{{Italic title}} {{Short description|American online dictionary and encyclopedia}} {{redirect|The free dictionary|the Wikimedia project using the slogan "The free dictionary"|Wiktionary}} {{Infobox website | logo = TheFreeDictionary.png | screenshot = TheFreeDictionary.com screenshot.jpg | collapsible = yes | collapsetext = Screenshot | type = Online dictionary, encyclopedia | language = English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian, Greek, Arabic, Polish, Turkish, Russian<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |last=Sheikh |first=F. D. |date=December 26, 2009 |title=Website Review: TheFreeDictionary.com |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/884854/website-review-thefreedictionary-com |website=Dawn}}</ref> | owner = Farlex, Inc.<ref name="farlex.com">{{Cite web |title=Farlex – reference and learning tools |url=https://www.farlex.com/ |publisher=Farlex}}</ref> | url = {{URL|https://thefreedictionary.com/}} | registration = Optional | launch_date = {{start date and age|2003|06|05}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=TheFreeDictionary.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info |url=https://whois.domaintools.com/thefreedictionary.com |access-date=2016-09-23 |website=WHOIS |publisher=DomainTools}}</ref> | current_status = Active }}
'''''The Free Dictionary''''' is an American online dictionary and encyclopedia that aggregates information from various sources.<ref name="auto" /><ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |last=Crenna |first=Leslie |title=Dictionary. App Review |url=https://www.commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews/dictionary |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330145727/https://www.commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews/dictionary |archive-date=Mar 30, 2023 |website=Common Sense Media}}</ref> It is accessible in fourteen languages.<ref name="auto1" />
==History== The Free Dictionary was launched in 2005 by Farlex.<ref name="WAPO2005" /> In the same year, it was included in ''PCMag''{{'s}} Make Your Browser Better list.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mendelson |first=Edward |date=May 13, 2005 |title=Make Your Browser Better |url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1815826,00.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050625025720/https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1815826,00.asp |archive-date=2005-06-25 |access-date=2023-03-21 |website=PCMag}}</ref>
==Content== The site cross-references the contents of dictionaries such as ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', the ''Collins English Dictionary''; encyclopedias such as the ''Columbia Encyclopedia'', the ''Computer Desktop Encyclopedia'', the ''Hutchinson Encyclopedia'' (subscription), and Wikipedia; book publishers such as McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin, HarperCollins, as well as the Acronym Finder database, several financial dictionaries, legal dictionaries, and other content.<ref name="auto" /><ref name="auto1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sources of data |url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/sources.htm |access-date=June 10, 2009 |publisher=The Free Dictionary}}</ref>
It has a feature that allows a user to preview an article while positioning the mouse cursor over a link. One can also click on any word to look it up in the dictionary. The website has sections such as Spelling Bee, Word Pronunciation, My Word List, and Match Up.<ref name="auto" />
It is available as a mobile app called "Dictionary app by Farlex".<ref name="auto1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Eaton |first=Kit |date=8 July 2013 |title=App Smart Extra: Emergency! |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/category/app-smart-extra/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321043430/https://archive.nytimes.com/gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/category/app-smart-extra/ |archive-date=Mar 21, 2023 |website=Gadgetwise Blog |publisher=The New York Times}}</ref>
==Farlex== The site is run by Farlex, Inc., located in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.<ref name="WAPO2005">{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Leslie |date=June 26, 2005 |title=CNN.com Decides to Offer Free Video -- Again |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2005/06/26/cnncom-decides-to-offer-free-video-again/4819d77f-fcbc-4069-8dda-ecd021d425c1/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203040030/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2005/06/26/cnncom-decides-to-offer-free-video-again/4819d77f-fcbc-4069-8dda-ecd021d425c1/ |archive-date=Feb 3, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Farlex Inc |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/1354589D:US |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203215920/https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/1354589D:US |archive-date=Feb 3, 2024 |website=Bloomberg}}</ref>
Farlex also maintains a companion title, ''The Free Library'', an online library of out-of-copyright classic books as well as a collection of periodicals of over four million articles dating back to 1984, and definition-of.com,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Community Dictionary |url=https://www.definition-of.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101112616/https://www.definition-of.com/ |archive-date=Jan 1, 2024 |website=definition-of.com}}</ref> a community dictionary of slang and other terms.
===''The Free Library''=== '''''The Free Library''''' has a separate homepage. It is a free reference website that offers full-text versions of classic literary works by hundreds of authors. It is also a news aggregator, offering articles from a large collection of periodicals containing over four million articles dating back to 1984. Newly published articles are added to the site daily.{{cn|date=May 2024}} The site comprises a selection of articles from open-access journals that can in many cases also be found on a journal's own website.
It is a sister site to ''The Free Dictionary'' and usage examples in the form of "references in classic literature" taken from the site's collection are used on ''The Free Dictionary''{{'s}} definition pages. In addition, double-clicking on a word in the site's collection of reference materials brings up the word's definition on ''The Free Dictionary''.{{cn|date=May 2024}}
==See also== * List of online dictionaries * List of online encyclopedias
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.thefreedictionary.com/}} ** [https://www.thefreedictionary.com/dictionary.htm The Free Dictionary] – Dictionary, encyclopedia, and thesaurus ** [https://www.definition-of.com/ Definition-Of] – Community dictionary ** [https://www.freethesaurus.com/ Free Thesaurus] – Synonyms, antonyms, and related words * [https://www.thefreelibrary.com/ The Free Library] – Free news, magazines, newspapers, journals, reference articles and classic books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Free Dictionary, The}} Category:American online encyclopedias Category:Works about American English Category:Multilingual websites Category:Online encyclopedias Category:Online English dictionaries Category:Websites which mirror Wikipedia Category:21st-century encyclopedias Category:Internet properties established in 2003