Oxford English Dictionary (2024)

FAQs

Can I use the Oxford English Dictionary for free? ›

Via a library

Please speak to your librarian to find out whether your library subscribes. Most libraries offer remote access. This means that, if you are a member of your local library, you can access the OED online for free anywhere you have internet access.

Searching the OED Online

From the results page you can select the specific word you're looking for. As you can see, the results page offers concise excerpts from full definitions that can help you narrow down your search and find the entry you're looking for.

The New Oxford American Dictionary is the American version of the Oxford Dictionary of English, with substantial editing and uses a diacritical respelling scheme rather than the IPA system.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely accepted as the most complete record of the English language ever assembled. Unlike typical language dictionaries, which only define words in terms of their current uses and meanings, the OED is a historical dictionary.

While the Oxford English Dictionary gives you the meaning of the word as well as its origin, the Cambridge Dictionary gives a more practical explanation along with an example of how to use the word in a sentence.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is available by subscription to individuals and institutions worldwide. The below links contain more information about our subscription offering: Institutional subscriptions. Personal subscriptions including UK public library access.

In 2016, the free content of Oxford Dictionaries Online was rebranded as Oxford Living Dictionaries, and the subscription content as Oxford Dictionaries Premium.

ODE is the flagship native-speaker desk dictionary from Oxford Dictionaries for British English. It has a much longer headword list than OALD and definitions written to a much higher level; also fewer, shorter examples. OALD is what it sounds like, an English dictionary for advanced learners.

Merriam-Webster: America's Most Trusted Dictionary.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP).

Is there an American version of the Oxford English Dictionary? ›

The Oxford American Dictionary (OAD) is a single-volume dictionary of American English. It was the first dictionary published by the Oxford University Press to be prepared by American lexicographers and editors. The work was based on the Oxford Paperback Dictionary, published in 1979.

However, Merriam-Webster is the largest and most reputable of the U.S. dictionary publishers, regardless of the type of dictionary (general, geographical, biographical, or a thesaurus). Some of the additional reliable American publishers are Oxford University Press, Random House, Macmillan, and American Heritage.

The first word in Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (G.C. Merriam, 1963), is “a”, the second is “an”, and the third is “aardvark”.

We and/or our licensors are the owners of all intellectual property rights in the Website, and the Website and the materials on the Website are protected by intellectual property laws around the world including copyright and trade mark laws.

Creating a personal OED account is quick and easy to do. You can create a personal account even if you have access to OED content via a library subscription, or even if you don't intend to purchase your own subscription.

Subscribe. Personal Subscriptions: We are pleased to offer annual individual OED subscriptions for £100 or $100.

R 288.95. This fully updated edition offers over 120,000 words, phrases, and definitions. It covers all the words you need for everyday use, carefully selected from the evidence of the Oxford English Corpus, a databank of 21st century English, containing over 2 billion words.