Oxford Dictionary Reviews

A quick note on the example sentences. It would be optimal if examples would be drawn from classic examples of good writing. Please watch your blatantly misogynistic language. For “mercenary”, the example sentence is “She’s nothing but a mercenary little gold-digger”. Seeing that the vast majority of professional “mercenaries” are men, it would be easy to come up with a sentence that does not viciously target women”. Perhaps we can refer to a business executive with mercenary tactics; there, it doesn’t even specify gender. I chose the Oxford English Dictionary (not American) because I wanted a definitive source for difficult English words. Interestingly, the strength of this dictionary is in colloquial American words. Although the name “Oxford” evokes the idea of old books and traditional education, if you read classic English literature by famous authors from the 18th or 19th centuries, you would be hard pressed to find definitions on Ox. I found it terribly ironic that the Dictionary app or Google has more definitions than OED. I had the same problem with an American novel from the 20th century. It appears that the OED app is focused on modern newspapers and light fiction. I would pay handsomely for an app that has definitions for ALL non-technical English words; yes even the obsolete, archaic, and literary. I have no interest in reading blogs. I like to be able to read any book going as far back as Early Modern English, and find the definitions here.

The dictionary is superior. However, the distributor, Mobisystems, seem to expect payment for the “premium” version on each iOS device on which it’s installed by the same account holder. That’s a non-starter. Until they change this deceptive practice (they mention it nowhere, and “restore purchase” functionality only works on the “original” device) and end their extortionate price levels, I’ll use it on the one device and not deal with it further. Caveat emptor. You cannot pay once and use Ox on both an iPad and an iPhone.
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I have changed the rating to 4 stars, because there is still some trouble getting Ox to restore purchases on additional devices. It required deleting the unresponsive download and a new download and installation.

Also, to be fair, the developer did respond to my original derogatory review by email, which sat unread on an unused server for six weeks. Their instructions for restoration, clearly well-intended, were not helpful. I had to fiddle further on my own. On the basis of Ox itself and the product, this deserves a 5-star rating. An app that carries the brand “Oxford” however should not be flawed in terms of fulfillment in this way, I believe. I misjudged initially. There is no deception.

Might you consider upgrading this “word of the day” automatic feature? Granted, I acknowledge the disclaimer that the word on every given day is randomly generated. That, however, is why the user can’t adjust it, not a fact that makes it impervious to the developer modifying the software.
The problem as I see it is simply, if you will, that the words are too simple. My experience with such novelties is that they highlight words not usually found in common usage, in order to expand one’s vocabulary. Your app, on the other hand, serves up a daily dose of hopelessly commonplace nouns and verbs; for example, “rodeo” and “nibble”, respectively, as two recent offerings. As such, the feature is uninformative at best and, unless one shuts down the notifications entirely, a nuisance.
The distinguished OED should expand the mind and the vocabulary of the educated user, not cater to popularity in pursuing the least common denominator among the crowd. Please consider this sensible upgrade to your software. Thank you for your attention to my concern, meant constructively of course as a longtime faithful adherent to the OED.

I have been using this Oxford dictionary daily for quite some time. Recently the dictionary has become unusable. I have the free version I did not pay for an upgrade to premium. Recently when I try to look up a word I am given a prompt to upgrade which I decline. It will not take no for an answer and will not give me the definition that I am seeking. Today when I tried to look up a word the prop came up nine times in a row and I decided I was wasting my time with Ox.
One of the features that this dictionary charges extra for is pronunciation. Not only is pronunciation free on other apps it’s also available on the Oxford website without charge. The lack of pronunciation is a basic feature is also a big minus for Ox.
I gave Ox a one star because that was the only choice. It really should be a zero because the dictionary app does not give definitions anymore and is relentless intrusive invasive and will not take no for an answer repeatedly. I rarely write reviews for apps. This is the only app I have ever had were the offer of a premium upgrade is met with total obstruction of the function of Ox rendering is totally non-functional.

In my junior year of high school we read many short stories in our English prep class. As you read and came across a word that wasn’t clear you were to write it down. Those were accumulated and researched by three fellow students that were given one free point toward their grade.
They were to define the word using only the OED paying close attention to the context, date included since word meanings can change in time, of the word in question. This averaged 625 words every two weeks. We would then have either “33”s or “25”s where three 33s would make up a test grade or four 25s. We were excited to have the 33s as that meant we were given a free point.
The test was administered when she felt it was time so you would walk in to see either 33 or 25 words written on the chalk board. Misspelling a word within your answer’s definition would cost you seven points and misspelling the word to be defined cost you nine points. Yes, you could get a negative test grade number.

The OED was Beulah B. Harper’s “bible” and we came to use it in all of our subjects’ research text lists complete with footnotes to the point that we had memorized all the footnote basics of the OED because it was used so many times. To this day I still use it as the definitive answer to settle definition disputes.

- JJBJr

When you want the best in dictionaries you can always count on Oxford. Ox is no exception. An excellent dictionary that has everything you’ll ever need!

There is one thing that happened that has completely baffled me. I created my own “folder” under the Favorites section. I had “favorited” many words and moved them into my folder. I had to shut my iPhoneX down and do a restart. When I went to the Oxford Dictionary the folder I had created “Rick’s Favorites” had disappeared. Along with the many words I had placed in it. Why would a restart wipe out the folder I had created to hold my favorite words? I’ve tried every way I know to recover the folder but to no avail. Hopefully the developer may have an idea of how I should proceed.
Hopefully?

Before providing the excellent definition, a Buy premium screen interrupts. “Buy premium” ads are one place where advertisers are rewarded for being obnoxious. I resist the upselling so as not to reward them.
In addition Ox sometimes—no, often—has very annoying glitches such as when the definition vanishes before I have finished reading it. Or, before I can type in the entire entry, an unrelated screen appears.
Of course the content is top of the line, it’s the OED. But the implementation by Mobi isn’t worthy of the greatest English language dictionary. Hold your nose and buy it. Maybe Mobi will raise its standards to match what it is selling.
~~~~~ A couple of months later, still annoying as heck. Each time I use it I think about ditching it. The OED should have selected a competent partner.
I am lowering my rating from 3 to 2. Weighting the implementation more heavily than the content, which after all, represents over a century of work by competent conscientious people.

After giving up on the American Heritage Dictionary (said dictionary being “updated” and requiring Ox be repurchased on at least two occasions) I turned to Oxford Dictionary of English. I was minimally satisfied—until the beta version was released. Reluctantly I agreed to beta-test the OED. Upon doing so, my experience with Ox plummeted when the full page ad appeared before the dictionary home page. Then there was an annoying NY Times ad at the bottom of the page. Pronunciation evanesced unless I “upgraded” to premium. Even looking up a simple word became impossible without upgrading. Apparently Ox ’s braintrust was given marching orders to monetize app usage to daily users such as myself. This is comprehensively frustrating and I am currently looking for a dictionary app that has nothing to do with Ox developer. I need a dictionary available for offline usage, such as on a plane. Chopfallen with the OED & AHD.

These two missing features are equally egregious in my mind.

Firstly, this dictionary does not have definitions (in its app) that would be helpful while reading. I know not every word needed can be anticipated. But too often I look up a word while I am reading for class and there is no definition for it. If there were a “student version” with more definitions and was priced reasonably (about $5) I would immediately download it, even at the cost of space. Additionally, a “request definition” button could help solve this issue in the long run. If enough people request a definition, it could help the analytics side see that the definition is needed and promptly add it in the next update.

Secondly, when I tap the search bar, I do not want the word I just looked up to be remembered. Most search bars actually have a feature where the previous search is cleared when you tap on the search bar. This is a feature that makes sense. Usually, when I am tapping on a search bar, I want to make a new search. Not here, though. Ox assumes I want to look up the same word over and over again. I operate with the former assumption, so often my searches end up looking like such: “shewantipathy,” when it should just be “antipathy.”

Fixing these two issues would raise my rating to a 5 for sure.

I am a lifelong fan of the Oxford Dictionaries, and have several in-print versions in my home.
Although I searched Ox store for "offline dictionaries" and Ox cameup in the search, be aware that offline mode requires purchase of the premium version.
I have read in other reviews that the premium version still has ads. The developer seems to think it is OK to advertise ITS OWN products even in the "ad-free" premium version. That is unacceptable, so I will not be "upgrading" to the premium version.
The free version works fine, and the definitions and reference materials are terrific, as you would expect from the OED. However, the screen is definitely junky and distracting. Oxford should clean up its act and user interface, and give prospective users the same professional clarity about features and pricing that they do in their definitions.

The definitions are fine but the actual format is very distracting. Useful, but lacking in organization. It gets the job done, but not as well as it could. Also, the fact that you must have premium to hear the pronunciations is frustrating. Instead of adding a button which makes it look like you can hear the pronunciation, don’t put the button in at all, please. A tab coming up advertising “Get More With Premium” is more annoying than not having the sound button at all. If the website/app is harassing me to buy the full version I’m more likely to delete the obnoxious app than to buy their application. Developers, rather, could just place a banner on certain areas of Ox which says something to the effect of, “See What Else You Can Get With Premium” or even the original “Get More With Premium” would suffice. Nevertheless, the free app *is* nice.

I love to discover words previously unfamiliar to me and the origin of those words. I’ve not yet found a better companion on this journey than the Oxford Dictionary app. It’s so much lighter to carry about than the hard copy version! I love how Ox keeps track of the words I look up so I can review them, say, at the end of the day to help cement my expanded vocabulary. It’s so easy to use I’ll find myself exploring the network of related words and their origins just for fun. My only criticism of Ox is I do wish the quality of some of the spoken word examples was less muddy. Some samples sound like they were recorded decades ago. They do work, though, and it doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for using Ox .

Oxford Dictionary is better than most online/app based dictionaries for having one key feature that most available dictionaries seem to lack. And that feature is the ability to search/scroll through the entire entry list A-Z. Recently I've made it a personal goal of mine to expand my vocabulary and one way to achieve that goal was by using apps that give you a "word of the day" until I realized I could learn a lot more and reach my target faster by using an atoz dictionary ensuring I learn all there is to learn of the English language. Although the interface of Oxford's app isn't the most use friendly and it's riddled with more ads. It does offer a complete list of all of its entries which will always separate it from other dictionaries on the market in my opinion.

This dictionary app, the Oxford app, has helped me build my vocabulary, more so than another dictionary app that I have used. This one seems to use a broader range of information for any given word. For example, I believe Ox has more contemporary, technical and slang references.
Ox tends to retrieve a word that I am looking for. It surprises me sometimes, but I frequently fail to find ordinary, commonly-used words in some dictionaries.
Ox takes longer to start and is slow pulling up the word, which is unexpected; the other dictionary app was faster by about 5 seconds. But usually I am not in a big hurry; I use Ox once or twice a week.

The definitions are considerably more complete than the Merriam-Webster app. I think that the subscription price at $20/year is pretty steep. It should be less than half that. I’ve seen some complaints about the word-of-the-day choices but I think they’re perfect. Every one of them is a word that I’d like to use in everyday business or casual conversation. That makes them far more valuable to me than some obscure word that I might only have the opportunity to use a few times because few others would recognize them. They are all words that we learned in school and know their basic meanings but forgot were available to us. Good job there, ODE!

WARNING: Ox is unusable without paying for premium. You can only look up ONE WORD per day, then a pop up blocks the screen. Awful. Once you look up your SINGLE word, you can’t do anything else in Ox . Anything. Word of the day? BLOCKED. Recent words? BLOCKED. Special Topics? BLOCKED.

If you’re not going to pay for a subscription, don’t even bother downloading this. Maybe go for Merriam-Webster, at least that works. I was hoping this would be a good quick-reference tool by a reputable company, but it’s only taking up space on my phone.

The description for Ox is misleading, it is shown as “free” in Ox Store. They should tell you upfront in the description that you can’t do anything without a subscription. It’s conveniently left out. It lets you believe that Ox is functional without a subscription.

I have found this edition of the OED online/offline app to be extremely helpful as well as being very useful. To date I have found every word that I have been looking for, as well as some I was not looking for. It is extremely useful that on occasion when I cannot spell a word that all I need do is to say it and there it is. Having been educated in England, my spelling is British. But once in a while I forget the precise spelling. Overall I find the OED to be better than any American dictionary. I also own several hardback editions as well.

The word of the day is the same everyday if I don’t open it and look. I finally open the word pine snake today. It had popped up every single day since Jan 24. If I don’t open a word of the day, I’m NOT interested in that word and tomorrow I’d like to see a new word option. Don’t harass me with the same word until I open it. It’s in the history of I ever want it, or it should be. I find I avoid Ox and use google simply because I’m irritated by Ox . I don’t seek it out. Then within Ox I can only rate it five stars. It doesn’t allow me to do a real and honest rating. Too bad I paid for the upgrade.

Going to go see if Collins Cobuild has done a dictionary app yet. They have much better definitions and derivations. They never use the word in its own definition.

Note the Colin’s. Cobuild app is bybthe same app developer so I don’t expect it to work any better.

I purchased the full app. For the most part, it’s what you’d expect...I wanted a convenient dictionary without adds, and available offline...and so Oxford received my money.

My two gripes are:
1) The Oxford splash screen at startup is too long. Seriously, their logo sits there while opening much longer than any other game or app I’ve ever seen. I already purchased your app, so please do away with the needless marketing - I almost purchased another dictionary over Oxford because of this, but that would just be silly.

2) I prefer to use Ox in offline mode (quicker, who knows what apps are trying to download in the background, etc). However, I’ve found that a number of words I come across to look up, are not in the offline dictionary; only available once online - and then are not maintained offline after being looked up. Just a bit perplexing that Ox doesn’t have a more robust offline dictionary - or at a minimum adds in new content/searches...it’s just text and phones/tablets have plenty of storage...c’mon Oxford, this really shouldn’t be an issue.

I use Ox about twice per day since I read a lot of books. It always gives me great I sight into the etymology and usage of the words I do not know.

For $20 a year I think the creators of Ox need to pay more close attention to the list of US Presidents (out of date listing Obama as the most recent) the countries and their capitals (Kazakhstan’s capital has changed names to Nur-Sultan) and does not have the most up to date name of Swaziland (Eswatini). These items are important to keep current. Current information is one of the reasons I am willing to pay. Please update.

I do not subscribe to the contention that there are several versions of the English language, (American, Australian etc). English is English, and it is either correct English, or incorrect English. Americans consistently corrupt the language, both written and spoken, contending that “American” English is an established and legitimate version of the English language. I contend that the OED is the only complete source of correct English. I further contend that Merriam Wester is a source of corrupt written and spoken English, which has been erroneously adopted by the American people as a separate and legitimate version of the English language.

Used to be great app! That’s why I PAID FULL PRICE FOR IT 6 MONTHS AGO. Imagine my frustration when all of the sudden it glitches with an only fix being uninstalling and reinstalling...which COMES WITH SUPER ANNOYING CONSTANT ADDS!!!, the fix? PAY FOR IT AGAIN!!! SAME PRICE! Ripping customers off gets you downgraded in your reviews. That’s not rocket science. When you pay for something you don’t expect to be BILLED FOR IT AGAIN IN A FEW MONTHS! I pay for something (say, a printer) and it conveniently breaks in 2 1/2 years, after the 2 year warranty expires, I do buy another whatever (printer)...but NOT from the same brand. Same principle applies. Dishonesty doesn’t pay in the long run. Sooo...MobiSystems on my “don’t support again” list...along with Brother printers. Ain’t word of mouth enlightening? Rocket science.

While I enjoy the many features of Ox such as: audio pronunciations, favorites, and others, I wish they would hire a proper typographer to help them set the text for screens. The definitions are not as easy to read as they are on other apps. The text is very condensed and it prevents the information from being easily digested. This matters in mobile use because we are usually in a hurry to find information and move on to the next thing.
The camera lookup feature definitely has advantages for wanting to lookup multiple words, just be careful how many you scan at once.

Whenever I am writing, I always find myself having to go to the dictionary to confirm, check spelling, find alternative words which ensure the quality of my writing. Unsure of using the word ensure; I turned to the dictionary and found it was appropriate. In writing, we use words that we seldom use in our daily conversation. Without constant use, our vocabulary becomes limited, not forgotten, but rusty! The Dictionary helps one polish up one’s writing skills😬 Editing this review required using the dictionary☺️ need I say more😂🤣😅

Not a fan of all the updates changing the layout of Ox . Personally, I like the original much better. However, Ox still served its purpose. The reason I am giving this two stars is because with the most recent update, all of my favorited words were deleted, ALL OF THEM. This is extremely frustrating as I have invested a lot of time adding and developing that extensive list and with one update, it all gets deleted. Seems like whoever manages and administers these updates is more concerned with the superficial aesthetics of the product instead of the functionality and maintaining certain features that kept the consumers using Ox . Probably going to transition to Merriam Webster’s app following this update. PLEASE STOP DELETING SAVED DATA WITH EACH UPDATE.