Library & Cultural Services: Modern Languages: Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias : Introduction

You can use dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference works to:

Get an overview of your topic or issue
Learn the definitions of terms and concepts
Identify keywords to use in your search for additional information

Some useful dictionaries and encyclopedias are listed below.

Language Dictionaries (Library subscriptions)

Encyclopedia of Arabic Language & Linguistics
Online access to this major resource published by Brill

Oxford dictionaries
Access to 8 bilingual (English) language dictionaries: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.
Also dictionaries and thesauruses of current English & additional specialised grammar guidance and language resources: New Hart’s rules: the Oxford style guide— Garner’s dictionary of legal usage— New Oxford dictionary for writers & editors— Pocket Fowler’s modern English usage.
Oxford English dictionary online
Provides access to the material contained in the 20-volume Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and the 3 volumes of Additions.

Free Online Dictionaries By Language

Collins French Dictionary
Contains more than 230,000 translations and all the latest words in both French and English.
WordReference.com
Free online dictionary, providing translations between English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Collins German Dictionary
Over 250,000 translations, including all the latest vocabulary in both English and German.
Dict.cc
Free collaborative online English-German/German-English dictionary with vocabulary trainer.
Langenscheidt Online Wörterbücher
Online German dictionary which provides translations into and from 27 different languages including English.

Garzanti Linguistica
Italian-language dictionary. Type in a term to get a full dictionary definition, including use of the term in idioms and expressions, and hyperlinks to related terms. There's also an Italian-English dictionary on the site, which includes audio files in MP3 format, but you have to register (for free) to use it.
WordReference.com
Free online dictionary, providing translations between English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Jisho: Online Japanese Dictionary
Japanese/English dictionary. Allows you to look up words, kanji and sample sentences.

Collins Portuguese Dictionary
Contains more than 250,000 translations, with excellent coverage of both Brazilian and European Portuguese language and usage.
Reverso
Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese dictionary.

Collins Spanish Dictionary
Contaings more than 420,000 translations, including comprehensive coverage of both European and Latin American Spanish.
Diccionario de la lengua española
Monolingual Spanish dictionary, produced by the Real Academia Española.
El Mundo Dictionaries
Includes a variety of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries.
Oxford Spanish Dictionary
Oxford Dictionaries focuses on current language and practical usage. The Spanish site provides free access to Spanish monolingual and English-Spanish/Spanish-English bilingual dictionaries, alongside useful advice about grammar, usage, writing help, and more.
SpanishDict
Includes over 1,000,000 English-Spanish translations.
WordReference.com
Free online dictionary, providing translations between English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Reference Encyclopedias (subject-based)

Use the Library subject guides for other subjects to discover some of the subject-specific dictionaries and encyclopedias available.

The Library also subscribes to two reference packages from Oxford University Press that cover a number of subject areas in the social sciences, and might be useful to search for introductory articles on a range of topics. See details below:

Oxford Bibliographies
Oxford Bibliographies provides guided access to accurate and reliable resources for a variety of topics. Written and reviewed by academic experts, articles combine the features of an encyclopedia article with an emphasis on the key literature relevant to the topic. They act as a guide to scholarship on a topic, and references are annotated to help users assess their relevance.
Oxford research encyclopedias (E-books)
The Oxford Research Encyclopedias from Oxford University Press are designed to meet the challenge of finding accurate and up to date introductions to topics. Working with scholars around the world, the encyclopedias offer growing collections of in-depth, peer-reviewed summaries on a wide range of topics. The Library subscribes to: Criminology & Criminal Justice; International Studies; Latin American History; Linguistics; Politics