The Wordsmyth Children’s Dictionary-Thesaurus is a thoughtfully-written dictionary designed for upper elementary and middle school students (grades 3 to 8). The app can be used with or without an internet connection.
? Child-friendly definitions
Definitions for the Children’s Dictionary-Thesaurus are written specifically for children, in a clear and uncomplicated style – for native speakers as well as ELLs. Definitions use a controlled vocabulary and simple sentence structure. In addition, thousands of easy-to-understand example sentences, photos, and illustrations enhance understanding of the meanings of words and make learning fun.
? Careful sense selection
A word can have many different meanings. Dictionaries refer to these different meanings as “senses” of words. Advanced dictionaries quite often list ten or twenty different senses for a single word. Very common words, especially, can have a vast number of senses, some of them only subtly different from each other in meaning and some very rare or sophisticated. The Wordsmyth Children’s Dictionary is unique among dictionaries for children in that it includes a relatively large number of senses for each word. At the same time, only the most common and important senses are chosen so that the child will not be overwhelmed by information and can make sense of the meanings that are presented. Clear example sentences put these word senses in a context that makes them easy for children to understand.
? Vulgar words filter
Our Children’s Dictionary includes words that are essential for children’s vocabulary development—fourteen thousand of them! However, words that are used primarily to cause offense or are generally considered very offensive in our society are not included in this dictionary intended for children. Vulgar words tend to be learned through natural exposure, and we feel it is within the province of caregivers and educators to decide when and how to help children shape their view of these words. For our part, we are more concerned with giving children the necessary words and concepts to succeed in school and to become good readers and communicators.
? Synonyms, Antonyms, and Similars: Wordsmyth’s Integrated Thesaurus
One unique feature of Wordsmyth Dictionaries is the integration of a thesuaurs into the dictionary presentation. The Wordmyth’s thesaurus includes synonyms, antonyms, and words that are similar in meaning to the headword. The thesaurus words are matched with individual senses of a word rather than just presenting a “pot of words” as synonyms, under the headword. In Wordsmyth, they appear along with their corresponding definitions. For example, synonyms for the headword “hot” referring to high temperature, “hot” referring to spiciness of food, and “hot” referring to an angry temper are matched with and appear along with their appropriate definitions in the entry for “hot.”
? Word Explorer
Unique to our Children’s Dictionary is the Word Explorer: a word-finding and knowledge-exploration feature. It is an index of related words that allows a child to find words relating to multiple topics and to explore whole networks of words and their meanings. So, for example, under the Topic “Communication” the keyword “art” is listed. Clicking on “art” leads the the child to find words that describe types of art, people who make art, things used in art, places where art can be found, and many other categories of information relating to the topic.
? Spanish and Chinese support for ELLs
Wordsmyth Children’s Dictionary provides special support for English Language Learners whose native language is Spanish or Chinese. All 14,000 headwords in each of their senses have been translated into Spanish and Chinese. In cases where a headword cannot be translated with equivalent words, a liberal translation is provided in addition to a literal one. In addition, every example sentence accompanying a definition has been translated.