Dictionary Day is in honor of Noah Webster, considered the Father of the American Dictionary. Noah Webster was born on October 16, 1758.
The objective of this day is to emphasize the importance of dictionary skills, and seeks to improve vocabulary.
Webster began to write his dictionary at the age of 43. It took him 27 years to finish it! In addition to traditional English vocabulary, it contained uniquely American words.
How many times did your mom or dad tell you to “look it up in the dictionary” if we couldn’t spell something. That always confused me. How could I look it up if I couldn’t spell it.
I remember having a dictionary by my side when I was trying to read a book for my Literature course in college. So frustrating to have to look up every other word. Now we can use online Dictionaries such as:
- Dictionary.com I love the word of the day and quote of the day. They also have a thesaurus, translator, flash card for kids. Word Dynamo and a reference section. They have a daily crossword and a crossword solver. My big ‘ol dictionary didn’t have any of that stuff! Dictionary.com has a free Android only app.
- Merriam-Webster.com must be listed, in honor of Mr. Webster. Their site is similar to Dictionary.com with a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, medical and Spanish-English section. They also have word games, word of the day, new words and slang and top ten and trending lists. I love the word of the day today on MW: Bumbershoot: I needed one of those yesterday in the rain (umbrella.) They also have a free app for your smart phone.
- The Free Dictionary is a very busy, almost cluttered site. They boast many sections including Thesaurus, Medical Dictionary, Legal and Financial Dictionary, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia and Wikepedia. They even have a hangman game you can play! You can set it as your homepage and customize it anyway you would like.
Celebrate Dictionary Day by reading the “Good Book”……the Dictionary! We challenge you to learn some new words today.
By the way, the word of the day is something I am quite familiar with (well, the clumsy part anyway):
