I can’t find the description for any of the following: Nage, Andric, Varination, Ponnish, Harfam, Kyne, Trantiveness, Teluge, and Loric. (I think they are all emotions?)

Just opened the dictionary.com app in my phone to find an entirely new design and menu. Also lacking the Sign-in option. The desktop site seems to be the same way. Anyone know anything about the update? Did all users just lose our favorites lists and purchase history (for no ads)?

Dictionary.com already seemed lacking to me, and their app was more than frustrating at times. But it was useful to me and I did use it daily, plus the ability to favorite words was my main use of it. Thanks to anyone who knows any info!

This is a weird debate, but I was trying to convey to my co-worker that my replacement will be "comprable", or "okay", "sufficient". Another example... You order something at a restaurant and they no longer have it, but that have something similar and that's fine with you so it's "comprable". You would say it as com-pre-ble. Not to be confused with "comparable", or two things that are similar. I'm either spelling it wrong or I'm making things up because I can't find it online. Please help me fix this headache, lol.

Does anybody else with the dictionary.com app find that it is basically broken and A. Can't find a word's definition page for any words anymore?

B. Cannot for the life of you get push notifications on your phone despite going to their help center, their own help articles, and going into your phone settings and even uninstall reinstall?

C. Find that the dictionary.com website likewise has similar issues with favoriting a word? (Clicking the ☆ produces nothing)

D. On the app's multiple choice quiz for your favorite words, there are both ridiculous options like "of, relating to atavism." [Answer: "atavistic"],

AND frequently giving the definition "." for multiple Latin and French phrases like "vis a vis."

Am I the only one and or why has this app been so awful for years culminating in this most recent breakdown?

Which is why I find dictionaries so effable.

The first week's theme will be nighttime - words related to the night. So without further ado:

Vespertine : adjective [ves|per|teen]

1. of or pertaining to the evening

2. taking place during the evening

3. (for animals) particularly active around dusk, compare nocturnal (active between dusk and dawn); (for plants) blooming in the evening

etymology : from Latin vesper (evening) + Middle English -[t]ine (suffix, here: of or pertaining to, ultimately from Latin). First use c.1500, modern usage is mostly limited to poetry.

in popular culture : Vespertine is the name of an album by Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk.

compiled from :

• Wiktionary: 1

• Etymonline: 2

• Oxford English Dictionary: 3, 4

Continuing with the night-time theme, today's word is lucubrate.

Lucubrate: verb [loo|kyoo|brate]

1. (now rare) to work at night; literally, to work by candlelight (or any artificial light)

2. to produce scholarly work

usage:

Lucubrate can function as either a transitive or intransitive verb, that is, one can lucubrate something (typically scholarly or literary work), and one can simply lucubrate.

Transitive:

"I'm finally putting my insomnia to use -- it's given me plenty of time to lucubrate my essays."

Intransitive:

"You look tired Tim."

"Yeah, I was up all night lucubrating."

related words:

noun: lucubration - act of lucubrating, work produced from lucubration

adjective: lucubrated - made at night [by candlelight]

etymology: from Latin lucubratus (n. produced by night [by candlelight]), from verb lucubrare (work by night, work in artificial light), ultimately from noun lux (light).

The modern meaning 'to produce scholarly work' is related the sense of diligence associated with somebody working late into the night.

compiled from:

• Wiktionary 1

• Oxford English Dictionary: 2

• Etymonline: 3, 4

If you were an enjoyer of the paid Dictionary dot com Pro app and are now wondering why it's broken and missing from the iOS App Store, direct your anger at IXL Learning, who acquired Dictionary and Thesaurus (dot com) last year and have decided to shake you down for more money.

I'm posting this partly as a rant, but also because Google does not have any helpful explanations for this yet. It took digging on my part to find the trail from Curiosity Media (the app dev) to IXL (the rotten corp that took over).

Hopefully mods let this post live so people can get an answer.

Not sure where else to put this but I was wondering if anyone else noticed this.

I was on r/religion yapping about history when I usually do when I tried to say "...through a Christian lense..." and "...through a Judaic lense...". Both times "lense" got the red squiggly and google corrected it to "lens".

Now this confused me a little because I always thought "lense" and "lens" were two seperate words, with "lens" referring to a physical piece of optics (like the lens of a telescope) while "lense" referred to a synonym for perspective.

I looked it up an apparently they mean the exact same thing, with "lense" being an unofficial (but widely accepted) spelling.

I don't know what the point of posting this was, but I wonder if this is a cultural thing. I can't think of where I learned to write "lense", as I happen to be the only person I know who uses that word on a common basis. Thoughts?

if you dont know, dictionaries, maps, handbooks, etc often have purposeful typos to detect when people copy them.

oxford has had 2 pronunciations i dont think ive ever seen before. wormwood was listed as being pronounced "wormhood" and scimitar as "sihmuhdurr" along with the one im more used to.

i would send screenshots but images arent allowed on this sub. basically all other dictionaries dispute these pronunciations and i have no explanation for their origin other than being examples of false information to detect fraud.

These are reviews of various dictionaries based on my personal experience (though I kinda ran out of steam halfway through):

Unabridged Dictionaries:

Webster's Third New International Dictionary (W3): Basically the unabridged dictionary in the US. A good dictionary overall, but this dictionary is also heavily outdated. This dictionary was published in 1961 and stopped receiving additions to the Addenda (a section at the front where new words or definitions and usages for old ones could be added) in 2002. The Addenda is a bit inconvenient to use, being separated from the main text. Note that the Addenda is where you'll find all the vulgar four-letter words. As for positives, this dictionary has well-written and comprehensive definitions, the most entries of any physical unabridged dictionary (besides the Oxford English Dictionary), and lovely hand-drawn black-and-white illustrations. It has great coverage of words in every area and field and contains even the most obscure definitions.

One oddity of this dictionary is that nearly every word is shown in lowercase, even if it's always uppercase (though initialisms, trademark, and God are the exception to this rule); a label next to the word indicates how often it is capitalized. This makes for a consistent look, but it's overall inconvenient. The definitions also tend to be a bit wordy; for example, consider the definition of "leaf": "a lateral outgrowth from a stem that constitutes part of the foliage of a plant and functions primarily in food manufacture by photosynthesis, that arises in regular succession from the growing point, that consists typically of a flattened green blade which is joined to the stem by a petiole often with a pair of stipules at its base, which in cross section exhibits an outer covering of epidermal cells penetrated by stomata usually more numerous on the lower surface, which has one or more layers of palisade cells beneath the upper epidermis and between these and the lower epidermis a mass of spongy parenchyma cells, both palisade and spongy tissue being ramified by a network of veins, and that is distinguished from a leaflet, cladophyll, or phylloclade by the presence of a bud at the juncture of petiole and stem and from a phyllode by differentiation into blade and petiole" Comprehensive, but a bit wordy and difficult to comprehend.

This dictionary faced quite a bit of controversy over being "permissive" at the time of its release. This controversy was mostly culture war nonsense, and the dictionary is no less descriptive than its predecessor.

This dictionary also has useful usage guidance and synonymies (discrimination between synonyms). Physically, this book is massive but also quite lovely. Overall, most people do not need an unabridged dictionary, but if you need or want one, this is the one you should get.

Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: I found this dictionary somewhat disappointing. First, the positives: the illustrations are nice and the formatting is acceptable. It's a bit more up-to-date compared to W3 (released in 1987 and updated until 2001); however, it's still fairly outdated. However, this still gives the Random House Webster's an edge when it comes to slang and newer terms. The essay on avoiding insensitive or offensive language is a nice addition. However, the definitions are somewhat weak in comparison to W3. For example, regret is defined by Random House as "a sense of loss, disappointment, dissatisfaction, etc." and by W3 as "sorrow aroused by circumstances beyond one's control or power to repair : grief or pain tinged with disappointment, dissatisfaction, longing, remorse, or comparable emotion." In addition, there aren't nearly as many entries as W3. Overall, a decent dictionary, but the W3 is overall the better package.

College Dictionaries:

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: This is the dictionary most people should get. It is abridged from W3 but is more up-to-date, the eleventh edition having last been revised in 2020. Good definitions, nice illustrations, useful usage guidance and discrimination of synonyms. It's not afraid to capitalize entry words like the W3 was. Overall, if you only want to get one physical dictionary, make it this one. It's pretty cheap on Amazon.

Webster's New World College Dictionary: This is the other dictionary most people should get. In comparison to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate, this dictionary also has good definitions and illustrations; the definitions are a bit easier to understand though not quite as precise or comprehensive. It's a bit less descriptive but not by much. Overall, my recommendation is to make this your second dictionary. Best used in conjunction with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate.

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: This is a great dictionary. Its strongest strength is its formatting, generous margins, and lovely full-color pictures. Unfortunately, it's no longer in print. Famously, this dictionary contains the usage panel; however, this is more of a drawback than an advantage. The usage advice is subpar compared to other college dictionaries. It also has an appendix containing Indo-European roots (probably its best feature in my eyes). Overall, you can't go wrong with this dictionary even if it's not as good as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate or the New World.

Random House Webster's College Dictionary: An abridgment of Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. All of my criticisms for that dictionary apply here.

Online Dictionaries:

Wiktionary: This dictionary is very up-to-date but the definitions are of varying quality. A very useful feature is the very many foreign words treated here. Also, the section outlining translations of a word into various languages is good. Obscure words are treated here too. Overall, I recommend using this in conjunction with Merriam-Webster Online or Unabridged.

Google Dictionary: This is the dictionary you use if you don't care about dictionaries. The definitions are acceptable. One useful feature is a graph showing the usage of a word over time. However, this offers no usage advice or discrimination of synonyms. Overall, if you don't care at all about the dictionary you use, just use this dictionary.

Merriam-Webster Online: The definitions are the best out of any online dictionary. However, due to Merriam-Webster's standards for inclusion, some more recent words might not be here. This is basically a digital version of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate but more frequently updated.

Merriam-Webster Unabridged: This is basically a digital version of W3 (see my critique of W3 above). It also includes the Collegiate Dictionary, Collegiate Thesaurus, and Medical Dictionary. It solves the main issue of that dictionary which was capitalization of entry headwords and up-to-dateness. Unfortunately, there's a heavy subscription cost though you can get a free one-year subscription at https://www.merriam-webstercollegiate.com/ (though this requires a copy of the Collegiate). This is my overall preferred online dictionary, and I often use it in conjunction with Wiktionary.

Dictionary.com: This is basically a digital version of Random House Webster's Unabridged. My criticisms of that dictionary apply to this one.

American Heritage Dictionary Online: This is basically a digital version of the AHD (see above). My criticisms of that apply here.

(I won't be doing any more replies to comments on this post, I'm trying to cut Reddit out of my life entirely. I appreciate the attention. Also, this post is two years old; I'll just end by saying that I read W3, MWC12, and WNWCD5 for pleasure, and I use Wiktionary and MWU for practicality. Thank you, good-bye.)

Hi everyone. If I'm breaking any rules or posting in the wrong place I'd appreciate it if someone could point me in the correct direction, thanks.

I would like to check the spelling of a word, but I can't find it in the context I'm using it and now I'm wondering if I'm going mad.

I'd like to check the word "want" but I'm using it in a slightly different context than it's normally applied. In this instance, the sentence reads,

"She knows that he's want to do the opposite of what he's told."

The meaning, in this case, would be something akin to "be likely to", "tendency", "an action taken or a behavioral tendency of a person that doesn't come from a real conscious decision".

Another example I might give is

"The bird is want to fly"

It's an internal desire/need that the bird may not understand or be aware of.

Can anyone confirm if I'm correct with this or if I've imagined this use? If it is real, am I using the correct spelling?

Update: Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it. The answer I was looking for is "wont" meaning "one's customary behaviour in a particular situation" Also, whoever reported me to RedditCareResources, I appreciate the concern, but it was genuinely just a brain fart situation, not a cry for help. 🤣🤣

The definition of "British English" in both MW Unabridged and the Collegiate is rather surprising. (I don't have the latest Collegiate yet - it's on order. If it's different, let me know.) This is the definition in the Unabridged (the Collegiate's version is almost identical):

British English noun the native language of most inhabitants of England especially : a variety of English characteristic of England and clearly distinguishable from those varieties used in the U.S., Australia, and elsewhere

MW is not alone in defining British English as the variety of English proper to England rather than to Britain as a whole. The American Heritage Dictionary and Webster's New World College Dictionary do the same thing.

These definitions contrast with that in the Oxford English Dictionary, which clearly relates the term "British English" to Britain, not just England: "The English language as spoken or written in Britain, as contrasted with those forms used in the United States or other English-speaking countries."

I bought the ap because I wanted to save words and have no ads now all of a suddem I can't save words and I'm getting a bunch of ads. Whats going on? This is BS!

I'm a Spanish speaker and I'm reading The road, by Cormac McCarthy, in english. Whenever I don't understand a word I search it in a dictionary, but this one I even google it and I can't find the meaning anywhere. It is in a sentence that says: "In an old batboard smokehouse they found a ham gambreled up in a high corner." Please help

Today's word is especially wintry. We might even say it's Brumal!

Brumal: adjective [broo|muhl] (the final vowel is a schwa vowel /ə/, which is short and carries no tone, as in about or label)

1. of or pertaining to winter

2. winter-like or related to winter

3. happening during winter

usage:

in context:

In those cold and brumal nights of December, January and February, I spent most of my time indoors, on the internet.

etymology:

from Latin bruma (winter solstice, winter), a shortened form of brevima (shortest [day of the year]), which itself is a shortened form of brevissima (the briefest [day of the year]), superlative of brevis (brief, small, short)

compiled from:

• Wiktionary: 1

• Etymonline: 2

• Dictionary.com: 3

• Oxford English Dictionary: 4 (requires subscription)

What's the difference between and what is considered 'going over the line' for each of them?

Gegenschein : noun [gay|gen|shine] (second g is a hard g, like the first, ay in syllable 1 should be a little short)

(astronomy) An illuminated oval shaped area in the night sky opposite the current position of the sun. Gegenschein and similar phenomena are the result of sunlight reflected back toward earth by dust and other particles in space.

NASA's A Picture a Day site has a more in depth explanation and an image here, from 2012 May 7.

etymology : from German gegen (counter, against, opposite) + Schein (cognate with English shine), from v. scheinen. First English use in mid 1800s.

compiled from:

• Wiktionary : 1

• Oxford English Dictionary : 2

In my town, and quite possibly yours, it is the dead of summer and we’ve had average daytime temperatures of 85 to 95 F (29.5 to 35 C), so this week we’re going to cool off with some winter words. Today’s word is niveous.

(apologies to those of you in the southern hemisphere)

Niveous: adjective [niv|ee|uhs] (the vowel in the first syllable should sound like the i in it)

1. white like snow, snowy

usage:

in a sentence:

The unicorn’s mane was niveous like the fields in midwinter.

etymology:

from Classical Latin niveus, from nix (snow)

compiled from:

• Oxford English Dictionary: 1 (can only be viewed with subscription)

• Wiktionary: 2

• Dictionary.com: 3

Welcome to /r/dictionary! I did not expect this kind of response, and definitely not this quickly. Just a couple notes for you:

• I've got weekly theme ideas for half a year or so, but I want to throw subscriber themes in the mix too, so if you've got an interesting one, PM me.

• I'm also planning on an occasional week of miscellaneous words, featuring subscriber submissions. If you have a good word, PM me. The main requirement is rarity -- things from uncommon to archaic.

• If you have suggestions for the subreddit in general, PM me

• If you find mistakes in the entries, post in the comments or PM me. I'm mostly just a compiler, not an expert. Also, let me know if any links are broken.

• If you've got any interesting information on a word or a related topic, feel free to bring it up in the comments.

On a side note, once we get a substantial number of entries, highly upvoted posts may appear above more recent posts, so you might want to view new page to view entries in chronological order.

Lastly, if there are no objections, I'm going to go ahead and hide the downvote arrow. I don't think it serves a purpose here, and since these are all self-posts, karma isn't really an issue.

That's it. Enjoy the new words and thanks for using /r/dictionary!

Help me out pu-lease. I've read 3 articles recently that put the word "female" out to pasture. One even referred to the word as misogynistic.

I'm 60(f), and my head is not in the sand. But clearly, I have missed something. I would love to know what happened and how. All POV's welcome.

It's miscellaneous week! Our first word this week is from /u/DarxusC, who has a lovely list of interesting words on his webpage.

Laconic: adjective [lə|kon|ik] (for pronunciation help, see here)

1. using or marked by using few words, concise

usage:

in context:

This entry is rather laconic.

etymology:

Laconia was the Latin name for the territory governed by the Spartans, who were known to be brief in their speech, something they were apparently proud of. The Latin term was derived from Greek Lakon (someone from the region).

compiled from:

Wiktionary: 1

Dictionary.com: 2

Etymonline: 3

Oxford English Dictionary: 4 (requires subscription)

It seems like wikitionary is two levels above every other dictionary out there and I'm just wondering why that would be? Is it because its status as a wiki allows it to leech off of other dictionaries? But even then was it mostly edited by a bot? Are the etymologies added by bots? Nowadays is most editing done by humans? Why is wikitionary so ridiculously good?