Using a learner’s dictionary — Foreign languages, 11–13
A dictionary entry is more than a translation. Parts of speech, example sentences, pronunciation, labels and grammar notes help you choose the meaning and use a new word correctly.
Read the whole entry
A learner’s dictionary gives clues about a word’s job and behaviour. It may show whether record is a noun or a verb, where the stress falls, which meaning is common, and what words fit around it. The example sentence is evidence: it shows the word doing its real work.
Why one translation is not enough
Many words cover several meanings, and two possible translations may need different grammar. A bilingual list can get you near the answer, but it cannot always tell you whether a word is natural, countable, formal or followed by a particular preposition. The dictionary’s extra information solves that choice.
Choose the right sense
You meet “I missed the bus.” Step 1: search miss. Step 2: notice meanings such as fail to catch, feel sad about, or hit wrongly. Step 3: read the examples and see that bus appears with fail to catch. Step 4: copy the pattern: miss the train. The sentence selects the meaning, not the first translation.
The trap
It is tempting to choose the first translation because it feels efficient, especially when you are reading quickly. But dictionary meanings are usually ordered by frequency or by a particular sense, not by the sentence in your head. Check the part of speech and one example before you commit to a meaning.
Where you use it
Use a learner’s dictionary while writing a message, checking subtitles, reading instructions or preparing a presentation. Look up a word when you need to produce it, not only when you fail to recognise it. Save the useful example and pronunciation, so the next encounter is easier.
Keep exploring
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