Searching
There are two ways to look up a word in the dictionary:
Quick search
A quick search finds main dictionary entries, such as alphabet, break, xylophone. It also finds phrases and compounds listed within main entries, such as to look up or alphabet book and variant spellings such as dictionarie.
The Quick search box is in the centre of the Home page and at the top of every other page in the dictionary.
More information on Quick searching:
Advanced search
A full-text search of the entire dictionary text. It finds your term wherever it occurs in the dictionary. This could be in the form of an entry name, part of another word's definition, in a quotation, etc. An Advanced search also allows you to confine your search to a particular area of text (e.g. definition or quotation text), to search for words that occur near one another (e.g. Dickens before Drood), to combine more than one search term, and to use filters to narrow down your search.
To start an Advanced search, click the Advanced search option (just below the Quick search box on any page).
More information on Advanced searching:
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