HACKER Q&A
📣 drBonkers

What dictionary do you use as your source of truth?


I've been using Webster [1]. I imagine there are better options.

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/


  👤 jfax Accepted Answer ✓
I do not view dictionaries as a source of truth, and generally I don't accept a prescriptivist view onlanguage. Dictionaries are for referencing. Reading Xah Lee's reviews of dictionaries made me understand that different ones have different purposes.

http://xahlee.org/wordy/musing/dict_AHD_vs_NOAD.html

http://xahlee.org/wordy/musing/dict_review.html

http://xahlee.org/wordy/words/dictionary_tools.html


👤 kleer001
"Source of truth"? What the heck does that mean? Truth for whom?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leX541Dr2rU

Dictionaries aren't for policing language.

They describe how people use language, not the best and only way to use language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLgn3geod9Q


👤 klondike_

👤 jet_32951
Oxford English Dictionary.

👤 atsaloli
I like onelook.com -- it's a dictionary gateway site. It searches both general English and specialist dictionaries.

👤 0x54MUR41
I usually use The Free Dictionary by Farlex.

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/