnārius, from dictiō (“a speaking”), from dictus, perfect past participle of dīcō (“to speak”) + -ārium (“room, place”). By surface analysis, diction +‎ -ary.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪkʃən.ɹi/, /ˈdɪkʃ(ə)nəɹi/

  • Audio (Received Pronunciation):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪkʃəˌnɛɹi/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (South Asia) IPA^(key): /ˈɖɪkʃ(ə)nəri/
• Rhymes: -ɪkʃənɹi, -ɪkʃənəɹi, -ɪkʃənɛɹi
• Hyphenation: dic‧tion‧ary

dictionary (plural dictionaries)

1. A reference work listing words or names from one or more languages, usually ordered alphabetically, explaining each term's meanings or senses, often also containing information on its etymology, pronunciation, usage, semantic relations, translations, as well as other relevant information. [from c. 1480]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dictionary

   Hypernyms: wordbook; reference work < work

   Coordinate term: thesaurus

   If you want to know the meaning of a word, look it up in the dictionary.

   • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 339:

     But what other kind(s) of syntactic information should be included in Lexical Entries? Traditional dictionaries such as Hornby's (1974) Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English include not only categorial information in their entries, but also information about the range of Complements which a given item permits (this information is represented by the use of a number/letter code).

   1. (preceded by the) A synchronic dictionary of a standardised language held to only contain words that are properly part of the language.
      • 1930, Norman Lindsay, chapter 6, in Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, section I, page 106:

        Look it up in the dictionary, and what do you find?

      • 2019, John Hughes, Life Pre-Intermediate Student's Book, National Geographic Learning, page 188:

        By 1986 the name Walkman was included as a word in the English dictionary.

   2. (by extension) A reference work on a particular subject or activity in which the entries are arranged alphabetically; an alphabetical encyclopedia. [from 1570s]

      a law dictionary

      a dictionary of sports

2. (figurative, with of or a possessive) The collection of words used or understood by a particular individual. [from 1570s]

   Synonyms: lexicon, vocabulary

3. (figurative) Someone or something regarded as a repository or compendium of information. [from 1730s]

   walking dictionary

4. (computing) An associative array; a data structure where each value is referenced by a particular key, analogous to words and definitions in a dictionary (sense 1). [from 1950s]

   Hyponym: hash table

   • 2011, Jon Galloway, Phil Haack, Brad Wilson, Professional ASP.NET MVC 3:

     User calls RouteCollection.GetVirtualPath, passing in a RequestContext, a dictionary of values, and an optional route name used to select the correct route to generate the URL.

dictionary (third-person singular simple present dictionaries, present participle dictionarying, simple past and past participle dictionaried)

1. (transitive) To look up in a dictionary.
2. (transitive) To add to a dictionary.
   • 1866, William Henry Ward, The international day, night, and fog signal telegraph, page 12:

     By a reference to the following dictionaried abbreviations, the simplicity and harmony of each sentence will be manifestly apparent; although it does not embrace everything, and could not, as it would be far too voluminous for general use.

   • 2001, The Michigan Alumnus, page 25:

     Should I use a word that a lot of people use but isn't in the dictionary? Uncle Phil would rather get a root canal than say he was scrapbooking, because the word isn't dictionaried.

3. (intransitive, rare) To compile a dictionary.
   • 1864 September, “The Alphabeticals”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 96, number 587, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, page 334, column 2:

     They [dictionary-makers] may have had their romance at home—may have been crossed in love, and thence driven to dictionarying; may have been involved in domestic tragedies—who can say?

• encyclopedia
• lexicon
• thesaurus
• vocabulary
• wordlist

• “dictionary”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “dictionary”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.
• “dictionary”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “dictionary”, in Merriam-Webster Online, Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1996–present.
• “dictionary, n. & adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “dictionary”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• indicatory