Oxford Dictionaries refers to the dictionary publishing of Oxford University Press, the publishing house of the University of Oxford and one of the most respected names in English-language reference. The press itself dates back to the fifteenth century and is among the oldest and largest university presses in the world.
Its monumental flagship work is the Oxford English Dictionary, a historical dictionary that traces the development of words and their meanings across centuries through millions of illustrative quotations. First completed in the 1920s after decades of labor, it remains the most comprehensive record of the English language.
Beyond the OED, Oxford publishes a broad family of dictionaries for general readers, students, learners of English, and specialists, including concise, paperback, and subject-specific volumes used around the world.
Oxford reference titles are valued for their scholarly authority, their evidence-based approach drawn from vast collections of real usage, and their careful documentation of how English is actually written and spoken.
The Oxford name serves as a global benchmark in lexicography, and its dictionaries are standard references in schools, universities, and publishing across the English-speaking world.
