I’ve extensively used online dictionaries, mainly Cambridge English Dictionary and dictionary.com, to improve pronunciation and transfer thousands of words from passive to active vocabulary.
I started with dictionary.com. Much later, when I tried Cambridge English Dictionary, I realized that dictionary.com, but for pronunciation, wasn’t the best overall option. It struck me then that many more users of online dictionaries may not be using the best dictionary and I decided to write a review of main dictionary brands at some point in future. And here it is.
In this post, I’ve reviewed (with ratings out of 10) well-known online dictionary brands on parameters that are usually the most valuable to users.
If you’re one of the persons who is interested in just the ratings – and not details – here is a summary:
| Dictionary | Rating (max. 10) |
|---|---|
| Lexico (formerly Oxford Living) | 9.5 |
| Cambridge English | 8.5 |
| Longman | 7.5 |
| Dictionary.com | 7.5 |
| Collins | 7.5 |
| Merriam-Webster | 5.5 |
| Macmillan | 3.0 |
And the two best dictionaries for learning pronunciation are:
- Dictionary.com: it provides pronunciation in non-phonetic form as well
- Cambridge English Dictionary: it provides both British and American pronunciations
What parameters would be valuable to users of online dictionaries?
Is history of a word important to you? I guess most don’t care when and how the word originated. I don’t, at least.
Do you care for pronunciation? Certainly more than history.
People care the most for meaning(s) of the word and how it is used in sentences. Pronunciation too is a popular destination. People also care about idioms and phrasal verbs associated with the word. Some also look for synonymous. And last, because it’s all online, people want a good user experience. User experience, however, is worthless if a dictionary misses out on core offering of meaning, examples, pronunciation, and phrasal verbs & idioms. Makes sense, right?
With that in mind, I’ve taken following parameters to evaluate online dictionaries in this post:
- Meaning and synonyms
- Example sentences (also called usage)
- Pronunciation
- Phrasal verbs and idioms
- User experience
Most dictionaries do fine on ‘meaning and synonyms’, and therefore this parameter isn’t a big differentiator unless you search for words that can be used in multiple ways. Here is an example of word ‘sink’ that can be used in many, many ways (the screenshot captures only few):
Good dictionaries not just cover all the use cases of such words, but they also do a good job of presenting so much information in a user-friendly manner.
‘Example sentences’ can be the biggest differentiator between dictionaries because they’re important and, second, some dictionaries really struggle to put together enough examples. (Examples are arguably the most important feature of any dictionary. They teach you how words are actually used in sentences, the building blocks of writing and speech.)
Let’s start with the first dictionary.
1. Lexico
Formerly Oxford Living Dictionary and now ‘powered by Oxford’.
My rating
9.5/ 10
User experience
It does the best job of user experience.
Few highlights:
- Autosuggest (the search bar in the dictionary suggests words when you start typing a word) works well
- Examples are neatly arranged in expandable tabs after each meaning, which gives the dictionary compact and neat look. You can click these tabs to unfurl several examples for each use case of a word.
- Surprisingly, pronunciation is at the bottom of the page. Also, British and American pronunciations are not on the same page and need to be accessed through different pages. Both are minor itches, though.
Examples
This dictionary does the best job of examples too. They provide plenty of examples, by and large the most for the dictionaries covered in this post.
They could’ve, however, improved user experience in examples by highlighting (bold or underline) the word in question for quick pinpointing. Cambridge English Dictionary does this.
Pronunciation
Audio of the pronunciation is a must in any dictionary, but the non-phonetic form too is helpful. While most dictionaries carry phonetic form, only few (dictionary.com, for example) carry non-phonetic form.
Pronunciation comes right at the end of the page. The dictionary has both American and British pronunciations, but they need to be accessed through different pages, which doesn’t matter much to most because people mainly refer to one type of dictionary – British or American. This dictionary, however, lacks in non-phonetic pronunciation.
Idioms and phrasal verbs
True to its wont of offering wide variety of examples, the dictionary provides surprisingly high number of examples even for idioms and phrasal verbs. (When it comes to idioms and phrasal verbs, almost all dictionaries are thin on examples.)
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2. Cambridge English Dictionary
My rating
8.5/ 10
User experience
Few highlights:
- Autosuggest works well
- Toggle tabs right at the top helps you jump between meaning of the word and examples.
Examples
By and large, words have lots of examples to go with. The dictionary, however, has far fewer examples for idioms and phrasal verbs, which is not a big irritant because most users are looking for words alone.
Pronunciation
This dictionary has both British and American pronunciations right at the top in the audio and phonetic form. Non-phonetic form, however, isn’t there.
(For most people, non-phonetic form is far more intuitive than phonetic form to figure out pronunciation of a word. I learnt pronunciation through listening and non-phonetic form and found them to be very effective.)
Idioms and phrasal verbs
If a word has phrasal verbs and idioms (not all words have phrasal verbs and idioms), links to them are listed at the bottom of that word page. You may click these links to explore them in detail.
3. Longman
My rating
7.5/ 10
User experience
Longman loses little bit on user experience. Few highlights:
- No autosuggest
- Toggle tabs at the top help you jump between examples, synonyms, and origin.
- Scrolling the page can be bit overwhelming on this dictionary for common words such as ‘roll’ which have lots of use cases. At times, too much information has been packed in.
- It doesn’t neatly categorizes phrasal verbs and idioms.
Examples
The dictionary offers an impressive array of examples.
Pronunciation
You can listen to both American and British pronunciations right at the top. Presence of non-phonetic form (it has phonetic form) would have made it probably the perfect pronunciation destination.
Idioms and phrasal verbs
They’re there, but not categorized well.
4. Dictionary.com
My rating
7.5/ 10
User experience
Few highlights:
- No autosuggest
- Its overall look & feel is average, few notches below Cambridge and Lexico
- Toggle tabs right at the top helps you jump between examples, synonyms, and word origin.
- Most dictionaries cover only few proper nouns (mainly countries and popular cities). Dictionary.com is a delight while searching proper nouns – try searching Montego Bay, Mein Kampf, and Keynes. You would after all want to learn pronunciations, if not other details, of such proper nouns.
Examples
The dictionary has decent number of examples. One or two examples are mentioned along with the meaning of the word and the rest are clubbed together under ‘Examples’ tab.
If a word is used in multiple ways, then you’ll have to make some effort to understand which example corresponds to which use for examples clubbed under the ‘Examples’ tab. Lexico does the best job of this where they segregate examples as per the use of the word under tabs we saw earlier.
Having said that, I don’t see this as a big problem.
Pronunciation
The dictionary really stands out on pronunciation front as it also offers non-phonetic form of pronunciation, which is far more intuitive than the phonetic form. However, it doesn’t always provide both British and American pronunciations.
Idioms and phrasal verbs
You’ll find few idioms and phrases after the meaning of the word in its different forms (noun, verb, adjective etc.). Plenty more of them will come at the bottom of the page.
5. Collins
My rating
7.5/ 10
User experience
Few highlights:
- Autosuggest works well
Examples
It contains good number of examples.
Pronunciation
Regular: audio and phonetic.
Idioms and phrasal verbs
It provides links to related idioms and phrasal verbs. However, examples here aren’t as rich as in, say, Lexico we covered earlier.
6. Merriam-Webster
My rating
5.5/ 10
User experience
Few highlights:
- Autosuggest works well
- Text seems bit cramped because of lack of enough white spaces. You’ve to really strain your eyes when the word (such as ‘roll’) has plenty of meanings.
- The references that accompany examples cover too much space. The dictionary can do a better job of it.
Examples
Fewer examples. All clubbed together in the end similar to dictionary.com
Pronunciation
Strong on pronunciation!
Like dictionary.com, this too provides pronunciation in audio as well as non-phonetic form.
Idioms and phrasal verbs
Idioms and phrasal verbs lack examples. There aren’t any for words I checked. Here is an example for the word ‘walk’:
7. Macmillan Dictionary
My rating
3/ 10
The content on this dictionary is quite thin. Even the meanings of words are unusually brief.
User experience
Overall user experience is just OK, but user experience is inconsequential if the core offering of the dictionary isn’t good, which is the case with Macmillan Dictionary. Few highlights:
- Autosuggest works well
- You can’t see the synonyms on the same page as the word. The link takes you away to another page.
Examples
Only few examples. The word ‘serendipity’, for example, has no examples.
In contrast, the same word has quite a few on Cambridge Dictionary:
Pronunciation
Regular: audio and phonetic.
Idioms and phrasal verbs
Links to idioms and phrasal verbs have been provided at the bottom of the page. However, they carry only few examples.
Could you please provide information for buying a good dictionary (hard copy)?