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Oxford English Dictionary: Search OED

Search OED

Searching the OED

  1. Type or paste the word you want to find in the Search box.

  2. Click  or press Enter.

  3. The results of your search are displayed.

A quick search will find your term if it is a main entry, subentry, or variant spelling.

If your search matches only one entry that entry will be opened immediately. If there is more than one result, the matching entries are listed on the results page(s).

The number of results appears at the top. The results are listed in the main part of the page.

Each result consists of the matched headword or phrase, followed by an excerpt from the first definition of the entry.

To view any of the entries in full click anywhere in the highlighted area.