Wordnik
Encyclopedia
Wordnik.com is an online dictionary and language resource that provides dictionary
and thesaurus
content, some of it based on print dictionaries such as the Century Dictionary
, the American Heritage Dictionary, WordNet
, and GCIDE
. Wordnik has collected a corpus
of billions of words which it uses to display example sentences, allowing it to provide information on a much larger set of words than a typical dictionary.
, editorial director Grant Barrett
, chief computational lexicographer Orion Montoya, and vice president of engineering Tony Tam. McKean, Barrett, and Montoya all formerly worked in the US Dictionaries Department of Oxford University Press
. In September 2009, Wordnik purchased social language site Wordie.org. All Wordie.org accounts and data were subsequently transferred to Wordnik.
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
and thesaurus
Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning , in contrast to a dictionary, which contains definitions and pronunciations...
content, some of it based on print dictionaries such as the Century Dictionary
Century Dictionary
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia was one of the largest encyclopedic dictionaries of the English language. The first edition was published from 1889 to 1891 by The Century Company of New York, in six, eight, or ten volume versions in 7,046 pages with some 10,000 wood-engraved illustrations...
, the American Heritage Dictionary, WordNet
WordNet
WordNet is a lexical database for the English language. It groups English words into sets of synonyms called synsets, provides short, general definitions, and records the various semantic relations between these synonym sets...
, and GCIDE
GCIDE
GCIDE is the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.The dictionary was derived from the Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary Version published 1913 and WordNet.The GNU version is licensed under the GNU General Public License....
. Wordnik has collected a corpus
Corpus linguistics
Corpus linguistics is the study of language as expressed in samples or "real world" text. This method represents a digestive approach to deriving a set of abstract rules by which a natural language is governed or else relates to another language. Originally done by hand, corpora are now largely...
of billions of words which it uses to display example sentences, allowing it to provide information on a much larger set of words than a typical dictionary.
History
Wordnik.com was launched as a closed beta in March 2009 and opened to all comers in June 2009. Co-founders of the site include CEO Erin McKeanErin McKean
Erin McKean is an American lexicographer. Erin is a founder and the CEO of the online dictionary Wordnik. She was previously the Principal Editor of The New Oxford American Dictionary, second edition....
, editorial director Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett is an American lexicographer, specializing in slang, jargon and new usage. He is also co-host and co-producer of the nationwide public radio show A Way With Words, and editor of the Official Dictionary of Unofficial English , the Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang Grant...
, chief computational lexicographer Orion Montoya, and vice president of engineering Tony Tam. McKean, Barrett, and Montoya all formerly worked in the US Dictionaries Department of Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
. In September 2009, Wordnik purchased social language site Wordie.org. All Wordie.org accounts and data were subsequently transferred to Wordnik.