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Comparison of English dictionaries

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This is a comparison of English dictionaries, which are dictionaries about the English language. The dictionaries listed here are categorized into "full-size" dictionaries (which extensively cover the language, and are targeted to native speakers), "collegiate" (which are smaller, and often contain other biographical or geographical information useful to college students), and "learner's" (which are even smaller, targeted to English language learners, and which all use the International Phonetic Alphabet to indicate pronunciation).

Full-size

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These dictionaries generally aim for extensive coverage of the language for native speakers. They typically only cover one variety of English.

Title Publisher First

published

Latest edition Date Pages Entries

(approx.)

Words and definitions

(approx.)

Main dialect Pronunciation

guide

American Heritage Dictionary (AHD) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 1969 5th (ISBN 0-547-04101-2) 2011 2,074 200,000[a] American Diacritical
Encarta Websters Dictionary of the English Language[b] Bloomsbury 1999 2nd (ISBN 1-58234-510-4, 0-7475-6243-1) 2004 2,166 100,000[3] 400,000[4] IPA
Canadian Oxford Dictionary Oxford University Press 1998 2nd (ISBN 978-0-19-541816-3) 2004 1,830 300,000[5] Canadian Diacritical
The Chambers Dictionary Chambers Harrap 1872 13th (ISBN 978-1-4736-0225-0) 2014 1,920 62,500[c][6] 620,000[d][7] British Diacritical
Collins English Dictionary HarperCollins 1979 14th (ISBN 978-0-00-851134-0) 2023 2,336 732,000[8] British IPA
Concise Oxford English Dictionary (COED) Oxford University Press 1911 12th (ISBN 978-0-19-960108-0) 2011 1,728 240,000[9] British IPA
Macquarie Dictionary Macquarie 1981 9th (ISBN 978-1-76126-774-1) 2023 1,856 Australian IPA
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (MWD) Merriam-Webster 1828 18th (rev., ISBN 978-0-87779-095-2) 2022 960 75,000[e][10] American Diacritical
New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD) Oxford University Press 2001 3rd (ISBN 0-19-539288-4) 2010 2,096 350,000[11] American Diacritical
Oxford Dictionary of English Oxford University Press 1998 3rd (ISBN 0-19-957112-0) 2010 2,112 350,000[12] British IPA
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Oxford University Press 1895 2nd (20 vols., ISBN 0-19-861186-2) 1989 21,730 600,000[13] British IPA
Random House Webster's Random House 1966 2nd (rev., ISBN 978-0-375-42599-8) 2002 2,258 315,000[14] American Diacritical
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED) Oxford University Press 1933 6th (2 vol., ISBN 978-0-19-920687-2) 2007 3,804 220,000[f][15] 600,000[16] British IPA
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (W3) Merriam-Webster 1961 3rd (ISBN 0-87-779201-1) 2002 2,820 476,000[17] American Diacritical

Collegiate

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These dictionaries generally contain fewer entries (and fewer definitions per entry) than their full-size counterparts but may contain additional material, such as biographical or geopolitical information, that would be useful to a college student. They may be revised more often and thus contain more up to date usage. Sometimes the term collegiate or college is used merely to indicate a physically smaller, more economically printed dictionary.

Title Publisher First

published

Latest edition Date Pages Entries

(approx.)

Main dialect Pronunciation

guide

The American Heritage College Dictionary Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2002 4th[g] (ISBN 0-547-24766-4) 2010 1,664 American Diacritical
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Merriam-Webster 1898 11th, revised (ISBN 0877798079) 2019 (01.08) 1,664 165,000 American Diacritical
Webster's New World College Dictionary HarperCollins 1953 5th (ISBN 0358126614) 2020 (02.06) 1,728 163,000 American Diacritical

Learner's

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"Learner's dictionary" redirects here. For other uses, see Advanced learner's dictionary and Monolingual learner's dictionary.

These dictionaries generally contain fewer entries than full-size or collegiate dictionaries but contain additional information that would be useful to a learner of English, such as more extensive usage notes, example sentences or phrases, collocations, and both British and American pronunciations (sometimes multiple variants of the latter). In addition, definitions are usually restricted to a simpler core vocabulary than that expected of a native speaker. All use the IPA to indicate pronunciation.

Title Publisher First

published

Latest edition Date Pages Usage examples

(approx.)

Main dialect
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary Cambridge University Press 2003[h] 4th (ISBN 9781107619500) 2013 (24.06) 1,856 140,000 British
Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary Collins Cobuild 1987 10th (ISBN 978-0008444907) 2023 (13.04) 1,920 British
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Pearson-Longman 1978 6th (ISBN 9781447954194) 2014 (17.04) 2,224 165,000 British
Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners Macmillan Education 2002 2nd (ISBN 9781405025263) 2007 1,748 British
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's English Dictionary Merriam-Webster 2008 2nd (ISBN 9780877797364) 2016 (01.10) 1,994 160,000 American
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary Oxford University Press 1948 10th (ISBN 9780194799485) 2020 (09.01) 1,960 185,000 British

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The third edition contained "more than 200,000 boldface forms" (entries).[1] The fourth and fifth editions each added roughly 10,000 "new words and senses".[2] It is not clear how many of these were new words.
  2. ^ First edition titled Encarta World English Dictionary. Second edition also published in the UK as Bloomsbury English Dictionary.
  3. ^ 12th edition
  4. ^ 12th edition
  5. ^ This figure is for definitions only.
  6. ^ 4th edition
  7. ^ The 2010 "4th edition" of The American Heritage College Dictionary (ISBN 0-547-24766-4) is the second revision of the original "4th edition" published in 2002; it was originally derived from the 4th edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, which was published in 2000.[1]
  8. ^ Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary was originally published as Cambridge International Dictionary of English in 1995.

References

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  1. ^ Soukhanov, Anne H. (1992). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. vi. ISBN 0-395-44895-6.
  2. ^ Pickett, Joseph P. (2011). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. vi. ISBN 9780547041018.
  3. ^ Rooney, Kathy (2004). Bloomsbury English Dictionary (2nd ed.). London: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. xi. ISBN 0747562431.
  4. ^ Rooney, Kathy (2004). Bloomsbury English Dictionary (2nd ed.). London: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. Back cover. ISBN 0747562431.
  5. ^ "Canadian Oxford Dictionary | Edited by Katherine Barber | 9780195418163 | Oxford University Press Canada". www.oupcanada.com. Archived from the original on 2024-07-23. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  6. ^ Kaminski, Mariusz (2013). A History of the Chambers Dictionary. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 95–96. ISBN 9783110312737.
  7. ^ "Internet terms make mark on new Chambers Dictionary". BBC News. 2011-08-25. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  8. ^ "English Dictionary Complete and Unabridged edition with slipcase by". Collins. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  9. ^ "Concise Oxford English Dictionary". global.oup.com. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  10. ^ "The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Newest Edition". Merriam-Webster Shop. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus; Lindberg, Christine A., eds. (2011-01-01), "New Oxford American Dictionary", New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001/acref-9780195392883, ISBN 978-0-19-539288-3, retrieved 2025-03-18
  12. ^ "Oxford Dictionary of English". global.oup.com. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  13. ^ "The Oxford English Dictionary". global.oup.com. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  14. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd ed.). New York: Random House. 2001. pp. Front cover. ISBN 9780375425998.
  15. ^ "The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary". blackwells.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  16. ^ "Shorter Oxford English Dictionary". global.oup.com. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  17. ^ "Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged". Merriam-Webster Shop. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
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