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The online version of the famous and authoritative historical dictionary of the English language.
The OED describes itself as “the definitive record of the English language”. It’s a guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words – current and historical - from across the English-speaking world.
While dictionaries of current English focus on present-day meanings, the OED, while still including current meanings, has the history of individual words and of the language, traced through millions of quotations.
This online version has a Quick Search and Advanced Search, or you can browse the whole dictionary, categories, timelines, sources, or a historical thesaurus.
You can view word entries as an outline or a full entry. Word entries have a wealth of information including: pronunciation; frequency of use; etymology; historical meanings (with quotations); thesaurus terms; and index entry.
A dictionary which includes hot topics, and words of interest. Definitions use common words, pronunciations are in British and American English, and examples of use and verb forms are provided.
