Online Dictionaries

Includes: English Dictionaries ; Foreign Language Dictionaries ; Technical Dictionaries & Glossaries.

Reference Desk > Dictionaries

Alldictionaries.com
"There are 757 Links and 114 Categories in our database."

Glossarist.com
"A comprehensive directory of glossaries on all subjects."

Google Glossary - (dead link)
"Find definitions for words, phrases and acronyms"

Diccionarios en internet
"Diccionarios, enciclopedias, glosarios, atlas, y otras obras de referencia disponibles en internet en espaÒol (ES) oinglÈs

KnowPlay?
Includes: Definition Lookup ; Thesaurus Lookup ; Rhyming Dictionary ; Encyclopedia Lookup ; Quotation Lookup ; World Atlas Lookup ;
CIA World Factbook ; Fine Artist Search.

OneLook Dictionary Search
"Search dictionary web sites [over 800 dictionaries indexes] for words and phrases"

WordReference.com
"...providing quick and easy dictionary translations to people reading foreign languages. With these new tools, and using professional dictionaries, WordReference.com should make it easier for users to read and comprehend foreign language Web pages."

English Dictionaries

The American Heritage Book of English Usage
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English
"With a detailed look at grammar, style, diction, word formation, gender, social groups and scientific forms, this valuable reference work is ideal for students, writers, academicians and anybody concerned about proper writing style."
Published 1996.
Online edition published by Bartleby.com, 2000.

American Heritage Dictionary
Unabridged, 3rd ed., 1996
From Bartleby.com

American-British - British-American Dictionary
Compiled by Jeremy Smith

Australian English Glossary from A to Zed
Original by David Stybr.
- FAST Area Studies Program, University of Tampere, Finland

Encarta World English Dictionary - (dead link)

Luciferous Logolepsy
"...a collection of over 9,000 obscure english words"

Wordsmyth - Educational Dictionary-Thesaurus (WEDT)
"...is the premier online American English dictionary with an integrated thesaurus. WEDT contains 50,000 headwords, and very precisely defined and hyperlinked synonyms. And the search engine allows for very flexible searching."

WWWebster Dictionary


Foreign Language Dictionaries
AltaVista: Translations
Will translate either plain text or web pages

CJKV-English Dictionary - (dead link)
"A Database of CJK Characters and Compounds Related to East Asian Cultural, Political, and Intellectual History.
Chief Editor: Charles Muller, Toyo Gakuen University

Digital Dictionaries of South Asia
 "The Digital Dictionaries of South Asia Project is a collaborative effort
to widen access to South Asian Language Dictionaries. Established
dictionaries for each of the twenty-six modern literary languages of South
Asia will be mounted on the web for free and open access."

Free-Translator.com
"Find a selection of the best free Translators, Dictionaries and language Courses on the Web. Anything you look for any language, in just one site! There are also links to news, encyclopedias, maps, glossaries and more."

From Language To Language
"It includes free multilingual dictionary offers bidirectional, single and multiple words translation from/to: English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Turkish language pairs, language alphabets, languages for traveller, browser integrated language tools, anagram word game contest etc. with personalization."

Foreignword.com
The Language Site: Dictionaries & Translation Tools Includes On-Line Tools ; Translators ; Forum ; Technology. "DictSearch, now includes more than 90 on-line dictionaries and 250 different language combinations, all accessible from a single screen."

The Internet Picture Dictionary
"...is a completely free, online multilingual picture dictionary designed especially for ESL students and beginning English, French, German, Spanish and Italian language learners of all ages."

Lexicool
Directory of Translation Dictionaries
"The directory currently has links to over 500 translation dictionaries and glossaries

Online Dictionaries and Translators
Lists languages from Abadani to Yoombe.
From Word2Word

xlation.com
Resources for Translation Professionals
Sections include: Dictionaries ; Glossaries ; Grammar and Idioms ; Computer Assisted and Machine Translation ; Essays ; Other Resources.

HandSpeak
A Sign Language Dictionary Online
Sign video database contains nearly 3000 signs.

Ajeeb - Instant Translation from Arabic into English

Chinese-English Online Dictionary
From Erik E. Peterson's On-line Chinese Tools

COMPRA - Portuguese-English Parallel Translation Corpus
"This corpus is based on an open-ended collection of Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese source texts and translations. You can use COMPARA to find out how words and expressions have been translated from Portuguese into English and from English into Portuguese."

FarsiDic.com - (dead link)
English-Farsi Dictionary

French - English Dictionary.

LEO English/German Dictionary

My Hebrew Dictionary

Japanese Dictionaries
A Comparison of Japanese Dictionaries.

Jeffrey's Japanese-English Dictionary

Polish - English Dictionary

[Russian] Online Universal Dictionary Shell
Russian-Finnish ; Russian-German ; Russian-English

Russian On Line Dictionaries

Russian Dictionary with Sounds and Images
"In these pages you will find pictures of common objects paired with Cyrillic text and recordings of a native speaker pronouncing the words."
By Sarah Withee

English Romanian Dictionary Online / Dictionar Englez Roman

Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon - (dead link)

SpanishDICT.com
"This dictionary has over 56,508 entries with over 10,369 audio pronunciations."

English-Spanish Language Resources for Library and Information Professionals
"This is a compilation of the terminology, both general and specific, that students and professionals generally encounter when reading library and information literature. 89,215 entries."

See also individual languages at Foreign Language Studies
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Specialized Dictionaries

Abbreviations and Acronyms of the U.S. Government
By Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis University Library.

Acronym Finder
 "A searchable database containing common acronyms and abbreviations about all subjects, with a focus on computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military."

Acronyma - Acronyms and Abbreviations
Search in 7 languages.

Acronyms and Initialisms for Health Information Resources (English or French)
"Acronyms for global information and data resources in health, medical, and veterinary sciences."
Compiled by Marie-Lise Shams

[Anthropology] Anthromorphemics: Anthropology Glossary - (dead link)
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
10th ed., 1919.
Published by online Bartleby, 2000.

[Biology] Biology Dictionaries
Maintained by Ruth Lewis
- Washington University Libraries - Web Sites

[Biology] Biology Dictionary
"An online searchable dictionary of biology terms, over 1600 terms listed to date. The dictionary includes reference to terminology used in the tutorials and also covers terms commonly used in the biological sciences."
From Biology Online

[Biology] Biomedical Acronym Database
"This database was constructed in a purely automated manner, using a set of heuristics to identify acronyms/abbreviations and their definitions within MEDLINE records. Currently, it is the world's largest and most comprehensive catalog of biomedical acronyms and abbreviations, containing approximately 257,000 out of an estimated 277,000 unique acronyms within MEDLINE."
- UT Southwestern Computational Biology Group

[Biology] National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII)
"The NBII links diverse, high-quality biological databases, information products, and analytical tools maintained by NBII partners and other contributors in government agencies, academic institutions, non-government organizations, and private industry."

British Health and Social Services Glossary of Acronyms
"This glossary has been devised in Manchester, and has a regional bias, but jargon in the rest of the UK is not very different, and I have tried to include Scottish, Irish, and Welsh terms. Foreigners have their own jargon and I have not attempted to include them unless they are used in the UK, although it is often hard to tell where these things come from. I am only trying to cover acronyms."

[Business] Accounting Dictionary
"The Web's most complete accounting dictionary of accounting terms: http://www.ventureline.com/glossary.asp"

[Business] Accounting Terminology Guide
"The New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA) General Committee on Public Relations has prepared this glossary as an educational tool for journalists who report on and interpret financial information. We encourage your comments and suggestions as we continue to develop materials to assist financial journalists."

[Business] Business Dictionaries
From Galileo Internet Resources - Business & Economics

[Business] InvestorWords
"With over 5,000 definitions and 15,000 links between related terms, InvestorWords is the most comprehensive financial glossary you'll find anywhere, online or off ."

[Chemistry] Chemistry Acronym Database
Indiana University Bloomington Chemistry Library

The Devil's Dictionary
Text by Ambrose Bierce, 1911
Etext version by Aloysius West, 1993
"Since the material here represents the view of one individual and was written in the early years of this century, there will no doubt be material here that you will find sexist, nationalist, racist, or just generally offensive."

Dictionary of Algorithms, Data Structures, and Problems
"This is a dictionary of algorithms, algorithmic techniques, data structures, archetypical problems, and related definitions. Algorithms include common functions, such as Ackermann's function. Problems include traveling salesman and Byzantine generals. Some entries have links to further information and implementations.."
By Paul E. Black, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names
"This is a concise guide to technical terms and personal names often encountered in the study of philosophy. What you will find here naturally reflects my own philosophical interests and convictions, but everything is meant to be clear, accurate, and fair, a reliable source of information on Western philosophy for a broad audience...Although the entries are often brief, many include links to electronic texts and to more detailed discussions on this site or in other on-line resources..."
Maintained by Garth Kemerling

Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Brewer, E. Cobham. 1898.
"Brewerís Dictionaryof Phrase and Fable comprises over 18,000 entries that reveal the etymologies, trace the origins and otherwise catalog ìwords with a tale to tell."
From Bartleby.com

Dictionary of Sensibility - (dead link)
"This hypertext offers a new approach towards understanding the language of eighteenth-century sensibility. It provides an atmospheric view of the multiple connotations of the terms of that language. Rather than attempting strict definitions, this project offers a tool for recognizing the multivalence of such words as "virtue," "enthusiasm," and "community." Our hypertext collects excerpts from primary texts of sensibility and scatters them among twenty four key terms."
By Corey Brady, Virginia Cope, Mike Millner, Ana Mitric, Kent Puckett, and Danny Siegel, Dept. of English, University of Virginia

Dictionary of Slang
English slang and colloquialisms of the United Kingdom
By Ted Duckworth

A Dictionary of Units
"This provides a summary of most of the units of measurement to be found in use around the world today (and a few of historical interest), together with the appropriate conversion factors needed to change them into a 'standard' unit of the S I."
By Frank Tapson

Divorce Dictionary
From the Divorce Source

Duhaime's Law Dictionary
 Especially relevant to Canadian law.

An Etymological Dictionary of Classical Mythology - (dead link)
"...I am focusing on those modern English words whose origins reach for back into Ancient Greek and Roman mythology."
By Elizabeth Wallis Kraemer, Oakland University

fonetiks.org
An Online Language Laboratory
"Complete online pronunciation guides with native speaker sounds and accents in British English, American English, French, French Canadian, German , Italian, Spanish, Thai, Indonesian and other languages."

Genomics Glossary
By Mary Chitty, Library Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

Glossary Agent - (dead link)
"...is an ever-expanding, unique compilation of links to online monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual glossaries of interest to professionals in insurance, reinsurance, risk management, employee benefits, healthcare, and related fields such as law and financial services."

Glossary of Glacier Terms
By Ellin Beltz

Glossary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
By David M. Glick

Glossary of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering
[U.N.] FAO Research and Technology Paper No. 7

Glossary of Fisheries Terms - (dead link)By Chris Hedley

Glossary of Jewish Terms
- Union of American Hebrew Congregations

A Glossary of Literary Terms
"Note: Terms already in the Handbook of Rhetorical Devices have been deleted from this file."
By Robert Harris

Glossary of Terms Used in Payments and Settlements Systems
 Bank for International Settlements

Governments Finance and Employment Classification Manual
 "The Classification Manual contains the definitions of governmental units and the various revenue, expenditure, debt, and asset categories used for the purpose of collection and dissemination of statistics."
U.S. Census Bureau

[Health & Medicine] All the Virology on the WWW

  • Glossary of HIV / AIDS Related Terms
    "The Glossary of HIV-Related Terms was compiled to define words that are commonly used to describe the HIV virus, its pathogenesis, its associated treatments, and the medical management of related conditions."
  • Virology Glossary
    "This document copywrite 1995 by Carlton Hogan and University of MN."

How Many?
A Dictionary of Units of Measurement
By Russ Rowlett, Center for Mathematics and Science Education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Illustrated Glossary of Plant Pathology
 By C. J. D'Arcy, D. M. Eastburn, and G. L. Schumann

[Internet] Blogossary
"...is an online dictionary for bloggers, wannabe bloggers, or those who just want to know what a blog is."

A Journalist's Guide to Economic Terms - (dead link) FACSNET Reporting Tools

[Law] Law Dictionary
"Law.com's online Real Life Dictionary of the Law."

[Law] lawdictionaries.com
Sections include: General Law ; Commercial ; Crime ; Human Rights ; Family/A.D.R. ; International Law ; Translation Tools.

Lexicon of Linguistics - (dead link)
Edited by Jan Don, Johan Kerstens, Eddy Ruys, Utrecht Institute of Linguistics, Utrecht University

Life Science Dictionary
 "Currently, most of our 8300+ terms deal with biochemistry, biotechnology, botany, cell biology and genetics. We also have some terms relating to ecology, limnology, pharmacology, toxicology and medicine."
From BioTech

Marketing Terms.com
"Internet marketing reference and Internet marketing articles index"
Sections include: Internet Marketing Dictionary ; Internet Marketing Acronyms ; Internet Marketing Education ; Other Marketing References ; Around the WWW.

[Mathematics] Mathematical Programming Glossary - (dead link)
"This contains terms specific to mathematical programming, and some terms from other disciplines, notably economics, computer science, and mathematics, that are directly related."
By Harvey Greenberg, Mathematics Dept., University of Colorado at Denver.

[Mathematics] Mathematical Reviews' Abbreviations of Names of Serials - (dead link)

[Medicine] Biomedical Acronym Database
"This database was constructed in a purely automated manner, using a set of heuristics to identify acronyms/abbreviations and their definitions within MEDLINE records. Currently, it is the world's largest and most comprehensive catalog of biomedical acronyms and abbreviations, containing approximately 257,000 out of an estimated 277,000 unique acronyms within MEDLINE."
- UT Southwestern Computational Biology Group

[Medicine] Medical Abbreviations Dictionary
"A dictionary of over 70,000 medical, pharmaceutical, biomedical & healthcare acronyms and abbreviations. Plus medical news and searches for the medical, pharmaceutical or healthcare professional."

Medterms.com
Medical Dictionary

The Middle East: A Glossary of Terms
From the Guardian Unlimited

[Music] Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary
Created by Richard Cole and Ed Schwartz.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
By E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, James Trefil
3rd ed.: Completely Revised and Updated, 2002.
Published 2003 by Bartleby.com

Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures, Signs & Body Language Cues
"Items in this Dictionary have been researched by anthropologists, archaeologists, biologists, linguists, psychiatrists, psychologists, semioticians, and others who have studied human communication from a scientific point of view."
By David B. Givens

ODLIS: Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science - (dead link) "...is designed to be a hypertext reference resource for library and information science professionals, university students and faculty, and users of all types of libraries. The primary criterion for including a new term is whether a librarian or other information professional might reasonably be expected to encounter it at some point in his (or her) career, or be required to know its meaning in the course of executing his or her responsibilities as a librarian." - (dead link) By Joan M. Reitz, Assistant Professor/Instruction Librarian, Ruth A. Hass Library, Western Connecticut State University

Online Glossary of Research Economics
 By Peter B. Meyer, Economics Dept., Northwestern University

Quotemachine
"Searchable database of quotations, with a category browser and random quote generator. Visitors can submit their own favourite quotes and join the mailing list. Webmasters can also use our free service which places a randomly generated quote on their pages that will change every time the page is loaded."

pseudodictionary.com
"The dictionary of words that wouldn't make it into dictionaries."

Roget's Internet Thesaurus

[Science] Lenntech - Water FAQ (English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch)
"The question library on water related issues"

[Science] Scientific and Technical Acronyms, Symbols and Abbreviations
From Wiley InterScience

[Science] Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) - Virtual Visitor Center
Sections include: Accelerator ; Applications ; Detectors ; Experiments ; Glossary ; History ; Nobel ; SSRL ; Theory.

[Science] TechEncyclopedia
"More than 14,000 definitions of computer terms and concepts."

[Science] Temperature Conversion Calculator
Units include: Kelvin ; Celsius ; Fahrenheit ; Reaumur ; Rankine.
- University of Exeter - Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching

[Science] Terms of Environment
EPA - Revised ed.
Glossary, abbreviations, and acronyms.

Thinkexist
Famous Quotes and Proverbs

Virology and Microbiology Dictionaries
From All the Virology on the WWW, by D. Sander.

Webopedia: Online Dictionary for Computer and Internet Terms

whatis.com
 An encyclopedia of computer & technical terms

Word Spy - (dead link)
"This Web site and its associated mailing list are devoted to recently coined words, existing words that have enjoyed a recent renaissance, and older words that are now being used in new ways."

See also:
Academic Info: English Language
Academic Info: Language Study
Academic Info: Linguistics



Maintained by Mike Madin.
.
Academic Info http://www.academicinfo.net/refdictionaries.html