ANATOMY OF A DICTIONARY

ENTRY
Macmillan Dictionary contains a great deal of useful information about
words and phrases – information that sometimes can be difficult to
navigate. On this page we provide answers to some of the frequently
asked questions about what a dictionary entry includes.

If there are any terms you are not familiar with, you might find
our Glossary of Dictionary Terms helpful.

What is a dictionary entry?

A dictionary entry is a set of information that describes a word or phrase.

A typical entry in Macmillan Dictionary consists of:

• a headword [1], which is shown in either black or red at the top of

the entry;
• information about the word's meaning or meanings,
called definition(s) [2]. At the top of the entry you can see
the number of definitions [3] listed;
• information about the word's grammatical behaviour: word class
[4] and any other relevant grammatical information.

At the top of the entry there is an icon for the headword's

spoken pronunciation [5] as well as the phonetic transcription of the
word's pronunciation (using the International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA
symbols [6]). This information is not provided for phrasal verbs, phrases,
and entries that are added to the crowdsourced Open Dictionary
(e.g. autofiction). Compouns will often have recorded pronunciations but
not IPA transcriptions because those can be looked up separately at the
contributing parts of the headword.

The word's inflections can be seen by opening the 'Word Forms'

[7] box.

When a headword is shown in red, next to it you will find information

about how frequent the word is, in the form of red stars [8]. The Red
Words and Stars page provides more detailed information about word
frequency in Macmillan Dictionary.

How are meanings shown?

If a word has more than one meaning, these are shown in

separate numbered senses [9]. Meanings that are very closely related to
the main meaning are shown in subsenses [10] (see further down the
page for this) so that the connection is clear. Some entries
contain derived words [11]. These are words related to the headword
whose meaning is clear enough not to need a definition. These are found
at the bottom of the entry.

Words that have five or more meanings will also include very brief
definitions at the top of the page, with links to the relevant senses. These
'menus' can help identify the meaning you need for understanding a word
in a particular context, as well as help navigate to the correct part of the
entry to find more detailed information.
Most entries also give one or more examples [12] of how the word is
used. Words that belong to so-called 'decoding' vocabulary will not
include an example; high-frequency words will always have at least one
example to show how the word is used in context.

What other types of information are included?

Every sense in the dictionary contains a Thesaurus [13] link to one or

more lists of synonyms and related words. Clicking on this link will take
you to the list on the Macmillan Thesaurus website, and from there you
can access every entry in the list and browse for the best synonym or
related term to use.
If a word belongs to more than one word class, for example if it is both a
verb and a noun (e.g. question (noun) / question (verb)), or a noun, an
adjective and a verb (pink (noun) / pink (adjective) / pink (verb)), these
are shown in separate entries on separate pages, with links in a box on
the right of the screen (desktop) or at the top of the entry (mobile). This
box also contains links to compound headwords, idiomatic
phrases and phrasal verbs [14] containing the headword, so that entries
related to the headword are immediately visible.

Some entries contain additional information, for example about a

word's origin (in a 'Word Story'), grammar and
usage, collocations, related vocabulary and metaphorical meanings.

What do the different parts tell us about the entry?

Frequency: At the top of many entries you will see one, two or three red
stars. A word with three red stars is one of the most frequent words in
English, two-star words are frequent and one-star words are fairly
common. If an entry has no stars it is one of the less frequent words in
English.

Definitions: Macmillan Dictionary was originally written using a

strict Defining Vocabulary, a list of 2,500 words that lexicographers stuck
to as closely as possible when writing definitions. An online dictionary
makes a defining vocabulary less essential, because every lexical word
used in every definition is linked to its dictionary entry, meaning that users
can easily find the meanings of unfamiliar words. However, Macmillan
Dictionary's lexicographers still follow the principle of writing definitions in
the simplest way possible so that they can easily be understood by less
advanced users of English.

Examples: Most senses in Macmillan Dictionary have one or

more examples that illustrate how the word is used with that meaning.
These examples are selected from a huge corpus or database containing
many millions of examples of contemporary English as it is used around
the world. Examples are often shortened or edited to make them suitable
for use in a dictionary, but they provide authentic models of how the word
is used. Many examples are preceded by information about collocation
and syntax: how words combine and which structures they can be used
with.

Synonyms and related words: Every meaning in Macmillan Dictionary is

linked to the Macmillan Thesaurus, a unique and rich resource that was
developed at the same time as the Dictionary and in conjunction with it. At
the end of each sense and subsense you will see 'Synonyms and related
words'. Clicking on this link will take you to the thesaurus entry for the
meaning. For example, the sense of bargain that means 'something that
costs much less than normal' is linked to the thesaurus entry 'The quality
of being cheap and cheap things', where you will find a list of related
words, each one linking directly to the relevant meaning. The sense
of bargain that means 'an agreement' links to the thesaurus entry
'Agreement and agreements', where you will find links to senses with that
meaning, such as 'contract', 'deal' and 'accord'.

Labels: Many entries in Macmillan Dictionary are labelled to show you if

a word is used in particular contexts. These include labels for specialist
vocabulary (medical, biology); for dialects (if a word is used solely or
mainly in American, or Indian, or Philippine English, etc.); and for register
(if a word is formal, informal, literary, offensive, etc). You can find a
complete list of labels on this page.

Additional resources: At the end of many entries you will find boxes
containing additional information about the headword and guidance on
how it is used. For example, at famous you will find a list of other ways of
saying 'famous'; at afford you will find a 'Get it Right!' box with guidance
on the grammatical patterns that can and can't be used with this verb;
at pavement you will find a note about the differences between British and
American usage of this word. Other boxes provide lists
of collocations, metaphorical meanings of common words, guidance
on avoiding offence, and word and phrase origins.

Crowdsourced content: The Open Dictionary is Macmillan Dictionary's

crowdsourced dictionary. Users can submit entries for words, meanings
and phrases that are not covered in the dictionary. These are assessed to
see if they really exist and are used, and accepted entries are published
regularly.

If an Open Dictionary entry merits inclusion in the main dictionary, it may

be 'promoted' and the submitter's contribution acknowledged. You can
submit an entry to the Open Dictionary by clicking on the button that says
'Contribute to our Open Dictionary'.

Glossary of dictionary terms

Macmillan Dictionary also includes a useful Glossary of Dictionary

Terms page, listing in alphabetical order words that you may come
across when using dictionaries, or when you hear people talk about
dictionaries.

Useful links

The following pages provide further, more detailed, information about

Macmillan Dictionary:

• English Language Resources

• Common English Words
• Clear Definitions
• Metaphor