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 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.

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.

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.

While the dictionary content on Lexico came from OUP, this website was operated by Dictionary.com, whose eponymous website hosts dictionaries by other publishers such as Random House. The website was closed and redirected to Dictionary.com on 26 August 2022.

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.

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.

As Oxford's flagship American dictionary, the New Oxford American Dictionary sets the standard of excellence for lexicography in this country.

Is Oxford Dictionary better than Collins dictionary? ›

The attraction of the Oxford Dictionary of English is that it has a good selection of proper nouns, though not as many as the old Collins, and has a clearer presentation of words and phrases than Chambers.

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

Merriam-Webster: America's Most Trusted Dictionary.

It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and usage of 500,000 words and phrases past and present, from across the English-speaking world. As a historical dictionary, the OED is very different from dictionaries of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings.

We and/or our licensors are the owners of all intellectual property rights in the Oxford DNB, and the Oxford DNB and the materials on the Oxford DNB 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.