How A Dictionary Works?

          In order to understand the working of a dictionary it is advisable to read the starting pages of the dictionary which includes preface, different features which are used throughout the dictionary such as 'n' which refers to noun, 'v' to verb; and you can also refer to these pages to understand the used of numbering, punctuation, etc.

          You can check out the meaning of any word by referring to the respective word in the dictionary, for example if you would like to know the meaning of the word 'mammoth' go to the section of words starting with M and in then in this section go to the words beginning with "ma" and so on till you get the word mammoth. The pronunciation of the word is also given. You can also look for full form of abbreviations.

          Oxford dictionary and Webster's dictionary are some of the most commonly used dictionaries. You can also refer to dictionaries on the internet. Some dictionaries like Webster's dictionary also explain about how to pronounce the word.

A dictionary is a book or online collection of words, which exists alongside their meaning and how to pronounce them.  A dictionary can be small, pocket sized or have many volumes of words (imagine the dictionary of the entire English language).
Some dictionaries include illustrations and others put the word into a sentence for you which is called placing the word in context.

In the USA, Websters is the most famous marker of dictionaries, whereas in the UK, the Oxford, Cambridge and Collins dictionaries are equal candidates.

Dictionaries can be bilingual, which helps people to translate words between languages more easily.  In this case, it is often a set of two or more dictionaries that are used, for instance, English to Greek and Greek to English.  These could be found in one volume, but it would limit the number of words available to the user.

Words in a dictionary are listed in alphabetical order.

The process of working of a dictionary is quite simple but the purpose it serves can not be compared with anything else in the world. What you have to do is to open the page on which you find the letter from which the word start that you are looking for. When you find that letter then you will have to go for the next letter it your word and the corresponding letter after the initial one in the dictionary, if you go this way, you will reach to the page where you can find the word.
     
When you reach the page then you can check your word in that order on the page also. When you find the word, you can check the meaning of it in the dictionary. Some of the dictionaries give only the meaning of the word, but if you have a large dictionary, you will find that they have explained everything; the meaning, the use, the origin of the word and also some phrases that have used the word as the prime word.