Resource of the Week #127: Wordnik

Hello again. Recently one of my students mentioned an online resource called Wordnik. I’m pleased to feature it as our Resource of the Week.

From the Wordnik homepage, you can look up the meanings of English-language words and phrases. After you type in a word or phrase, click on “I always feel lucky”. Then definitions from multiple dictionaries will appear.

In addition, Wordnik shows examples of how the word has been used. It also shows the etymology (derivation) of the word. And it shows related items, such as words that have similar meanings or that rhyme with the word.

Normally, you also can listen to the pronunciation of the word. However, when I was writing this post, the audio feature was temporarily unavailable.

On the Wordnik website, you can also read about a Word of a Day, find out about a random word, access a blog, and more. If you sign up to join Wordnik, you can contribute to it, for example by posting comments and recording audio pronunciations.

If you enjoy words (as I do), or if you just want to understand and use them better, I encourage you to look at Wordnik.

Until the next post—

Barbara