Comparison of dictionaries

  Linguistics in Oxford Dictionary:

PLURAL NOUN

• 
  

  treated as singular The scientific study of language and its structure, including the study of grammar, syntax, and phonetics. Specific branches of linguistics include sociolinguistics, dialectology, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, comparative linguistics, and structural linguistics.
• Example sentences:
• "In fact, after psychology, linguistics is probably the cognitive discipline par excellence."
• "Machine translation is at the confluence of linguistics and computer science."
•                [...]

     Pronunciation

     linguistics: /lɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/

• Linguistics in Webster Dictionary:
• noun, plural in form but singular in construction lin·guis·tics\ liŋ-ˈgwi-stiks \

      Definition of linguistics: the study of human speech including the units, nature, structure, and modification of language.

      First Known Use: circa 1837

      Recent Examples of linguistics from the Web

Shortly after finishing a linguistics Ph.D. at Berkeley in 1980, Ken Whistler was frustrated by the inability of mainframe computers to print the specialized phonetic symbols that linguists use.

• • —Michael Erard, New York Times, "How the Appetite for Emojis Complicates the Effort to Standardize the World’s Alphabets," 18 Oct. 2017
  • There’s plenty of amusing political material in Annihilation, particularly a bit that compares his ascent to the presidency to Van Halen's garbled lead singer David Lee Roth taking over a university linguistics department.
    —Maeve Mcdermott, USA TODAY, "Patton Oswalt faces wife's death with jokes, heartbreak and body fluids in new Netflix special," 17 Oct. 2017
  • The Bloomington man, whose parents are Indiana University linguistics professors, tried picking the padlock with a paper clip to no avail.
    —CBS News, "Indiana college student locked in cave for 60 hours feels lucky to be alive," 25 Sep. 2017

    Did You Know?

Any analysis of language, including 8th-grade grammar, can be called linguistics. As recently as 200 years ago, ordinary grammar was about the only kind of linguistics there was. Today a linguist may be a person who learns foreign languages, but the term usually refers to people who devote themselves to analyzing the structure of language. Many linguists concentrate on the history of a language; others study the way children learn to speak; others analyze the sounds of a language—and still others just study English grammar, a subject so big that you could easily spend your entire life on it.

     Other Language Terms

• • cognate, collocation, homonym
  • 
    
  • Definition of linguistics for English Language Learners: the study of language and of the way languages work.

   Definition of linguistics for Students: the study of human speech including the nature, structure, and development of language or of a language or group of languages.

    Learn More about linguistics

See words that rhyme with linguistics

Spanish Central: Translation of linguistics

Nglish: Translation of linguistics for Spanish speakers

Britannica English: Translation of linguistics for Arabic speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about linguistics

   Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up linguistics? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

   Linguistics in WordReference:

Depending on the kind of task, I prefer one dictionary or another. I usually use WordReference dictionary in my everyday tasks but, for example, in a research project, I use Webster dictionary since it provides me a huge range of information. So, depending on the task, the kind of information you need and how deep you study a concept, you will find advantages and disadvantages in one dictionary or in other.The order from best to least (specific) information is as follows: Webster dictionary, Oxford dictionary, and WordReference.

In the case of Webster learners dictionary, their entries are though for students (maybe of the secondary education) and they receive only the essential information as grammar category of the word, pronunciation and a short definition.

Finally, dictionaries usually offer puzzles and quizzes. In my case, I have tried with a quiz about vocabulary in which I have to choose among five the most similar to the one I have received before. I have to tell that I have learned three new words with this simple and entertained quiz, and I consider these types of activities, another good opportunity for everybody to improve their language skills.