Macquarie Dictionary

The ''Macquarie Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of Australian English. It is generally considered by universities and the legal profession to be the authoritative source on Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand English. Originally it was a publishing project of Jacaranda Press, a Brisbane educational publisher, for which an editorial committee was formed, largely from the Linguistics department of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. It is now published by Macquarie Dictionary Publishers, an imprint of Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd. In October 2007 it moved its editorial office from Macquarie University to the University of Sydney, and later to the Pan Macmillan offices in the Sydney central business district.

In addition to its two-volume flagship dictionary, shorter editions including the ''Macquarie Shorter Dictionary'', ''Macquarie Concise Dictionary'', ''Macquarie Budget Dictionary'' and ''Macquarie Little Dictionary'' are published.

History

The first seven editions of the ''Macquarie Dictionary'' were edited by lexicographer Susan Butler, who joined the project in 1970 as a research assistant, and was its chief editor by the time the first edition was published in 1981. Butler retired as the ''Macquaries editor in March 2018 after 48 years with the publisher.

A detailed history of the dictionary and its associated publications is Pat Manser's ''More Than Words: The Making of the Macquarie Dictionary'' (Sydney: Macquarie Dictionary, 2021).

First Edition

The original version of the ''Macquarie Dictionary'' was based on Hamlyn's ''Encyclopedic World Dictionary'' of 1971, which in turn was based on Random House's ''American College Dictionary'' of 1947, which was based on the 1927 '' New Century Dictionary'', which was based on ''The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language'', which itself was based on Noah Webster's ''American Dictionary of the English Language'' second edition of 1841.

The first edition had an introduction by Australian historian Manning Clark.

Since its first publication in 1981, its use has grown so that it has come to rival longer-established dictionaries from elsewhere in the English-speaking world as a standard authority on the English language within Australia.

Second Edition

The second edition was published in 1991 and introduced encyclopaedic content to many entries. It has an introduction by Australian author Donald Horne.

Third Edition

The third edition, published in 1997, made use of an in-house corpus of Australian writing, Ozcorp, to add a large number of examples of Australian usage, to give some of the flavour of an historical dictionary. This edition also gave a good coverage of English in Asia. It has an introduction by Australian author David Malouf.

Fourth Edition

The fourth edition, published in 2005, increases the number of citations, includes etymologies for many phrases and pays particular attention to Australian regionalisms. It has an introduction by Australian author Thomas Keneally.

Fifth Edition

The fifth edition was published in October 2009 and places particular emphasis on words relating to the environment and climate change. It has an introduction by the then Australian Governor-General Quentin Bryce.

Sixth Edition

The sixth edition was published in October 2013 and includes an update of new words and senses as well as words and phrases from other varieties of English that impinge on Australian English, such as British English, American English and English in Southeast Asia, China and India. It has an introduction by Australian author Les Murray.

Seventh Edition

The seventh edition of the ''Macquarie Dictionary'' was published on 28 February 2017. With a foreword by Kate Grenville, this latest edition includes thousands of new words and senses along with Australian regionalisms and a collection of words from the Australian experience in WW1. It has an introduction by Australian author Kate Grenville.

Eighth Edition

The eighth edition of the ''Macquarie Dictionary'' was published on 28 July 2020. With a foreword by Kim Scott, the ''Macquarie Dictionary'' Eighth Edition features 3500 new entries, including up-to-date entries on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Preferred spellings

The dictionary records standard Australian English spelling, which is closer to British than American spelling, with spellings like ''colour'', ''centre'', ''defence'' and ''practice/practise'' (noun/verb). It gives ''-ise'' spellings first, listing ''-ize'' spellings as acceptable variants, unlike the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' and some other dictionaries of British English, which continue to prefer ''-ize'' to ''-ise'' in spite of the opposite tendency amongst the British general public (see Oxford spelling). ''Labour'', however, is spelt ''Labor'', when referring to the Australian political party. One difference from British spelling is the word ''program'', which the ''Macquarie Dictionary'' gives as the preferred spelling.

Collaborations

Word of the Year

Each year the editors select a short-list of new words added to the dictionary, and invite the public to vote on their favourite. The public vote is held in January and results in the People's Choice winner. There is also a word selected by a committee.

Word for Word podcast

I
Word for Word
the team behind the ''Macquarie Dictionary'' explores the surprising history behind everyday words and phrases, goes behind the scenes with the dictionary editors, and meets some of Australia's most interesting word lovers, from Scrabble champions to hip-hop artists.

Versions

A number of smaller versions are available, including a pocket edition, as well as companion volumes such as a thesaurus. The latest edition of the main complete version of the ''Macquarie Dictionary'' is th
eighth
published in 2020. Both the complete dictionary and a student dictionary are available as iOS applications.

''Macquarie Dictionary'' Online

The ''Macquarie Dictionary Online'' is the most comprehensive and up-to-date version of the dictionary available, with new words, phrases, and definitions added twice annually. It has the greatest coverage of encyclopaedic and non-encyclopaedic entries across the Macquarie range, as well as offering spoken pronunciations
Subscriptions
are available to the complete version as well as a student version.

Apps

The ''Macquarie Dictionary'' is available in two IOSbr>app editions
the Macquarie Dictionary Complete app, and the Macquarie School Dictionary app.

See also

* WordGenius

References

External links

''Macquarie Dictionary'' Online

{{Dictionaries of English

1981 non-fiction books
Australian books
Australian English
English dictionaries
Online English dictionaries
Macquarie University
University of Sydney
Macmillan Publishers books