Is there an online dictionary that quotes actual passages from literature to show how words are used in context?
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ALM (
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December 7th, 2008
For example, I would like to find a dictionary where I could type in a word like “animadversion” and see a definition, as well as excerpts from authors (like Mark Twain or David Mccullough) that include the word in context.
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7 Answers
Perhaps a literary dictionary?
Yes, there is one. It is the best dictionary in the history of the world.
The Oxford English dictionary
According to the website: “As the OED is a historical dictionary, its entry structure is very different from that of a dictionary of current English, in which only present-day senses are covered, and in which the most common meanings or senses are described first. For each word in the OED, the various groupings of senses are dealt with in chronological order according to the quotation evidence, i.e. the senses with the earliest quotations appear first, and the senses which have developed more recently appear further down the entry. In a complex entry with many strands, the development over time can be seen in a structure with several ‘branches’.”
You can see references of usage culled from literature over hundreds of years. There is an online version, a CD ROM or the 20 plus book volume.
http://www.oed.com/subscribe/
You can access the online OED for a subscription fee of $295.00 per year (or $29.95 per month).
Without a doubt the OED is worth a fee. But for less than that sum you can get a used 2-volume hard copy, and for $319.96 you can get it new at Amazon.com. Once you’ve paid for it, it’s all yours—you don’t pay all over again next month or next year.
And you can access it without having to pay for a subscriber line or plug anything in. In future days that may be a better bargain.
I have one of those print OED’s. The print is very tiny and
so they include a magnifying glass. Cute!
I do too (actually, I have two, one at home and one at work). They print four pages in the space of one, so the magnifying glass is a must. I have about two dozen dictionaries, including the big Webster’s. American Heritage III is great in a lot of ways, and outstanding for pronunciation, but you simply can’t top the OED for comprehensiveness, especially all those citations.
Or you can always go to your good old public library. :-)
The OED is also available on CD-ROM. A new version is imminent: OED on CD-ROM.
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