dictionary
see also: Dictionary
Etymology

From Middle English dixionare, learned borrowing from Medieval Latin dictiōnārium, from Latin dictiōnārius, from dictiō ("a speaking"), from dictus, perfect past participle of dīcō + -ārium.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈdɪkʃənəɹi/, /ˈdɪkʃənɹi/, /ˈdɪkʃnəɹi/
  • (America, Canada) enPR: dĭk'shə-nĕr-ē, IPA: /ˈdɪkʃəˌnɛɹi/
Noun

dictionary (plural dictionaries)

  1. A reference work with a list of words from one or more languages, normally ordered alphabetically, explaining each word's meanings (sense), and sometimes also containing information on its etymology, pronunciation, usage, semantic relations, and translations, as well as other data.
    Synonyms: Thesaurus:dictionary
    Hypernyms: wordbook
    Coordinate term: thesaurus
    If you want to know the meaning of a word, look it up in the dictionary.
  2. (preceded by the) A synchronic dictionary of a standardised language held to only contain words that are properly part of the language.
    • 1930, Norman Lindsay, chapter 6, in Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC ↗, section I, page 106:
      Look it up in the dictionary, and what do you find?
  3. (by extension) Any work that has a list of material organized alphabetically; e.g., biographical dictionary, encyclopedic dictionary.
  4. (computing) An associative array, a data structure where each value is referenced by a particular key, analogous to words and definitions in a dictionary (sense 1).
    Hyponym: hash table
Related terms Translations Verb

dictionary (dictionaries, present participle dictionarying; simple past and past participle dictionaried)

  1. (transitive) To look up in a dictionary.
  2. (transitive) To add to a dictionary.
  3. (intransitive, rare) To compile a dictionary.

Dictionary
Etymology

From dictionary.

Proper noun
  1. Nickname for a swot or studious person, or one who uses needlessly complicated words.
    • 1993, Fred Hartley, That Morals Thing, page 31:
      His friends called him "Dictionary." There were other names they called him that were far worse.
    • 2002, Bart Schneider, Secret Love, page 67:
      Hillis Brown turned toward Simon and whispered, "Hey, DICtionary[sic], don't worry, just because you sing like Johnny doesn't mean you gotta be a faggot."
    • 2013, Bridgette Kasuka, African Writers, page 404:
      Meanwhile, he applied himself so diligently to his formal education that schoolmates called him “Dictionary.” This effort won him admission to a British-run boarding school with an excellent library.



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