English dictionary

[ ing-glish dik-shuh-ner-ee, or, often, ing-lish ]

noun

, plural Eng·lish dic·tion·ar·ies.

1. a dictionary in which most of the entry words and all of their definitions, as well as supplementary material, are in English; a monolingual English dictionary, such as Dictionary.com. Terms from other languages that are commonly used by speakers of English are given language labels and often the foreign as well as Anglicized pronunciations.

Word History and Origins

Origin of English dictionary¹

First recorded in 1720–30

Example Sentences

The word entered the Oxford English Dictionary in the 1990s, but Caltrans says that as far as it can tell, “SigAlerts” just don’t show up in your average traffic apps.

From Los Angeles Times

Though the gesture is closely associated with Hawaiian surf culture in the 1970s, the Oxford English Dictionary says it potentially has Japanese roots.

From Los Angeles Times

On its handful of stages, I’ve seen Shakespeare, a drama about the Oxford English Dictionary and a big-budget musical that later landed on Broadway.

From New York Times

In 2006 polyamory entered the Oxford English Dictionary, which defined it as the "practice of engaging in multiple sexual relationships with the knowledge and consent of all partners concerned".

From BBC

The Waldos saved postmarked letters and other artifacts from the 1970s referencing “420,” which they now keep in a bank vault, and when the Oxford English Dictionary added the term in 2017, it cited some of those documents as the earliest recorded uses.

From Seattle Times