Dictionary Of Your Choice

Hi readers, I know you must be looking for a good dictionary to install on your device to expand your vocabulary. Here I have penned down my experience of using four dictionaries: Collins Cobuild, Longman version 5, TheFreeDictionary, and Wordweb. I will not tell you the pros and cons of each dictionary, but will describe what I liked most of each one.

1. Collins Cobuild

I must admit that this was the first dictionary that I installed on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. The reason behind this is that it is free of charge on Samsung Apps. Although you can download it from Blackmart, but it is for those who use Samsung devices. 

Coming to the size of this dictionary, it is of 28MB. It doesn't contain audio file of each word nor does it provide the link to listen to the pronunciation from the Internet. So, you need to be expert in phonetics to know the pronunciation. 

I always prefer the app which has a good user interface and has the feature of increasing the font size (which many apps lack). But this one is quite good as every section is organized beautifully. Dictionary which provides only meaning without examples of the word is of no use according to me. In this, you will find that the word is explained in layman's terms which helps to remember the meaning for a long time. It provides all the meanings of a word with necessary examples.

When you look up any word, you will get whole list of meanings, but it may happen that you want to see only definitions or examples. To do so, just select the appropriate option and you are done. We often note down the important words (those who are preparing for GRE, IELTS, etc know better than me) so that they can revise it later on. In this age of technology, you can expect this useful feature to be incorporated into dictionaries. Yes, this dictionary provides too. Apart from this, it maintains the log on which date you had viewed that word, which is often omitted in other dictionaries and I don't understand why programmers hate to write just a small code. 

One of my mentors told me that the word must come across you at least four to five times at uneven intervals, such that it is engraved on your brain. To facilitate this, we have Flashcards game in this dictionary where you can test your vocabulary skills. I will not go deeper in this, but would like to tell that it is very helpful for nascent learners.

Another interesting feature is Comments. Generally we like to remember the word by our example and not the one accompanied by the dictionary. So for such users, it gives you the way to add comments to word.

People who want to get rid of using small virtual keyboards can use voice recognition feature powered by Google. I need not say that you need an Internet connection to use it. To demonstrate, I tried with the word 'abundant' and it gave me the expected results.

The last but not the least, you can jump from one language to another seamlessly. Yes, you read right. It supports multiple languages ( French, German, Hindi and many more) provided that you have downloaded the extra language packages. 

2. Longman version 5

This is the best dictionary (not app) as per my opinion. This is for those people who like to scrutinize each and every word. I consider this dictionary as best because it also shows you how to use the words (Collocation). By this I mean to say that any word cannot be substituted for its synonym, and this is the common mistake many of us make. 

Now let's talk about the app. It overcomes the pronunciation limitation of Collins Dictionary. It lets you listen to the pronunciation of not only selected word but also of the examples, this requires again an Internet connection. If I am given a choice to choose either Collins Dictionary or Longman, then I would definitely go with the latter one just for its easy to understand explanation.

It does provide the history feature but it lacks one thing. If I tell you to show me all the words that you searched on a particular date, then you may disappoint me by telling no. 

The feature that interests me is the display of picture of a word, which is absent in Collins Cobuild. It doesn't download the image files of words when you download the dictionary, so it needs an Internet connection if you want to see the image. The size of this app is 24MB. What I don't like in this app is that it doesn't allow me to change the font size.

Verdict: If you dislike playing game like Flashcards offered by Collins Cobuild, then I would personally suggest you to download this dictionary app and enrich your vocabulary skills.

3. TheFreeDictionary

Many of you had seen this dictionary on the web. As it is also available in the form of an app, you can avoid opening heavy browsers just to look up a word.

It is just of 1MB as it downloads only GUI components and not the database of words. So it is very useful when you have limited memory, but you need an Internet connection to use the app. Believe me it doesn't eat up more data.

People who love Wikipedia, this dictionary is for them. The moment you open the app, you are welcomed with the exhaustive list like Today's word, Quote of the Day, Article of the Day, This day in History, Today's Birthday, In the New, Spelling Bee, Hangman, etc. It is really beneficial to knowledge gainers.

When you search a word in this app, it will search on Wikipedia and Encyclopedia and of course its own database. It means write anything in its search box and it guarantees to give you the result. I tried with 'Tom Jones' term and it showed me all its related terms like novel, movie, etc.

The native app maintains the history of words that you searched before. If you have 3G connection, you will enjoy this app, as if the database is on your device. You will be able to see the images, listen to the pronunciation, etc.

The reason why I like this app is that it provides the translation of the word in any other foreign language. You need not switch from one dictionary to another just for this.

4. WordWeb

To be honest, if I still have this dictionary on my device then it is just because of one feature, pronunciation. Instead of providing the pronunciation in phonetics, it gives it in English. Ok, I would like to pose one question to you. Pronounce the word called 'Gigantic'.

Open any dictionary and try to read the pronunciation written on the top of this word and you will know why I like this app.

This dictionary, like the previous one, lets you search word from various sources like Wikipedia, Wikitionary, Answers.com, etc. It is very good for those people who want synonyms, antonyms, etc.

If you want to kill time then you can select a 'Random Word' option which presents you any word from its databse which os of 28MB, every time when you do so.

Now it is your choice to decide on the dictionary that you should download. There are many other dictionaries which may fulfil your purpose, but these are the few ones which are available easily.

By: Amit V. Chaudhary