Dictionaries & Thesauri

NCWC Librarians recommend:

Individual Dictionaries_________________________

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

http://www.bartleby.com/61

Provides definitions for new words, biographical entries, and lists of synonyms, usage notes, or examples of usage taken from published works of well-known writers.

Merriam Webster Online

http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm

Contains more than 160,000 word entries plus a thesaurus and spelling help.

Dictionary.com

http://www.dictionary.com

Free online English Dictionary, thesaurus, and reference guide; crossword puzzles and other word games; online translator and the Word of the Day.

Meta-Search Dictionaries_______________________

OneLook Dictionaries

http://www.onelook.com

Includes over 4.8 million words indexed in more than 750 online dictionaries.

your.Dictionary.com

http://www.yourdictionary.com

Includes more than 1500 dictionaries representing more than 230 languages.

Specialized Dictionaries________________________

Behind the Name

http://www.behindthename.com

Offers etymology and history of first names.

Brief American English-British English Glossary

http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/usgbglos.html

Two counties separated by a common language! This site helps to bridge that divide.

Duhaime's Law Dictionary

http://www.duhaime.org/diction.htm

The law written in plain language.

Latin Phrases and Words Used in English

http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/englatin.htm

A quick reference to those oft used, but not always understood Latin words and phrases. The definitions from over fifty commonly used terms are taken from the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (Tenth Edition).

Merrriam Webster Medical Dictionary

A concise guide to the essential language of medicine, including brand names and generic equivalents of common drugs. Provides more than 35,000 entries, each with a pronunciation guide.

O*Net Online

http://online.onetcenter.org

The Occupational Information Network - O*Net database takes the place of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) as the nation's primary source of occupational information.

Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences

http://bitbucket.icaap.org/dict.pl

This dictionary is a fully searchable, electronic version of a 900+ item dictionary authored by Gary Parkinson, Ph.D. and Robert Drislane, Ph.D.

Thesauri____________________________________

Merriam Webster Online

http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm

Contains more than 160,000 word entries plus a thesaurus and spelling help.

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

http://www.bartleby.com/62/

The 3rd edition of this standard reference provides 35,000 synonyms and over 250,000 cross-references in an easy-to-use format.