Research Guides: Academic English Resources: Dictionaries

Dictionaries and Useful Reference Sources

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. This is one of the few dictionaries that scholars will cite for authoritative definitions of words in English.
Acronym Finder
The Acronym Finder is a searchable database of more than 287,000 abbreviations and acronyms covering many disciplines. Its strengths include computer, technology, telecommunication, and military acronyms and abbreviations.

From the Horse's Mouth by John Ayto (Editor)
ISBN: 9780199543793
Publication Date: 2009-09-14
Dictionary of over 6,000 English-language idioms, slang expressions, and phrases.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar by Bas Aarts; Sylvia Chalker; Edmund Weiner
ISBN: 9780199658237
Publication Date: 2014-01-06
A straightforward and accessible A-Z guide to the diverse and often complex terminology of English grammar. Includes clear and concise definitions which are enhanced by numerous example sentences, as well as relevant quotations from the scholarly literature of the field.