![]() The Australian Oxford kept having temporary freeze sessions, even after rebooting, reinstalling, but otherwise had good content. For a recommendation from the selection below I would suggest the offering from and the free offering from Merriam-Webster, they have a paid version if you don't like the advertisements. Because of this, I would suggest acquiring a couple of the free dictionaries no matter what you end up getting. I did include the reported number at the end of the notes section, but this should be seen as a rough guide only.Īll of the listed dictionary apps fail at some level. The apps usually report number of words stored in the dictionary, but have different ways of measuring this metric which makes comparison invalid. Finally "Oberon" was examined to see if both the Shakespeare character as well as the satellite of Uranus was listed the MacQuarie app had only a definition for a town called Oberon, no Shakespeare, no moon the paper version included a second definition of the name of an Indian actor born in 1911. "Muggle" was also used for similar reasons. but oddly not in the Australian Oxford Dictionary. "Tweet" was examined for the definition of short message on the Twitter internet service this is a new word officially added by Oxford. I used the number of definitions for the word "Load" to sort the list. Sadly, even the MacQuarie app did not have definition (3). issue where any word that contains even a hint of ethnicity is considered offensive. All dictionaries that had the term also noted the word was (possibly) offensive. Sadly the tested apps came up short compared to the paper based Macquarie definitions. I was taken aback by the offensive categorisation, so investigating current dictionary definitions was included in this research. So my favourite breakfast dish at Pancake Manor has recently been renamed to "Picadilly Dawn". For some reason, piccaninny (also pickaninny) is now considered offensive. My paper based Macquarie Dictionary (2nd Ed) has "piccaninny" with three definitions: 1. Words tested: Piccaninny, Load, Tweet, Muggle, Oberon Do you really want to pay for a reduced number of words? Why are you buying a dictionary with some of the words missing?! How are you supposed to read Melville if the dictionary doesn't have "grapnel", "Tophet", "copestone" and so forth. Also most pay-for dictionaries often have a cheaper "essential"/"concise" version available. Note that Collins and the Advanced English apps use the same MSDictViewer engine. I decided not to test the Oxford, as it was expensive and although tempting, I already had the Australian version which appears to be identical in operation. I have used the paper based Macquarie Dictionary (2nd Ed) for years, however the iOS version is iPhone only and very basic, however the developers have said that an upcoming upgrade will be a universal app. There is a reasonable variation among the apps, but fortunately many good ones are actually free. I have performed a small test with a number of dictionary apps, including a range of word look ups and a feature list. ![]() Another shortfall is discovery, the lack of serendipity in the app interface which you get when just flicking through the pages of a paper based dictionary. Some don't store bookmarks or histories or have a "back" button. Copying text out of some dictionary apps is impossible. One of the major issues is the interface. There are plenty of iPad apps with excellent content, many are free. Dictionaries are an excellent resource for solidifying meaning, aiding understanding of texts and sorting out scrabble conflicts.
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