Bob Rowan's List: Dictionaries

FROM VALENZA: Lexipedia mind maps relationships among words, while it provides traditional dictionary content. It also examines synonyms, antonyms, and fuzzynyms.Lexipedia mind maps relationships among words, while it provides traditional dictionary content. It also examines synonyms, antonyms, and fuzzynyms.

FROM VALENZA: Wiktionary, the big daddy of 2.0 dictionaries is a collaborative project a free-content multilingual dictionary. When they say multi, they really mean multi.

FROM VALENZA: Shahi's beautiful definitions connect to Flickr, Google, and Yahoo! images, as well as Wiktionary content.

FROM VALENZA: Leximo, a social dictionary, invites users to submit words in every spoken language of the world. Since each word can be submitted by multiple users, definitions can vary widely in quality and thus other users can rank these definitions, so that the most popular definitions appear first. Its content seems to be stronger in languages other than English, but it may be a cool way for ELL students to share their own languages.

FROM VALENZA: Wordie is like Flickr, but without the photos. Wordie lets you make lists of words and phrases. Words you love, words you hate, words on a given topic, whatever. Lists are visible to everyone but can be added to by just you, a group of friends, or anyone, as you wish. Users may also comment, discuss, and attach private notes to words.

FROM VALENZA: The Internet Slang Translator, also available as an iPhone app, may be useful to share with parents and teachers unused to the language of texting.

FROM VALENZA: The Urban Dictionary, the slang dictionary you wrote, is likely not going to make its way onto your language pathfinders. A substantial amount of its user-submitted may be too gritty for educational environments. But it will help you understand what some of your kids are really saying. (I've promised my own daughter I would not embarrass myself--and her--by even trying to use these words in conversation.) For those of us who are not faint of heart, it will serve as a way to discuss language and its evolution, slang, and perhaps the less-than-pretty ways we talk about each other.

FROM VALENZA: Visuwords. Wow! I LOVE the color-coded mind mapping. I can't wait to share this with our English teachers, in fact all our student writers. This may be my favorite!

FROM VALENZA: In the spirit of open gates to reference knowledge, I'll end this post by reposting the TED video in which lexicographer Erin McKean suggests we redefine our notion of dictionary.

allows users to find definitions to multiple words with one search; searches other online dictionaries for definitions

suggested by MB Spencer

From Gretchen Schroeder: What I like about WordWeb Online is its ability to do "fuzzy" spelling suggesting words close to the spelling you entered. Cross linking to related words, and if it doesn't find a word in its, more than 300,000 word database, it will search the web for definitions for you. It is also available in both an iApp and an Android app.