Subject Guides: E-Reference: Dictionaries

Introducing Dictionaries

Dictionaries list words in order, and provide information about definition, pronunciation, grammatical forms and functions, etymologies, syntactic peculiarities, variant spellings, antonyms and use.

Reference: Definition by Encyclopædia Britannica, photo by Edho Pratama on Unsplash

Selected Dictionaries Databases

Merriam-Webster Unabridged
Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary is one of the largest, most comprehensive American dictionaries with illustrative quotations. It is built on the solid foundation of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged.
Oxford English Dictionary
The database provides authoritative and comprehensive records of the English Language in the world, tracing the evolution and use of more than 600,000 words through 3 million quotations.

If you encounter any issues accessing the Oxford English Dictionary, please contact the Library for assistance: library@hsu.edu.hk.
Oxford Reference
The database includes full text of around 150+ dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works from Oxford University Press. Subjects areas include business, social sciences, psychology, English language, computing, general reference, quotations, etc.

New Dictionaries

Please click here for more new dictionaries.