Collins Primary Illustrated Dictionary. Collins Dictionaries
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A dictionary helps you to find out what a word means and how to spell it correctly. The words in a dictionary are arranged in alphabetical order.
How to find a word
Think of the first letter in the word you want to look up. Once you know this, there is more than one way to find your word in the dictionary:
• You can use the Index at the back of the ebook which lists all of the dictionary words in alphabetical order. Scroll through the Index until you find the letter your word begins with, then look down the words until you find the one you are looking for. You can then follow the link to the entry in the dictionary.
• You can use the Contents page at the front of the book, which has a link to every letter in the dictionary. Follow the link to the letter your word begins with, then look through the entries in this letter until you find the word you are looking for.
Finding your way around the dictionary
1. The headword is the word you are looking up.
2. After the headword there can be other forms of the word, such as plural nouns, verb tenses, and comparative and superlative adjectives.
3. The part of speech tells you what type of word the headword is, such as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, or pronoun.
4. The definition tells you what the word means.
5. If the headword has more than one meaning, each meaning has a different number.
6. Sometimes there is an example to show how the word is used.
7. A pronunciation shows you how to say a difficult word.
8. A word history tells you where a word originally came from.
9. Some entries have a related word, such as a noun, adjective, or adverb made from the headword.
10. Synonyms, or words that you can use instead, are given for some words.
11. Antonyms, or words that have the opposite meaning, are given for some words.
Other features of this dictionary
• Some headwords can be spelt in more than one way.
medieval; also spelt mediaeval
age ages, ageing or aging, aged
• Sometimes definitions include a label, such as FORMAL, INFORMAL, or TRADEMARK. This tells you a little more about the word or how it is used.
mum mums
NOUN INFORMAL mother
• Sometimes a photo or an illustration is included.
mollusc molluscs
NOUN an animal with a soft body and no backbone. Snails, slugs, clams and mussels are all molluscs.
• Grammar and spelling tips provide extra information on the spelling or use of words.
different
ADJECTIVE If one thing is different from another, it is not like it.
• Some definitions tell you where to find more information at another headword.
convex
ADJECTIVE A convex surface bulges outwards, rather than being level or curving inwards.
See concave
ANTONYM: concave
Extra help for you
Word Wizard is a special section after the A-Z to help you with your writing. It contains information on things like parts of speech, prefixes, suffixes, and punctuation. It also tells you how you can improve your spelling. There are interesting facts about where some words come from. It even has information on shapes, numbers, fractions, and angles, along with pictures.
The Earth and Space is a fact-filled section with colourful pictures. This is where to look if you want to know more about the Solar System, the Earth, the Moon, the continents, and the world’s mountains, rivers, and oceans. There are also pages showing you the flags of some of the nations of the world.
a an
ADJECTIVE A and an are used when you talk about one of something. A is used when the next sound is a consonant: a car, a dog. An is used when the next sound is a vowel (a, e, i, o or u): an apple, an elephant.
abacus abacuses
NOUN a frame with beads that slide along rods, used for counting
[from Greek abax meaning board covered with sand for doing sums on]
abandon abandons, abandoning, abandoned
VERB If you abandon someone or something, you leave them or give them up for good. • He abandoned all hope of catching the train on time.
abbey abbeys
NOUN a church with buildings attached to it in which monks or nuns live
abbreviation abbreviations
NOUN a short form of a word or phrase • N is an abbreviation for North.
abdomen abdomens
NOUN the front part of your body below your chest, containing your stomach and intestines
abdominal ADJECTIVE
ability abilities
NOUN If you have ability, you have the intelligence and skill to do things.
able
ADJECTIVE If you are able to do something, you can do it.
ANTONYM: