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Oxford Dictionaries API Documentation
Oxford Dictionaries API Documentation
The Oxford Dictionaries API allows easy access to our world-renowned dictionary content. Use the live documentation below to try it out, view real responses, and explore a growing number of code samples to help you get started.
The documentation below is populated with a restricted App Key and App ID to allow you to try out the basic functionality, but to get full use of the API you need to sign up for an account. Once you login to your account the base URL for your API requests will be shown here.
Take a look at the FAQ page for lots of tips on how to get things done.
- Entries
- Lemmas
- Search
- Translations
- Thesaurus
- Sentences
- Utility
- Words
- Inflections
Implementation notes
/api/v2/entries/{source_lang}/{word_id}:
Use this to retrieve definitions, pronunciationsThe way in which a word is pronounced.
We generally give pronunciations both as sound files and in a phonetic spelling.
E.g. through “Pronunciation: /θruː/”
, example sentences, grammatical informationA grammatical feature provides extra information about a lexicalCategory (see below). E.g. a grammaticalFeature may say that a noun is plural, or that a verb is intransitive.
and word originsAn account of the origin and historical development of the word.
E.g. ‘grammar’ has the etymology “Late Middle English: from Old French gramaire, via Latin from Greek grammatikē (tekhnē) '(art) of letters', from gramma, grammat- 'letter of the alphabet, thing written'.”
. TIP: Entries ONLY works for dictionary headwords. You may need to use the Lemmas endpoint first to link an inflected form back to its headword (e.g., pixels --> pixel). Use filters to limit the entryA complete account of a particular word. This can include a word’s senses, definitions, translations, origin, and any phrases featuring the word.
information that is returned. For example, you may only require definitions and not everything else, or just pronunciationsThe way in which a word is pronounced.
We generally give pronunciations both as sound files and in a phonetic spelling.
E.g. through “Pronunciation: /θruː/”
. The full list of filters can be retrieved from the filters Utility endpoint. You can also specify values within the filter using '='. For example 'grammaticalFeatures=singular'. Filters can also be combined. Combining different filters will build a query using 'AND' operators, while if a filter contains more than one value it will build a query using 'OR' operators. For example, a combination of filters like '?grammaticalFeatures=singular&lexicalCategory=noun,verb' will return entries which match the query ('noun' OR 'verb') AND 'singular'./api/v2/lemmas/{source_lang}/{word_id}:
Use this to check if a word exists in the dictionary, or what 'root' form it links to (e.g., swimming > swim). The response tells you the possible lemmasLemma is a general term for any headword, phrase, or other form that can be looked up.
E.g. ‘act’, ‘acting’, ‘act up’, ‘get one’s act together’ are all lemmas.
for a given inflectedAn inflection is a change in the form of a word to express a grammatical function such as tense, mood, person, number, case, or gender.
Example: ‘foxes’ is an inflected form of ‘fox’.
word. This can then be combined with other endpoints to retrieve more information. The results can be filtered by lexicalCategories and/or grammaticalFeatures. Filters can be combined. Combining different filters will build a query using 'AND' operators, while if a filter contains more than one value it will build a query using 'OR' operators. For example, a combination of filters like '?grammaticalFeatures=singular&lexicalCategory=noun,verb' will return entries which match the query ('noun' OR 'verb') AND 'singular'./api/v2/search/translations/{source_lang_search}/{target_lang_search}:
Use this to find possible translations for a given word./api/v2/search/{source_lang}:
Use this to retrieve possible headwordThe headword is the word being defined or translated.
matches for a given string of text. The results are calculated using headword matching, fuzzy matching, and lemmatizationLemma is a general term for any headword, phrase, or other form that can be looked up.
E.g. ‘act’, ‘acting’, ‘act up’, ‘get one’s act together’ are all lemmas.
./api/v2/search/thesaurus/{source_lang}
Use this to retrieve possible headwordThe headword is the word being defined or translated.
matches for a given string of text. The results are calculated using headword matching, fuzzy matching, and lemmatizationLemma is a general term for any headword, phrase, or other form that can be looked up.
E.g. ‘act’, ‘acting’, ‘act up’, ‘get one’s act together’ are all lemmas.
./api/v2/translations/{source_lang_translate}/{target_lang_translate}/{word_id}:
Use this to return translations for a given word. In the event that a word in the dataset does not have a direct translation, the response will be a definitionA complete account of a particular word. This can include a word’s senses, definitions, translations, origin, and any phrases featuring the word.
in the target language./api/v2/thesaurus/{lang}/{word_id}:
Use this to retrieve words that are similar/opposite in meaning to the input word (synonymA word which is similar in meaning to another word, e.g. ‘enthusiastic’ is a synonym of ‘keen’.
/antonymA word which is opposite in meaning to another word, e.g. ‘apathetic’ is an antonym of ‘enthusiastic’.
). Tip: Some Entries responses contain sense-level links to a Thesaurus entry by the property "thesaurusLink". For instance:-
{ "thesaurusLinks": [ { "entry_id": "abide_by", "sense_id": "t_en_gb0000029.003" } ] }
/api/v2/sentences/{source_lang}/{word_id}:
Use this to retrieve sentences extracted from a corpus of real-world language, including news and blog content. This is available for English and Spanish. For English, the sentences are linked to the correct senseA sense is a particular meaning of a word.
Example: the word ‘mouse’ has the following senses:
1) A small rodent that typically has a pointed snout, relatively large ears and eyes, and a long tail.
2) A small handheld device which is moved across a mat or flat surface to move the cursor on a computer screen.
of the word in the dictionary. In Spanish, they are linked at the headwordThe headword is the word being defined or translated.
level./api/v2/domains/{source_lang}:
Returns a list of the available domainsDomain labels give the subject area of a word or sense (e.g. Music, Computing, Politics).
E.g. ‘cardiogram’ has the domain class “Medicine”.
for a given monolingual language dataset./api/v2/domains/{source_lang_domains}/{target_lang_domains}:
Returns a list of the available domainsDomain labels give the subject area of a word or sense (e.g. Music, Computing, Politics).
E.g. ‘cardiogram’ has the domain class “Medicine”.
for a given bilingual language dataset./api/v2/fields:
Returns a list of the available fields to construct API requests./api/v2/fields/{endpoint}:
Returns the lists of fields available to construct API requests for a given endpoint./api/v2/filters:
Returns a list of all the valid filters to construct API requests./api/v2/filters/{endpoint}:
Returns a list of all the valid filters by endpoint to construct API requests./api/v2/grammaticalFeatures/{source_lang}:
Returns a list of the available grammatical featuresA grammatical feature provides extra information about a lexicalCategory (see below). E.g. a grammaticalFeature may say that a noun is plural, or that a verb is intransitive.
for a given monolingual dataset./api/v2/grammaticalFeatures/{source_lang_grammatical}/{target_lang_grammatical}:
Returns a list of the available grammatical featuresA grammatical feature provides extra information about a lexicalCategory (see below). E.g. a grammaticalFeature may say that a noun is plural, or that a verb is intransitive.
for a given bilingual dataset./api/v2/languages:
Returns the names of monolingual and bilingual language datasets available in the API/api/v2/lexicalCategories/{source_lang}:
Returns a list of available lexical categoriesThe linguistic category of a word, e.g. the part of speech (‘noun’, ‘verb’, ‘adjective’ etc.), or other category (‘abbreviation’, ‘symbol’ etc.).
for a given language dataset./api/v2/lexicalCategories/{source_lang_lexical}/{target_lang_lexical}:
Returns a list of available lexical categoriesThe linguistic category of a word, e.g. the part of speech (‘noun’, ‘verb’, ‘adjective’ etc.), or other category (‘abbreviation’, ‘symbol’ etc.).
for a given bilingual dataset./api/v2/registers/{source_lang}:
Returns a list of the available registersRegister labels tell us the linguistic level of a word of sense. This includes the formality of a word or sense (e.g. formal, informal), its typical context (e.g. technical, literary), and whether it is taboo in some contexts (e.g. vulgar slang, offensive).
Example: ‘prithee’ has the register “archaic”.
for a given monolingual language dataset./api/v2/registers/{source_lang_registers}/{target_lang_registers}:
Returns a list of the available registersRegister labels tell us the linguistic level of a word of sense. This includes the formality of a word or sense (e.g. formal, informal), its typical context (e.g. technical, literary), and whether it is taboo in some contexts (e.g. vulgar slang, offensive).
Example: ‘prithee’ has the register “archaic”.
for a given bilingual language dataset./api/v2/words/{source_lang}:
Use this endpoint to retrieve definitions, examples and other information for a given dictionary word or an inflection (e.g., running > run). The response contains information about the lemmas to which the given word/inflected form is linked.The results can be filtered by lexicalCategories, domains, registers or grammaticalFeatures. Filters can be combined.
In addition, users can use fields to project some of the properties.
Combining different filters will build a query using 'AND' operators, while if a filter contains more than one value it will build a query using 'OR' operators. For example, a combination of filters like '?grammaticalFeatures=singular&lexicalCategory=noun,verb' will return entries which match the query ('noun' OR 'verb') AND 'singular'.
/inflections/{source_lang}/{word_id}:
Retrieve all the inflectionsAn inflection is a change in the form of a word to express a grammatical function such as tense, mood, person, number, case, or gender. Example: 'foxes' is an inflected form of 'fox'
of a given word_id. The inflections are given for a lexicalEntry with a specific lexicalCategory.Sign in to your account for quick access to useful values.