Word of the Day
Frequently Asked Questions
We hope the following will answer most of the questions you may have about the word of the day service. If it doesn't, then please contact our marketing department at askmarketing@oup.com. We will try to deal with your query as quickly as possible.
Why can't I find the word of the day entry in your online dictionary?
The free dictionary available on AskOxford is the Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English. This covers a good proportion of the words needed for everyday use.
The entries for the AskOxford Word of the Day are taken from the Oxford Dictionary of English. Many of the words featured in our Word of the Day feature won't be found in the Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English
What do the pronunciation symbols mean?
The AskOxford Word of the Day entries are sourced from the Oxford Dictionary of English, which uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to represent the standard accent of English as spoken in the south of England (sometimes called Received Pronunciation or RP). To find out how to sound each symbol, see our pronunciation guide.
Why doesn't every word have audio pronunciation?
The audio pronunciations are taken from the Concise Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM and the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (fifth edition) on CD-ROM. Unfortunatley we are unable to provide audio pronunciation for every entry in the Word of the Day.
Why are the emails I receive sent as html?
This is due to some issues over layout, and the wide variety of characters from non-English alphabets that appear in ODE entries. If your e-mail software is not set to display HTML, the Word of the Day may not be displayed correctly.
Why are there no useful words?
Every word has its uses! Most users want the words chosen for the Word of the Day to be the more unusual and interesting words.
Why are there no example sentences?
Example sentences are included whenever they appear in the Oxford Dictionary of English.
Why are most of the words nouns?
They're not all nouns, but nouns do predominate overwhelmingly. The vast majority of non-core entries in the Oxford Dictionary of English are nouns anyway, and furthermore nouns seem much more likely to fit the criteria of an interesting entry.
Why doesn't the audio pronunciation work on my computer?
You may need to download an appropriate audio plug-in software for your computer, such as RealPlayer™.
Or you may have the volume on your computer set too low. To adjust the volume, click on the speaker icon on the toolbar in the bottom-right corner of your screen.
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