Etymology From Middle English dixionare, a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin dictiōnārium, from Latin dictiōnārius, from dictiō (“a speaking”), from dictus, perfect past participle of dīcō (“to speak”) + -ārium (“room, place”). By surface analysis, diction + -ary.
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A reference work listing words or names from one or more languages, usually ordered alphabetically, explaining each word's meanings or senses, oftentimes also containing information on its etymology, pronunciation, usage, semantic relations, translations, as well as other relevant information.
If you want to know the meaning of a word, look it up in the dictionary.
But what other kind(s) of syntactic information should be included in Lexical Entries? Traditional dictionaries such as Hornby's (1974) Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English include not only categorial information in their entries, but also information about the range of Complements which a given item permits (this information is represented by the use of a number/letter code).1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 339:
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Broadly A reference work on a particular subject or activity in which the entries are arranged alphabetically; an alphabetical encyclopedia.
a law dictionary
a dictionary of sports
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Figuratively A person or thing regarded as a repository or compendium of information.
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Derogatory, Especially, Possessive, With of The collection of words used or understood by a particular person; vocabulary.
Frequently figurative
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A synchronic dictionary of a standardised language held to only contain words that are properly part of the language.
Preceded by the
Look it up in the dictionary, and what do you find?1930, Norman Lindsay, chapter 6, in Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, section I, page 106:
By 1986 the name Walkman was included as a word in the English dictionary.2019, John Hughes, Life Pre-Intermediate Student's Book, National Geographic Learning, page 188:
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Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences An associative array, or a data structure where each value is referenced by a particular key, analogous to words and definitions in a dictionary (noun sense 1).
User calls RouteCollection.GetVirtualPath, passing in a RequestContext, a dictionary of values, and an optional route name used to select the correct route to generate the URL.2011, Jon Galloway, Phil Haack, Brad Wilson, Professional ASP.NET MVC 3:
Etymology From Middle English dixionare, a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin dictiōnārium, from Latin dictiōnārius, from dictiō (“a speaking”), from dictus, perfect past participle of dīcō (“to speak”) + -ārium (“room, place”). By surface analysis, diction + -ary.
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To look up in a dictionary.
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To add to a dictionary.
By a reference to the following dictionaried abbreviations, the simplicity and harmony of each sentence will be manifestly apparent; although it does not embrace everything, and could not, as it would be far too voluminous for general use.1866, William Henry Ward, The international day, night, and fog signal telegraph, page 12:
Should I use a word that a lot of people use but isn't in the dictionary? Uncle Phil would rather get a root canal than say he was scrapbooking, because the word isn't dictionaried.2001, The Michigan Alumnus, page 25:
They [dictionary-makers] may have had their romance at home—may have been crossed in love, and thence driven to dictionarying; may have been involved in domestic tragedies—who can say?1864 September 23, “The Alphabeticals”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 96, number 587, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, page 334, column 2: