USAGE OF DICTIONARY

A man with a scant vocabulary will almost certainly be a weak thinker. If you do not know the words,
you can hardly know the thing.
- Henry Hazlitt, Thinking as a Science -

Miss Mariatul Sabrina

Assistant Lecturer
CLS Department of City University
a) When do you use dictionary?

b) Is dictionary important in learning

language?

c) Do you know how to use a dictionary?

• Dictionaries = books that list all the
words in a language.
• The words in a dictionary = organized
in ALPHABETICAL ORDER
Dictionary Definitions
What do they mean?
•We use dictionary to find meanings of certain words.
•A word may have more than 1 meaning (depending on context).
Example: ‘Bow’

1st Meaning: To bend one’s head or body downward

as gesture of respect.

2nd Meaning: The front part of a ship.

3rd Meaning: A knot with two loops and two loose

ends.

4th Meaning: A weapon used for shooting an arrow.

v Today, we’re going to learn what each part of a definition means.

flag (flag)
1. noun A piece of cloth with a
pattern or symbol of a
country, an organization, etc.
2. verb To stop, or to signal. We
flagged down the police officer.
flag (flag)
1. noun A piece of cloth with a
pattern or symbol of a
country, an organization, etc.
2. verb To stop, or to signal. We
flagged down the police officer.
The first word tells the word’s part of speech
P.O.S
flag (flag)
1. noun A piece of cloth with a
pattern or symbol of a
country, an organization, etc.
2. verb To stop, or to signal.
We flagged down the police
officer.
The next section is the actual definition of the word.

flag (flag)
1. noun A piece of cloth with a
pattern or symbol of a
country, an organization, etc.
2. verb To stop, or to signal.
We flagged down the police
officer.
 STEPS IN USING A DICTIONARY
* What is the word?
1
* Find the section of the dictionary with the first letter
2 of your word.

* Scan the page for your word.

3 * Look at each consecutive letter.

* Once found, read the definition so it fits the context.

4 * It also tells what P.O.S it belongs & how to pronounce
it.

* Find the best definition that fits the

5 context.
# P.O.S: Parts of speech.