Looking for New Words to Play at Your Next Game? Likewise, some dictionaries are known for being more proactive about including new words, including the Oxford Dictionary, which was the first dictionary to include the term ‘selfie’ in 2013 and in April 2020 became one of the first dictionaries to add new COVID language to its books. Longer dictionaries, for instance, tend to include more words than compressed or pocket dictionaries. Some dictionaries are more likely to include new words than others. Questions over these requirements are what can lead to discrepancies between dictionaries. Of course, it’s not necessarily easy to determine what constitutes ‘widespread use’ of a word, nor is it easy to anticipate which words will have staying power. the word is likely to remain in use in many years. Can you imagine if we refused to add new words to dictionaries? We wouldn’t recognize the validity of commonly-used words like ‘telephone’ and ‘internet.’Īs a compromise between these two extremes, words are generally added to dictionaries once they’re ‘widely used’ within a group of people and are considered to have ‘ staying power’, i.e. On the other hand, once we use a word enough, we want to make sure it’s officially recognized. Think of it this way: if we included every word anyone had ever said in a dictionary, that dictionary would include thousands of nonsensical entries. Ultimately, it’s up to the discretion of individual dictionaries when to add a new word to their dictionary. As humans, we’re constantly coming up with new ways to describe things or new things to describe, which means dictionaries are constantly growing. This is a natural consequence of the evolving nature of language. While many common words are included in all dictionaries, there are also plenty of inconsistencies between sources. Why Different Dictionaries Include Different Words It's used in all English-speaking countries aside from the United States, Thailand, Israel, and Canada. English International Dictionary (SOWPODS): This Scrabble word list combines both British and American words.Letterpress Dictionary: This dictionary includes the 300,000+ words acceptable for play in the Letterpress Word Game.Enable1 Dictionary: Another Scrabble resource, this dictionary contains some of the most popular Scrabble words.Official Tournament and Club Word List 1998: The earliest version of the Official Tournament and Club Word List, which was used to guide gameplay from 1998-2006.Official Tournament and Club Word List 2006: An earlier version of the Official Tournament and Club Word List, which was used to guide gameplay from 2006-2016.It was used until 2018, when the NASPA word list took over as the official gameplay dictionary. The 2016 version is the most-recently-updated version of the list. Official Tournament and Club Word List 2016: From 1988 to 2018, this dictionary was used as the official word list for competitive gameplay of Scrabble in the U.S.Scrabble UK/Global: Just like the Scrabble US dictionary, this dictionary spells out all the official Scrabble words for international play.It can be a great source of ideas for your next game as well as an argument-settler. Scrabble US: This dictionary spells out all official American Scrabble words, according to Scrabble themselves.Reference this dictionary if you’re trying to resolve a WWF game dispute. Words with Friends 2020: The definitive rulebook when playing Words with Friends, this dictionary contains all the words permissible for your next Words with Friends binge.Below is a list of the dictionaries this word checker will search, alongside an explanation of what the dictionaries are used for. There are a lot of dictionaries in the world, and our tool contains a good chunk of them. Our tool includes information about different definitions for your word as well as lists of related words. To learn more about the word you’ve searched, check the ‘related links’ box below the results. Look at the related links for more information.Color-coded results will pop up below the search bar, indicating dictionaries which include the word in green, and dictionaries where it’s absent in red. Be sure to check your spelling, especially on less common words. Enter the word you’re searching for, then click ‘validate’. Preparing for a Scrabble tournament? Trying to end an argument about whether a word is fair game in Words with Friends? You’ve come to the right place! Our Word Checker tool can quickly and easily show you whether a word is playable according to a range of official game dictionaries.