ANATOMY OF A DICTIONARY

In larger collegiate and unabridged dictionaries, alphabetical systems become quite complex, moving deep into a word. Example: words beginning with anthoc come before words beginning with anthol.

Entries arranged alphabetically

At the top of each page, guide words serve as quick-reference navigation aids, listing the first and last dictionary entries to appear on a page.

Guide words

Guides includes a description of the pieces and parts of a dictionary entry, abbreviation guides, and pronunciation guides

Guides for using the dictionary

The list includes the editors who compiled the edition and a list of language authorities who serve on a usage panel.

List of contributors

Use a dictionary to answer the following questions. What is the alternate spelling of meager? Which part of the dictionary entry did you use to find the answer?

Meager - a small quanity and poor in quality (US English ) adjective - Meagre

These vary by dictionary but can include guides for Standard English punctuation, reference/citation guidelines for research papers, proofreading symbols, and alphabetical listings of important people and places (biographical and geographical listings).

Other resources

Pictures of animals, plants, inventions, articles of clothing, works of art and architecture, and portraits of famous people serve to aid understanding of definitions—usually nouns.

Pictures and illustrations

A companion to the in-depth pronunciation guide at the front of the dictionary, a quick-reference pronunciation key appears in each full-page spread to aid in interpreting pronunciation symbols used in the respelling of each word in a dictionary entry

Pronunciation key

These include information about the history of the English language, dialects and usage, and lexicography.

Scholarly articles on the English language—

These include common abbreviations, weights, measures, and symbols.

Tables and charts

Use a dictionary to answer the following questions. What would Shakespeare have meant in using the word prevent? How is that meaning different from today's use? Which part of the dictionary entry did you use to find the answer?

To show that he wanted to stop an event from occuring He wrote his plays in a foreign dialect of the English language, yet the word "prevent" meant the same to him as it did to any native English speaker.

Use a dictionary to answer the following questions. What are the plural forms of curriculum? Which part of the dictionary entry did you use to find the answer?

To talk about distance, use either farther, farthest or further, furthest. In British English, further, furthest are the more common forms and in North American English, farther and farthest:Further, but not farther, can also mean 'more' or 'additional'

the word as it appears in other forms, correctly spelled: plural forms of nouns, tense forms of verbs to mark tenses, comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs

alternate forms, inflected forms

the accepted meaning of a word. Most words have multiple related meanings or "senses," so definitions are numbered with the most commonly used meaning appearing first.

definition

a date marking the earliest known appearance of the word in a written text

earliest recorded use

the word defined in a dictionary entry

entry word

the word itself as it should be spelled. Small black dots indicate acceptable places to use hyphens in cases where only part of the word fits at the end of a line of text. Some words may have more than one correct spelling.

entry word

one of two words appearing at the top of a dictionary page marking the first and last entries on that page

guide word

a quotation from a literary source to show use of the word in context

illustrative quote

the function of the word in a sentence. Abbreviations include n (noun), vi or vt (intransitive or transitive verb), adj (adjective), etc.

part of speech

the exact pronunciation of a word, communicated through special phonetic symbols

respelling

the word as it should be pronounced. Special phonetic symbols represent the exact sounds of all consonants and vowels. Spaces or hyphens indicate syllable division. Accent marks (') show which syllables are stressed. Some words may have more than one pronunciation.

respelling

words meaning the same or nearly the same thing as the entry word. Synonyms are an extension of definitions

synonyms

Use a dictionary to answer the following questions. How many meanings does the word pretty have? What are they? How is that meaning different from today's use? Which part of the dictionary entry did you use to find the answer?

to some extent; fairly-The game was pretty good. be sitting pretty - to be in a good situation, especially when others are not pretty much/well-almost; almost completely

complete, exhaustive; used in reference to dictionaries containing all the words of a language

unabridged

descriptions of the "status" of a word, usually in abbreviated form (archaic, obsolete, regional, nonstandard, slang), notes guiding its use, and brief quotes illustrating its use

usage