Coverage of phrases in the dictionary

Here's a tour of how phrases are presented in the Learner's Dictionary.

Neil Serven, one of the editors of the Learner's Dictionary, is our guide:

English is filled with unique and colorful phrases. Some are quite common, while others are unfamiliar even to some native English speakers. In addition, some phrases are more likely to be found in British English, while others tend to occur exclusively in the United States.

A lot of phrases have meanings that are not obvious even if you know what all of the words in the phrase mean. Since phrases are an integral part of communication, the editors of MWALED have taken extra care to define the phrases and idioms that a person might encounter in speech or writing.

Phrases are defined in a number of ways in MWALED. Most frequently, you will find a phrase entry run on at the end of the entry for the word that is most prominent in the phrase.

¹head /ˈhɛd/ noun

…

put your heads together : to think of a solution to a problem with another person ▪ I'm sure we can solve this problem if we just put our heads together.

Some phrases can be expressed in a variety of ways. For example, when you want to say that something is permanent, you can say that it is carved in stone, etched in stone, written in stone, or set in stone. In those cases we have tried to enter the phrase under the part of the phrase that is constant (that does not change). The parts of the phrase that can be interchanged are separated by slashes:

¹stone /ˈstoʊn/ noun

…

carved/etched/set/written in stone : permanent or not able to be changed ▪ These new rules are not carved in stone; if they don't work, we'll change them.

Sometimes a phrase will be featured as part of an example sentence (the sentence in blue that shows you how a word is used).

lung /ˈlʌŋ/ noun

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She shouted at the top of her lungs. [=she shouted as loudly as possible]

Some words are known more for the phrases in which they appear than for the word itself. For example, the word grindstone, on its own, refers to a round stone used for sharpening tools. But more people might be familiar with the phrase nose to the grindstone, which has nothing to do with tool sharpening:

grindstone /ˈgraɪnˌstoʊn/ noun

…

nose to the grindstone

If your nose is to the grindstone, you are doing hard, continuous work. ▪ You'll do well at school if you just keep your nose to the grindstone.

Finally, some phrases are defined with a brief explanation that follows a closely related definition. In the print edition, these notes are preceded by a diamond symbol.

man·ner /ˈmænɚ/ noun

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2 c manners [plural] … To remember/mind your manners is to behave in a polite and proper way. ▪ “Mind your manners,” Mom said sternly, “and thank your uncle for the nice gifts.”