''The Free Dictionary'' is an American

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...

and

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

that aggregates information from various sources. It is accessible in fourteen languages.

History

The Free Dictionary was launched in 2005 by Farlex. In the same year, it was included in ''

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'' Make Your Browser Better list.

Content

The site cross-references the contents of dictionaries such as ''

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (''AHD'') is a dictionary of American English published by HarperCollins. It is currently in its fifth edition (since 2011). Before HarperCollins acquired certain business lines from H ...

'', the ''

Collins English Dictionary The ''Collins English Dictionary'' is a printed and online dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins in Glasgow. It was first published in 1979. Corpus The dictionary uses language research based on the Collins Corpus, which is ...

''; encyclopedias such as the ''

Columbia Encyclopedia The ''Columbia Encyclopedia'' is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and, in the last edition, sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its relationship with Columbia University Columbi ...

'', the ''Computer Desktop Encyclopedia'', the ''

Hutchinson Encyclopedia The ''Hutchinson Encyclopedia'' is an English-language general encyclopedia. It is a single volume designed for use in the home, libraries and schools. It attempts to be readable by reducing the use of technical language. A small subset of the En ...

'' (subscription), and

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

; book publishers such as McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin, HarperCollins, as well as the

Acronym Finder Acronym Finder (AF) is a free, online, searchable dictionary and database of abbreviations (acronyms, initialisms, and others) and their meanings. The entries are classified into categories such as ''Information technology, Information Technolog ...

database, several financial dictionaries, legal dictionaries, and other content. It has a feature that allows a user to preview an article while positioning the mouse cursor over a link. One can also click on any word to look it up in the dictionary. The website has sections such as Spelling Bee, Word Pronunciation, My Word List, and Match Up. It is available as a mobile app called "Dictionary app by Farlex".

Farlex

The site is run by Farlex, Inc., located in Huntingdon Valley,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. Farlex also maintains a companion title, ''The Free Library'', an online library of out-of-copyright classic books as well as a collection of periodicals of over four million articles dating back to 1984, and definition-of.com, a community dictionary of

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

and other terms.

''The Free Library''

''The Free Library'' has a separate homepage. It is a free reference website that offers full-text versions of classic literary works by hundreds of authors. It is also a

news aggregator In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, content aggregator, feed reader, news reader, or simply an aggregator, is client software or a web application that aggregates digital Content (media), content such as online newsp ...

, offering articles from a large collection of periodicals containing over four million articles dating back to 1984. Newly published articles are added to the site daily. The site comprises a selection of articles from open-access journals that can in many cases also be found on a journal's own website. It is a sister site to ''The Free Dictionary'' and usage examples in the form of "references in classic literature" taken from the site's collection are used on ''The Free Dictionary'' definition pages. In addition, double-clicking on a word in the site's collection of reference materials brings up the word's definition on ''The Free Dictionary''.

References

External links