michtam

This comprehensive website is an impressive addition to the world of online dictionaries. Simply enter a word on the homepage and you’ll soon find yourself perusing a page of interesting information that moves beyond the parts of speech and definitions. Without moving away from the word’s page, you will find audio pronunciations (British English), word origin, synonyms, and examples of word usage.

One of my favourite features is the word usage graph. Drawing upon historical records that stretch back over 500 years, you can see (at a glance) how the frequency of word usage has developed over time. The link to Flickr photos is pretty cool, too. 

In recognition of our contemporary penchant for sharing, the online Collins Dictionary integrates buttons for posting via a number of social media platforms. I tried it using Twitter and was a little disappointed (though not entirely surprised) to discover the link provided is back to the dictionary homepage rather than the word’s unique url. 

But best of all, it is free. Thanks, HarperCollins! Check it out and let me know what you think. Will this trump www.dictionary.com?