American Dictionaries

An English dictionary is the most important thing you will need when learning English. A good dictionary will help you learn hundreds of new words, improve your pronunciation and grammar.

English-English Dictionaries

An English-English dictionaries are written only in English. English words are not translated; they are defined or explained in English. English-English (monolingual) dictionaries are better than bilingual dictionaries because:

- Monolingual dictionaries are simply more advanced products. The best dictionaries from the top publishers are monolingual. And the best monolingual dictionaries are far ahead of the best bilingual dictionaries — they have more example sentences, more accurate pronunciations, phrasal verbs and idioms, word frequency information, etc.
- English definitions are real English phrases with grammar and words. If you read them regularly, you will automatically memorize the grammar and words.
- English definitions let you learn more. You will often look up a word because it was part of the definition for another word.

Don’t be afraid of using an English-English dictionary. If you can understand this article, you can definitely understand the definitions in an English-English dictionary.

Dictionaries for learners vs. dictionaries for native speakers

There are two kinds of English-English dictionaries: dictionaries for learners and dictionaries for native speakers. Dictionaries for native speakers are used by Americans to look up rare words, such as inextricable or tintinnabulation. Dictionaries for learners are used by people who are learning English as a second language.

Dictionaries for native speakers usually have more words than dictionaries for learners, but the definitions are complicated, and there are fewer example sentences. Therefore, whenever possible, you should be using dictionaries for learners. You should use “native” dictionaries only in special situations: for example, when your learner’s dictionary does not have the word you’re looking for.

Phonetic transcription

A good dictionary must give phonetic transcription for every word. Phonetic transcription tells you how to pronounce a word. Ideally, the transcription should be based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which is the standard phonetic alphabet used by linguists all over the world.

Generally, dictionaries for learners use IPA-based transcriptions in which each English sound has its own symbol, while dictionaries for native speakers published in the USA use their own systems.

With phonetic transcriptions, dictionaries tell you about the pronunciation of words. In English dictionaries, phonetic transcriptions are necessary, because the spelling of an English word does not tell you how you should pronounce it.

For example, the IPA-based phonetic transcription of no is /noʊ/, and the transcription of do is /duː/. Note that in spelling, these words are similar. They both end in the letter "o". But their phonetic transcriptions are different, because they are pronounced differently. Phonetic transcription is usually given in brackets, like this: /noʊ/, /du:/.

Virtually all software or mobile dictionaries nowadays have audio recordings. If you can listen to a native speaker pronouncing a word, do you still need written pronunciations because your ears are not perfect. Even if the dictionary has high-quality recordings, it is always good to see all the sounds in a word.

Example sentences for every word

A good dictionary must give example sentences for every word. Example sentences are not just helpful, they are actually more important than definitions. While a definition tells you the meaning of a word and sometimes gives you some grammatical information, they let you check if you’ve understood the definition correctly. The meaning of a word can become much clearer if you read a few sentences with the word.

Following are our recommendation of the best American English dictionaries for adult learners.

AMERICAN ENGLISH DICTIONARIES

Merriam-Webster's: Learner's titles
Merriam-Webster's Essential Learner's English Dictionary
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's English Dictionary

Merriam-Webster's: General Dictionaries
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Basic English
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition

Longman: Learner's titles
Longman Advanced American Dictionary, Third Edition
Longman Dictionary of American English
Word by Word Picture Dictionary

The American Heritage: Learner's title
The American Heritage Dictionary for Learners of English

The American Heritage: General Dictionary
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Webster's New World: Learner's title
Webster's New World Basic Dictionary of American English

Webster's New World: General Dictionary
Webster's New World College Dictionary

Random House Webster's: Learner's title
Random House Webster's Pocket American Dictionary, Fifth Edition

Random House: General Dictionary
Random House Webster's Dictionary

AMERICAN BILINGUAL DICTIONARIES

Merriam-Webster's: Spanish-English Dictionaries
Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary
Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Visual Dictionary

Longman: Spanish-English Dictionary
Longman Diccionario Conciso

The American Heritage: Spanish-English Dictionary
The American Heritage Spanish Dictionary

Webster's New World: Spanish-English Dictionary
Webster's New World Spanish Dictionary

Random House: Spanish-English Dictionary
Random House Spanish-English Dictionary

The New World: Spanish-English Dictionary
The New World Spanish-English Dictionary

The University of Chicago: Spanish-English Dictionary
The University of Chicago Spanish-English Dictionary

Bantam New College: Spanish-English Dictionary
Bantam New College Spanish/English Dictionary

Barron's: Spanish-English Dictionary
Barron's Spanish-English Dictionary

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