DICTIONARY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does dictionary mean? 

• DICTIONARY (noun)
  The noun DICTIONARY has 1 sense:

1. a reference book containing an alphabetical list of words with information about them

  Familiarity information: DICTIONARY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DICTIONARY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A reference book containing an alphabetical list of words with information about them

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

dictionary; lexicon

Hypernyms ("dictionary" is a kind of...):

wordbook (a reference book containing words (usually with their meanings))

Meronyms (parts of "dictionary"):

dictionary entry; lexical entry (the entry in a dictionary of information about a word)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dictionary"):

bilingual dictionary (a dictionary giving equivalent words in two languages)

collegiate dictionary; desk dictionary (an abridged dictionary of a size convenient to hold in the hand)

etymological dictionary (a dictionary giving the historical origins of each word)

gazetteer (a geographical dictionary (as at the back of an atlas))

learner's dictionary; school dictionary (a dictionary specially written for those learning a foreign language)

little dictionary; pocket dictionary (a dictionary that is small enough to carry in your pocket)

spell-checker; spelling checker (an electronic dictionary in a word processor that can be used to catch misspelled words)

unabridged; unabridged dictionary (a dictionary that has not been shortened by the omitting terms or definitions; a comprehensive dictionary)

 Context examples 

I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for there were many nationalities in the crowd; so I quietly got my polyglot dictionary from my bag and looked them out.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The name of a clinical event as described in a dictionary.

(Clinical Events Dictionary Derived Term, NCI Thesaurus)

He sat up in bed, and the dictionary was in front of him more often than the book.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A concomitant medication identifier obtained from a dictionary.

(Concomitant Medication Dictionary Derived Term, NCI Thesaurus)

We don't speak German, and we cannot read it without a dictionary to help us.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This other, however, prints ‘match’ when it should have been ‘matches.’ I can imagine that the word was taken out of a dictionary, which would give the noun but not the plural.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A medical history identifier obtained from a dictionary.

(Medical History Dictionary Derived Term, NCI Thesaurus)

An adverse event identifier obtained from a dictionary.

(Adverse Event Dictionary Derived Term, NCI Thesaurus)

A data type comprised of a single code value of a concept defined and/or referenced in an external coding system, dictionary or ontology.

(Coded Value Data Type, NCI Thesaurus)

It was his only room, I saw; for there was a sofa-bedstead in it, and his blacking-brushes and blacking were among his books—on the top shelf, behind a dictionary.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)