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Dictionary

Look up any English word to see its meanings by part of speech, phonetic spelling, pronunciation audio, example sentences, synonyms and antonyms. Click a related word to look that up next.

Definitions come from the free Dictionary API (dictionaryapi.dev), based on Wiktionary. Only the word you look up is sent to it. Click a synonym or antonym to look it up.

How to use the Dictionary

Type a word in the box and press Find definition (or Enter).
Read the meanings, grouped by part of speech. Use the filter buttons to show only nouns, verbs or adjectives.
Press Play to hear the pronunciation. US and UK recordings are shown when they exist.
Click a synonym or antonym to look up that word, or pick one of your recent words.
Press Copy definition to copy the meanings as text for notes, homework or flashcards.

How to read a dictionary entry

Part	What it tells you	Example (for "bright")
Headword	The word being defined	bright
Pronunciation (IPA)	How the word sounds, symbol by symbol	/bɹaɪt/
Part of speech	How the word works in a sentence	adjective, adverb, noun
Definition	One meaning of the word; common meanings are usually listed first	Emitting much light; shining.
Example	The word used in a real sentence	a bright morning
Synonyms / antonyms	Words with similar or opposite meanings	shining, brilliant / dark, dim

Common parts of speech

Noun: a person, place, thing or idea (teacher, river, kindness).
Verb: an action or state (run, become, believe).
Adjective: describes a noun (bright, ancient, curious).
Adverb: describes a verb, adjective or other adverb (quickly, very, often).
Preposition, conjunction, pronoun, interjection: small words that link ideas (under, because, they, wow).

Many words belong to more than one part of speech. Light can be a noun (turn on the light), a verb (light a candle) and an adjective (a light bag), so check the label above each group of meanings.

Frequently asked questions

Where do the definitions come from?

Definitions, phonetics and audio come from the free Dictionary API (dictionaryapi.dev), which is built from Wiktionary, the free collaborative dictionary. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, and each result links to its source page.

Why is there no definition for my word?

The dictionary covers most English words but may miss very new slang, brand names and some inflected forms. Try the base form (run rather than running), check the spelling, or use one of the suggestions shown under the message.

What do the symbols in the pronunciation mean?

The phonetic spelling uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For example /ˈbjuː.tɪ.fəl/ shows that beautiful is stressed on its first syllable: the ˈ mark comes before the stressed syllable, dots separate syllables, and each symbol stands for one sound.

Why can't I play the pronunciation for some words?

Audio recordings exist only for part of the dictionary. When there is no recording, the tool offers your browser's built-in voice instead, which works offline but sounds more robotic.

Is my search private?

Only the word you look up is sent to the Dictionary API to fetch its entry. No account, cookies or tracking are involved, and your recent words are stored only in your own browser, where you can clear them.

What is the difference between a synonym and an antonym?

A synonym is a word with the same or nearly the same meaning (happy and joyful). An antonym has the opposite meaning (happy and sad). Synonyms are listed for many meanings, but always check that a synonym fits the context of your sentence.

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