FYI Running Ublock Origin is enough to grant access to this dictionary, among others. At least seems to work for me without any paywalls (unless its a geoblock? I’m looking at it from the Nordics).
One way to get access to OED ODE without paying a cent is by using kindle app. When you highlight an English word, if will open the dict. You can search for any word from there.
While I do not oppose paying for definitions, there is someone confusing about collectively generated meaning being aggregated and packaged by one company for profit. A publicly maintained dictionary is a much much better alternative. I guarantee it would be more versatile and rigorous than this Oxford stuff.
The OED is like 150 years old with literally thousands of people scouring every possible source of English for any possible permutation of every word ever. It’s a reference for specialists, not public consumption.
Shockingly, the use of the word “the” might not be all that interesting. That’s not the point, the goal is to document all possible uses and that is laudable.
You can still buy the book or access the site via most libraries.
I get that it’s a bit annoying, but I’m guessing you’d also be annoyed about an ad-ridden, data-harvesting dictionary.
The Oxford English Dictionary is without a doubt the most well-researched, comprehensive, and linguistically complete English dictionary on Earth, bar none. Nothing even comes close to its depth and scope.
It perhaps is the most well-researched and comprehensive dictionary of all languages, but I wouldn’t know.
It’s laid out in an unusual way and even has words and alternate meanings that haven’t been used for centuries. It’s not meant to be a general-purpose dictionary, it’s niche and predominantly for linguistic experts or people fascinated by language.
An unbelievable amount of research goes into it, and those people deserve to be paid.
There are dozens of freely-available general-purpose dictionaries out there if you want them.
I was annoyed, like the OP, then I read your comment and now I’m impressed and have an urge to buy a copy of OED I most certainly will never open. They owe you a commission on my sale.
I don’t think you can buy the book. It was 20 volumes in 1989, and they’ve been working on an ongoing update since then. There’s no plans to physically print a third edition.
But yeah, it’s a serious scholarly resource, and they do put out free small dictionaries as well.
You are right, it’s wayyy too large to fit in one book, I misspoke when I said book
I had no idea they don’t want to make physical copies anymore, though, part of me is sad about that, although I can certainly appreciate why they’d go in that direction.
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