OALD Online Free (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Online Free) is a free dictionary app for Windows 8 that allows you to search and find the meaning of any word that may be on your mind. The app when launched, also shows a “Word of the day” which is an interesting word that you can memorize and then use it in your spoken or written English.
Basically the app offers a clean interface with a search bar that easily allows you to search for words that you may have heard, or words that you simply want to know the meaning of.
The app’s main screen has the search bar on the top left corner of the screen. You have to simply type in the word, and press the magnifying glass button to search for it. Once you have searched for a word, all the search results will be displayed on the pane at the right, from where you can select a particular result and view its meaning and usage.
You can choose from any of the words on the left to view their definitions as well. The usage is pretty nicely explained, and leaves no scope for doubts. You can also listen to the different pronunciations of the word by clicking on the audio button(s) below the word on the right side. The audio buttons can be identified easily because they have a loudspeaker icon on them. If you don’t have an inbuilt audio system on your machine (which is highly rare), you can still know the pronunciation of the word because the pronunciation is broken down and typed in front of the loudspeaker buttons.
OALD Online Free contains a lot of words, and if used properly, it can give a great boost to your vocabulary. The app fetches the usage and definitions of words from Oxford’s online database, and hence, it is highly accurate.
OALD Online Free is available as a free download from the Windows App Store. You can also check out the Dictionary.com dictionary app for Windows 8, which provides similar features.
Features of the OALD Online Free App…
- It is available for absolutely free.
- It does not have any annoying ads.
- On opening the app, it displays a word of the day, along with its definition. This helps in boosting your English writing and communication skills.
- Searching for words is very easy and hassle free.
- Apart from finding the word that you are searching for, it finds all related words with a similar meaning to the word that you have looked up, and shows them in the pane on the right.
- Apart from the meaning of the word, its usage is explained clearly with many examples.
- The app is very lightweight, and goes easy on the system’s resources.
The Verdict…
OALD Online Free helps you in finding new words, or simply looking up the meaning of words that you may have heard somewhere but not be knowing the meaning of. Making use of the Oxford Dictionary’s database, this app presents highly accurate search results on your screen, along with explaining the usage with detailed examples. This is definitely a great app for budding writers, avid readers, teachers or students alike.