Oxford English Dictionary

We hope you’re enjoying using Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO) and that it’s providing you with the information and help you need to answer all your English language queries. Oxford publishes many different types of dictionaries in print and online, from bilingual dictionaries, dictionaries for English learners, and children’s dictionaries, to dictionaries for research and study. Perhaps the most well known is the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the definitive record of the English language.

The OED is one of the largest dictionaries in the world and the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language, tracing the use of more than 600,000 words over the last 1,000 years through 3 million quotations. The OED defines and illustrates how a word has been used, where it came from, when it first entered the language, and how its meaning has changed over time and around the world, by quoting from more than one hundred thousand modern and historical texts, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts, wills, cookery books, and blogs.

The OED is a historical dictionary, with a structure that is very different from that of a dictionary of current English such as ODO. In ODO, only present-day senses are covered and we describe the most common meanings or senses first, making it easy for you to find guidance on today’s language quickly. For each word in the OED, on the other hand, the senses are dealt with in chronological order according to the quotation evidence. This way the senses with the earliest quotations appear first, and the senses which have developed more recently appear further down the entry – like a ‘family tree’ for each word. Also, unlike current English dictionaries, senses are never removed from the OED. For example, if a word developed with a particular sense in the nineteenth century but has more recently changed to mean something quite different, the OED will show you both senses.

If you are looking for practical help or advice on how to use English in writing or communication today, then ODO will provide you with all the information you need. If you’re interested in how our language has developed over time or want to dig deeper into its origins or variations around the world, then the OED is the definitive resource.