Dictionaries & Other Useful Resources

(thanks to Irene Davis for many of these)

DICTIONARIES

http://www.onelook.com/  (more than 900 online dictionaries with a search engine)

http://www.hyperdictionary.com/ 

http://www.wordspy.com/      new words and old words used new ways

http://yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html  100 Most Often Mispelled Misspelled English Words

http://idiomsite.com/   list of idioms, their origin and meaning

http://www.wordhippo.com   finds similar or opposite words, as well as rhymes, translations, and pronunciation

            http://www.visualdictionaryonline.com/  More than 6,000 images

            Visuwords - graphical dictionary. Learn how words associate.

            The Random House Word Menu offers a reverse-dictionary, thesaurus, almanac and a glossaries.

http://www.webgrammar.com

http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/big_list/

http://www.bartleby.com/59/  huge reference work, including the American Heritage Book of English Usage

http://www.m-w.com/   Merriam-Webster dictionary

http://wordnet.princeton.edu/index.shtml   Princeton WordNet, available both as an online website and as a downloadable dictionary program you can install on your computer

http://www.answers.com/library/Word%20Menu  The Random House Word Menu offers a reverse-dictionary, thesaurus, almanac and a collection of glossaries.

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/?view=get   A site from the Oxford Dictionary re word usage

http://thesaurus.reference.com/  online thesaurus

http://www.acronymfinder.com/

http://www.abbreviations.com

http://www.DirPedia.com - (combining a dictionary, an encyclopedia and a web directory)

http://www.cp.org/  The Canadian Press website, with information about purchasing their stylebook

http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/  The Chicago Manual is preferred by most editors, especially in the U.S.

http://www.wordcounter.com  (ranks the most frequently used words in any given body of text)

http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/webtools/web_freqs.html  (similar to WordCounter only with an ability to sort the words per most frequent, least frequent or alphabetical)

http://www.readplease.com  (a simple audio program that reads your words back to you using one of four voices. This can really help you smooth out phrasing and catch convoluted sentences. Free version to try.

Metaphors Dictionary by Elyse Sommer with Dorrie Wess (Visible Ink Press)  Visible Ink also publishes The Handy Answer Book Series® in various scientific areas as well as history, sports, and general reference.

Wordnik, the online dictionary and language resource, shows related words in context to help writers find the right word quickly and accurately.

The New York Public Library: http://www.nypl.org/research/  

The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1928,  defined 414,000 words in 15,490 pages.

THE BEST GENERAL WEB DIRECTORIES:

www.iTools.com  (many search engines, including those to find people and businesses in the U.S. and Canada, reverse look-up, web searches, languages, maps, etc.

www.aigam.com (a web directory arranged by topic)

www.zepti.org  (a comprehensive web directory)

www.TheCelebrityCafe.com  (find book and movie reviews, authors, celebrities)

www.business-inc.net   (directory of business websites)

http://zipskinny.com/   (enter a U.S. zip code to locate U.S. Census data)

www.OyMap.com   (a comprehensive worldwide directory)

http://catalog.loc.gov/   (Library of Congress searchable online catalog)

https://www.cia.gov/library/index.html   (a comprehensive source of facts)

Newspaper archives:  www.archive.org
                                     www.biblio.org/slanews/internet/archives.htm
                                     www.journalismnet.com

QUOTATIONS:

www.libraryspot.com/quotations.htm
www.quotationspage.com/ 
www.quoteland.com/
www.bartleby.com/quotations
http://dir.yahoo.com/Reference/Quotations/
www.quotationreference.com/ 
www.quotiki.com/
www.quotablebooks.com
www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/

DID YOU KNOW:  (see more facts about languages on the FACTS page)
 

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
 
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."  (a e i o u)

"Typewriter" is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

“Stewardesses" is the longest word that can be typed using only the left hand.

"Lollipop" is the longest word that can be typed using only the right hand. 

HELP WITH SPELLING:   www.myspellit.com

THE TEN MOST MISSPELLED WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

ecstasy, embarrass, exhilarate, harass, hypocrisy, indispensable, liquefy, rarefy, sacrilegious, supersede

MISCELLANEOUS SITES OF INTEREST: 

http://ItalianAmericanTalk.com

SOME FAVORITE BOOKS: 

The Ultimate Italian Trivia Book, by Scott Paul Frush   www.ScottPaulFrush.com
READ MY REVIEW

The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder (who lived in my home town, Hamden, CT)

Not Wanted on the Voyage, by Timothy Findley (a fan of Simon Teakettle's)

An Unconventional Woman and Stone Diaries by Carol Shields