Lexico
The year 2019 marked a significant shift when free English and Spanish dictionaries moved to Lexico.com. This new platform emerged from a collaboration between Oxford University Press and Dictionary.com. Before this transition, the same content lived on AskOxford.com during the early 2000s. That site eventually evolved into Oxford Dictionaries Online in 2010. Buyers of the third edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English received one-year subscriptions to that online service. The website integrated definitions from multiple sources including the New Oxford American Dictionary. It also offered bilingual dictionaries alongside monolingual options for Spanish speakers.
Dictionary.com operated the Lexico website while Oxford University Press provided all lexicographic content. OUP staff wrote every definition appearing on the platform despite the operational partnership. Dictionary.com hosts dictionaries from other publishers like Random House on its own eponymous site. This arrangement allowed OUP to leverage Dictionary.com's infrastructure without compromising editorial control. The company name Lexico was part of the former identity of Dictionary.com known as Lexico Publishing Group LLC. Such partnerships enabled broader distribution of academic resources through commercial platforms.
In 2014 Oxford Global Languages launched an ambitious project to build lexical resources for world languages. Zulu and Northern Sotho dictionaries became available online by 2015. By March 2020, the remaining Oxford Living Dictionaries websites hosting these global language dictionaries closed down. At closure they maintained entries for over twenty languages including Malay Urdu Tswana Indonesian Romanian Latvian Swahili Hindi Tamil Gujarati Tatar Xhosa Southern Quechua Tajik Tok Pisin Turkmen Telugu and Greek. A statement from OUP explained that rather than offering a dictionary website for every digitally under-resourced language they would facilitate third parties to build products serving individual language communities. Their efforts shifted toward creating data for external developers instead of direct hosting.
The Oxford English Dictionary remains a subscription service while Lexico offered modern versions of the Oxford Dictionary of English free to users. This distinction reflects different approaches to lexicographic history versus contemporary usage. The OED describes itself as a historical dictionary recording all core words and meanings in English over more than one thousand years. It includes obsolete terms and orders meanings chronologically according to first recorded appearance. In contrast Oxford Dictionaries focuses on current English with common meanings listed before specialist or technical uses. The New Oxford American Dictionary followed similar patterns prioritizing modern relevance over historical depth.
Dictionary definitions appeared within Google search results through licensing agreements involving the Oxford Dictionaries API. macOS applications also integrated this same dictionary application using licensed data streams. These integrations allowed millions of users to access authoritative definitions without visiting dedicated websites directly. The API facilitated seamless embedding of lexical content into existing digital ecosystems. Such partnerships expanded reach beyond traditional dictionary platforms while maintaining accuracy standards set by Oxford University Press. Technical integration ensured consistent presentation across diverse software environments.
On the 26th of August 2022 Lexico closed its doors and redirected traffic to Dictionary.com. This date marked the end of an independent dictionary website that had operated since 2019. Oxford Dictionaries Premium remained available despite the shutdown of the free service. The closure represented a strategic pivot away from hosting global language dictionaries directly. Users seeking comprehensive historical entries still accessed the subscription-based OED separately. The transition consolidated resources under a single commercial platform while preserving core lexicographic functions for paying subscribers.
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Common questions
What happened to Lexico on the 26th of August 2022?
Lexico closed its doors and redirected traffic to Dictionary.com on the 26th of August 2022. This date marked the end of an independent dictionary website that had operated since 2019.
Who owns the content on the Lexico platform?
Oxford University Press staff wrote every definition appearing on the Lexico platform despite the operational partnership with Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com operated the website while Oxford University Press provided all lexicographic content.
When did free English and Spanish dictionaries move to Lexico.com?
The year 2019 marked a significant shift when free English and Spanish dictionaries moved to Lexico.com. This new platform emerged from a collaboration between Oxford University Press and Dictionary.com.
Which languages were available in the Oxford Global Languages project before March 2020?
By March 2020, the remaining Oxford Living Dictionaries websites hosting global language dictionaries maintained entries for over twenty languages including Malay Urdu Tswana Indonesian Romanian Latvian Swahili Hindi Tamil Gujarati Tatar Xhosa Southern Quechua Tajik Tok Pisin Turkmen Telugu and Greek. Zulu and Northern Sotho dictionaries became available online by 2015.
How does the Oxford English Dictionary differ from Oxford Dictionaries?
The Oxford English Dictionary describes itself as a historical dictionary recording all core words and meanings in English over more than one thousand years. In contrast Oxford Dictionaries focuses on current English with common meanings listed before specialist or technical uses.