dictionary

dictionary

See also: Dictionary

English

WOTD – 12 December 2022

Etymology

Etymology tree
Classical Latin dictiō
Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.
Proto-Italic *-āsjos
Classical Latin -ārius
Classical Latin -ārium
Medieval Latin dictiōnāriumlbor.
Middle English dixionare
English dictionary

    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.

    Pronunciation

    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈdɪk.ʃə.nə.ɹi/, /ˈdɪk.ʃən.ɹi/, /ˈdɪkʃ.nə.ɹi/
      • Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
    • (US) enPR: dĭk'shə-nĕr-ē, IPA(key): /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/
    • (Indic) IPA(key): /ˈɖɪkʃ(ə)nəri/
    • Rhymes: -ɪkʃənɛəɹi
    • Hyphenation: dic‧tion‧a‧ry, dic‧tion‧ary

    Noun

    dictionary (plural dictionaries)

    2. A reference work listing words or names from one or more languages, usually ordered alphabetically, explaining each word's meanings or senses, oftentimes also containing information on its etymology, pronunciation, usage, semantic relations, translations, as well as other relevant information. [ca. 1480]
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dictionary
      Hypernym: wordbook
      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).
    3. (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
    4. (figurative) A person or thing regarded as a repository or compendium of information. [from 1730s]
    5. (with of or possessive, frequently figurative, especially derogatory) The collection of words used or understood by a particular person; vocabulary. [from 1570s]
    6. (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.
    7. (computing) An associative array, or a data structure where each value is referenced by a particular key, analogous to words and definitions in a dictionary (noun 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.

    Alternative forms

    Hyponyms

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    • → Mokilese: dikjeneri

    Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    See also

    Verb

    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?

    Derived terms

    References

    1. ^ “dicciọ̄nārīe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

    Further reading

    Anagrams

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