🜃 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (2024)

FAQs

Is Wiktionary owned by Wikipedia? ›

Like its sister project Wikipedia, Wiktionary is run by the Wikimedia Foundation, and is written collaboratively by volunteers, dubbed "Wiktionarians". Its wiki software, MediaWiki, allows almost anyone with access to the website to create and edit entries.

Wiktionary is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary of all words in all languages. It is collaboratively edited via a wiki, and its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki and dictionary.

Wiktionary:Main Page. Welcome to the English-language Wiktionary, a collaborative project to produce a free-content multilingual dictionary. It aims to describe all words of all languages using definitions and descriptions in English.

The full articles that Wikipedia's stubs grow into are very different from dictionary entries. Each article in an encyclopedia is about a person, a people, a concept, a place, an event, a thing, etc., whereas a dictionary entry is primarily about a word, an idiom, or a term and its meaning(s), usage and history.

It's credible, but like any community edited resource it has gaps and inaccuracies. I think different dictionaries excel at different aspects, so usually I end up using thefreedictionary.com which is a consolidator.

A debate or discussion of opposing opinions; (generally) strife.

Wiktionary supports the standard MediaWiki API - this basically lets you return page markup in a somewhat parseable format. And some projects to make working with Wiktionary content more machine-readable: https://github.com/dkpro/dkpro-jwktl.

More than a dictionary, the OED is a comprehensive guide to current and historical word meanings in English. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely accepted as the most complete record of the English language ever assembled.

Via a library

Most libraries offer remote access. This means that, if you are a member of your local library, you can access the OED online for free anywhere you have internet access. Just click on 'Sign in with a library card', select your library and enter your library membership number (on your library card).

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE.

Why can't we use Wikipedia? ›

Wikipedia is a great tool for getting a quick introduction to unfamiliar topics, but many educators frown on the use of Wikipedia. Here's why: Wikipedia content is not necessarily written by subject experts, and may be inadequate or incorrect. Articles in Wikipedia may be changed or deleted between viewings.

As Oxford's flagship American dictionary, the New Oxford American Dictionary sets the standard of excellence for lexicography in this country.

Deserving of trust, reliable.

The relationship resulting from affiliating one thing with another. A club, society or umbrella organisation so formed, especially a trade union.

reputation (countable and uncountable, plural reputations) What somebody or something is known for. synonyms ▲quotations ▼ Synonyms: name, (archaic) savour.

Note: This app is no longer maintained, its repo was archived. Client for wiktionary.org, a dictionary run by the Wikimedia project.