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Entries

The entries in the dictionary are arranged in alphabetical order according to their headwords.

Headwords are the boldface words at the beginning of an entry.

Dots within headwords show the places where you can break a word and add a hyphen if all of it will not fit at the end of a line of print or writing.

You will sometimes find two or more headwords that are spelled exactly alike and that have small numbers attached to them. These entries are called homographs.

Homographs often are related words that have different parts of speech. For example, the noun lecture and the verb lecture are entered in this dictionary as separate homographs.

Some homographs are words that are spelled the same way but are not related at all. For example, there are two different nouns in English that are spelled calf. Those two nouns are not related to each other and are treated as separate entries in this dictionary.

Idioms and phrasal verbs are shown in alphabetical order at the end of the entry that they relate to.

Some words are shown without definitions at the very end of an entry. The meaning of these words can be understood when you know the meaning of the main entry word that they are related to. For example, when a word ends in a suffix like -ly or -ness, you can understand the word's meaning by combining the meaning of the base word (the main entry) and the meaning of the suffix.

Pronunciations

The pronunciations in this dictionary are written using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The symbols used are listed in the IPA Pronunciation Guide.

Pronunciations are shown between a pair of slashes / / following the entry word. Only one pronunciation is given for most words. This is the most commonly used pronunciation.

Additional pronunciations are shown when the word can be pronounced in different ways that are equally common.

Pronunciations are not shown at every entry. If homographs have the same pronunciation, the pronunciation is written only at the first homograph (as the entries above for calf show). If the homographs are pronounced differently, a pronunciation is written at each homograph.

Pronunciations are not usually shown for entries like gag order that are compounds of two or more words which have their own entries.

Pronunciations are not shown for most undefined words that end in a common suffix, such as -ly or -ness. Pronunciations are also not shown for the plurals of nouns, the past tenses of verbs, etc., if they are formed in a regular way.

When only the last part of a pronunciation is shown, the missing part can be found in a full pronunciation shown earlier in that same entry. In this example, only the last syllable is shown for the pronunciation of the plural formulae. The pronunciation of the first two syllables of formulae is the same as the pronunciation of the first two syllables of the singular formula.

Most of the pronunciations in this dictionary should be considered standard American pronunciations, showing how words are typically pronounced in many parts of the United States. For some words, a British pronunciation is also provided.

British pronunciations are shown when the most common British pronunciation is very different from the American pronunciation.

Spelling

Some words can be spelled in different ways. These additional spellings are called variants and are entered after the main entry words and after either or or also.

The word or is used when the variant is as common as the main entry word.

The word also is used when the variant is less common than the main entry word.

A label in parentheses ({nbsp}) after a headword tells you where that spelling is used. The example shown here indicates that the spelling ampule is used in U.S. English. Notice that the spelling ampoule does not have a US or Brit label. This means that it is common in both U.S. and British English.

The word chiefly is used to tell you that a word or variant is very common in a specified country or region but that it is also sometimes used in other countries or regions. The example shown here indicates that the British spellings grey and greyish are also sometimes used in U.S. English.

Definitions

The definitions in this dictionary are written in simple and clear language. If you are unsure about the meaning of a word that is used in a definition, you can look that word up at its own entry in the dictionary and find its meaning explained there.

Most definitions begin with a boldface colon.

Some definitions are written as notes that describe how a word or phrase is used. Those definitions begin with a dash.

Some definitions are written as complete sentences and begin with the ✧ symbol.

Synonyms and Antonyms

Synonyms are words that have the same meaning. A word that is shown in small capital letters in a definition is a synonym of the word that is being defined. The example shown here indicates that the word seafarer has the same meaning as sailor.

For some words, the only definition shown is a synonym. You can read a full definition by looking at the entry for the synonym.

The synonyms of an entry are often shown at the end of the entry or sense in a called also note.

Synonyms are also frequently shown in square brackets within examples.

Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings. When a word has an antonym, it is shown at the end of the entry or sense.

Examples

Examples of how a word is used are provided at most of the entries and are displayed in blue.

Some examples have explanations that are given in square brackets.

Some examples show different ways of saying the same thing.

Many common phrases are highlighted in examples and are sometimes followed by explanations.

Examples that show collocations and other common word groups are introduced by a brief note.

Words that are shown in parentheses in an example are optional words, which means that they can be included or omitted without changing the basic meaning of the example.

A slash / is used between words in an example or phrase when either of the words can be used in the same place in that example or phrase. Words separated by slashes in examples do not always have the same meaning.

Forms and Tenses

When a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb has different forms or tenses, those forms or tenses are shown in boldface at the beginning of the entry immediately after the Inflected Forms heading label noun, verb, adj, or adv.

A noun's plural form is shown when one or more of its senses can be plural. Often just the last part of the plural form is shown.

All verb entries show these three forms: the present third-person singular form, the past tense, and the present participle. In many cases, only the last parts of the forms are shown.

When the past participle and the past tense of a verb are different, the past participle is also shown after the past tense.

Some adjectives and adverbs have comparative and superlative forms which are shown in boldface at the beginning of the entry. These forms are often created by adding -er or -est to the main entry word. The entry for short indicates that the comparative form is shorter and the superlative form is shortest. [See also Grammatical Labels (below) for more information about the treatment of comparative and superlative forms.]

Sometimes the comparative and superlative forms are very different from the main entry word.

When an entry has both an American and a British spelling, the forms and tenses are shown only for the American spelling in order to save space. For example, the entry for harbor shows only the American plural harbors. If you are using the British spelling, of course, the plural should be harbours.

Grammatical Labels

In addition to having a part of speech label, such as noun, verb, or adj, many entries include one or more grammatical labels which are shown in square brackets and which tell you the different forms or uses of a particular noun, verb, adjective, etc. When these labels appear at the beginning of the entry, they describe the entire entry. They can also appear at individual senses in an entry, and they can be used to introduce a particular example or group of examples.

Most nouns are labeled [count], [noncount], [count, noncount], [singular], or [plural].

An entry or sense for a noun is labeled [count] when it has both a singular and a plural form.

An entry or sense for a noun is labeled [noncount] when it does not have a plural form and when it refers to something that cannot be counted.

When a noun can be used as both a count and a noncount noun, it is sometimes given a [count, noncount] label.

An entry or sense for a noun that is always used in its plural form is labeled [plural].

An entry or sense for a noun that refers to one thing and is never used in a plural form is labeled [singular].

Most verbs in this dictionary are labeled as either [+ obj] or [no obj] or both. Other types of verbs have these labels: [modal verb], [linking verb], or [auxiliary verb]. Verbs labeled [phrasal verb] are entered as phrases at the end of a verb entry.

An entry or sense for a verb that has an object is labeled [+ obj]. A verb of this kind is known as a transitive verb.

An entry or sense for a verb that does not have an object is labeled [no obj]. A verb of this kind is known as an intransitive verb.

An entry or sense that is labeled [linking verb] does not express action but is used to say that something exists or is in a particular state. It connects an object with an adjective or noun that describes or identifies a subject.

An entry or sense that is labeled [auxiliary verb] is used with another verb in order to show the verb's tense, to form a question, etc.

An entry or sense that is labeled [modal verb] is used with another verb to express an idea about what is possible, necessary, etc.

A verb that is labeled [phrasal verb] is a verb that is used with a preposition, an adverb, or both.

The comparative and superlative forms of some adjectives and adverbs are formed by adding the letters -er and -est at the end of the word or by changing the word completely. Other adjectives and adverbs are given their comparative and superlative forms by using the words more and most.

When a word has comparative and superlative forms that use the words more and most, the word is given the label [more ∼; most ∼]. This label also means that an adjective or adverb can be used with words like very and slightly. The example shown here means that you can say that one thing is "more complicated" than another, that something is the "most complicated" one of a group, that something is "very complicated," etc.

Sometimes the comparative and superlative forms of an adjective or adverb can be formed in two different ways. The word or is included in the label when the more/most forms are as common as the -er/-est forms. When the more/most forms are much less common, also is used.

Sometimes the label [more ∼; most ∼] is shown only at a specific sense. In the example shown here, the first sense of muscular cannot be used with words like more, most, and very, but the second sense can.

When an adverb is shown at the end of the entry for an adjective that has a [more ∼; most ∼] label, the label is not repeated for the adverb, but it also describes how the adverb can be used. In the example shown here, both the adjective querulous and the adverb querulously can be used with words like more, most, and very.

Other Labels

Many entries include labels such as formal, informal, US, Brit, etc.

When a label appears at the beginning of an entry, it describes the entire entry, including any undefined words that may appear at the end of the entry. In the example shown here, the label formal means that both senses of mendacious are formal, and that the adverb mendaciously and the noun mendaciousness are also formal words.

When a label is used at a specific part of an entry (such as a particular sense or example), it relates only to that specific part.

Cross-references

Many entries include notes that direct you to another entry or sense for additional information.

Compare notes are placed at the entries of words that are similar or that may be confused with each other.

When two or more homographs have the same part of speech, a compare note is included at the end of each entry.

See also notes often direct you to another entry that uses a form of the word you were looking up.

See also notes can also direct you to a phrase that is defined at another entry.

And see also notes can direct you to a different part of the same entry.

A see cross-reference tells you that more information can be found at another entry.

Other Features

Differences between words that have the same meanings or very similar meanings are discussed in special synonyms paragraphs.

Problems and questions that relate to the use of a particular word are discussed in usage paragraphs.

Many entries include notes that begin with the symbol ✧ and explain the origins of a word or provide other kinds of information.

Labels Used in This Dictionary

Parts of Speech

• abbreviation
• adjective
• adverb
• combining form
• conjunction
• definite article
• indefinite article
• interjection
• noun
• prefix
• preposition
• pronoun
• suffix
• verb

Grammatical Labels

for nouns: [count], [noncount], [count, noncount], [singular], [plural]

or verbs: [+ obj], [no obj], [auxiliary verb], [linking verb], [modal verb], [phrasal verb]

for adjectives and adverbs: [more ∼; most ∼], [or more ∼; most ∼], [also more ∼; most ∼]

Usage Labels

Regional Labels:

US — common only in American English

chiefly US — common in American English and sometimes used in British English

Brit — common only in British English

chiefly Brit — common in British English and sometimes used in American English

Status Labels:

slang — used in very informal, spoken English usually by a small group of people

offensive — likely to offend many people and usually avoided

obscene — very offensive in a way that many people find shocking

impolite — not used in polite speech and writing

Register Labels:

informal — used in informal speech and writing

formal — used in formal speech and writing

literary — used in novels, poetry, etc., and rarely used in ordinary speech and writing

old-fashioned — not often used today but used by people in the recent past or by older people

humorous — having a funny or amusing quality

technical — used by people who have special knowledge about a particular subject

disapproving — used to show that you do not like or approve of someone or something

approving — used to show that you like or approve of someone or something

Subject Labels

Labels like medical, law, and baseball are used to show the specific subject that a definition relates to.