Different Dictionaries for Different Purposes

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I really enjoyed the dictionary exercises that we did yesterday. I found it interesting how each dictionary had a vastly different shades of meaning assigned to the same word.

My group also discussed the issue of which dictionary is the most “reliable.” This was a difficult question for us to come to a definitive answer on. I think the interesting point about that discussion was that there is no “most reliable dictionary”, but that different dictionaries serve different purposes.  For instance, you might look up a work in the OED if you need a definition for a literary or scientific paper, where as if you wanted to know the everyday use of a word and/or the context in what context that word is used in everyday life, you might use urban dictionary. I also enjoyed the way in which dictionaries can be used to tell the “story” of how a world has evolved over time, many times originating from the vernacular.