The contents of the online Dictionary

The online Oxford English Dictionary is a work in progress. Hundreds of new entries are added every year.

The OED is currently being revised, with the aim of producing a completely updated third edition. Draft material from the revision programme is published online, alongside unrevised entries from the 20-volume Second Edition, first published in 1989, and its 3-volume Additions Series, published in 1993 (volumes 1 and 2) and 1997 (volume 3). Many of the entries in the Additions volumes consist of sections which are additions to an entry previously published in the Second Edition; such sections are appended to the end of the appropriate Second Edition entry. Complete entries published for the first time in the Additions volumes are presented as free-standing entries, along with entries from the Second Edition.

More revised entries are added to the online Dictionary every quarter, replacing older versions from the Second Edition and Additions Series.

Occasionally, new material is presented for an entry that has not yet been fully revised. This can be in the form of a new meaning of an existing word, a new compound or phrase involving an existing word, and so on. In such cases, the new material appears appended to the foot of the entry, introduced by the sentence ‘Draft additions’. Each separate item in the partial entry is marked with the symbol .

The complete text of the Second Edition is also available to search separately. The search form can be reached via a link on the Advanced search page.

In the main Dictionary, fully revised entries feature a button that displays the Second Edition version for comparison in a pop-up window.