Erin Bouma's Recommended
Erin’s WEBFinds: Interesting Dictionaries
http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml
OneLook’s reverse dictionary lets you describe a
concept and get back a list of words/phrases related to it. Type your description (a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word) and you’ll get back a list of terms with the best matches shown first.
There’s a FAQ and even a “crossword puzzle mode.” Over 100 general interest dictionaries are indexed.
VoyCabulary makes the words on any webpage into links to many different online dictionaries, thesauruses, and word translators or other word-reference-site of your choice, by simply clicking on the words. While reading a webpage with new words, run the page through VoyCabulary and just click on the words! It’s quite simple, just put in a URL to your favorite website, type in a sentence. Once you’re at the page, click on any word to look it up – it’s that easy! Good for both foreign languages and specialized texts.
Both English>Russian and Russian>English.
Also offers a HELP page.
It was originally designed for medical research.
Double-tongued Dictionary – current catchwords and their definitions. Examples:
eatertain v. What in the food industry is known as “eatertainment.” Fat, sugar, and salt turn out to be the crucial elements in this quest: different “eatertaining” items mix these ingredients in different but highly caloric combinations.
Yes-and v. To agree to all ideas, act upon them, and embellish them. (A staple of improvisational acting) “They stayed for over an hour and completely yes-anded everything we threw at them.”
A talking Dictionary of English Pronunciation.
Tim Bowyer, Amman, Jordan. 123,314 entries.
Enter the word you want, when it appears in pink, mouse over it to hear it spoken as often as you want. Each word is individually pre-recorded and no form of synthetic speech is used. American/British spellings with pronunciation in Standard British English, with World English alternatives. New words are added on request including a number of phrases. Widely-used World English alternatives are given, as well as some familiar American alternatives. Phonetic transcriptions are not used, since transcription is an inferior imitation of the original sounds. This site’s mission is to record the sounds of current educated English.
http://www.alphadictionary.com/directory/Specialty_Dictionaries/Abbreviations
Many abbreviation/acronym glossaries, including chat room and usenet terms.
http://www.alphadictionary.com/specialty.html
A listing of a 100 specialized glossary sources for food, advertising, crosswords, dialects, biography, children, architecture, games, etc.
http://www.muller-godschalk.com/acronyms.html
The 500 most used acronyms in cyberspace; also emoticons and smiley references. Examples: ATM – at this moment; CDIWY – couldn’t do it without you; HOAS – hold on a second; Q4U – question for you; and TT2T – to tired to talk.
Rhyming Dictionary. Use it to help write poetry, song lyrics, greeting cards, and more. You can use it to explore relationships between words.
You can request results organized by syllables or letters; you can find rhymes, synonyms, antonyms, definitions, related words, similar-sounding words, homophones for your key word as well as search for related pictures and quotes.
http://www.cupola.com/html/wordplay/notsocor.htm
The Not-so-correct Dictionary of humorous definitions. Examples: actor n. Someone who tries to be everything but himself. Karaoke n. A Japanese word meaning Tone Deaf American. Peanuts n. My paycheck.
Not exactly a dictionary but a vast online corpus from Brigham Young University, headed by Mark Davis. British and American English (Spanish and Portuguese)
Six online Corpora, offering 37–385 million words each. Queries can be made on many levels: word, phrase, substring, part of speech, synonyms, or collocates. You can also compare time periods of usage and genres as well. Highly recommended.