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Textbook vs Dictionary - What's the difference?

textbook | dictionary |

As nouns the difference between textbook and dictionary

is that textbook is a coursebook, a formal manual of instruction in a specific subject, especially one for use in schools or colleges while dictionary is a reference work with a list of words from one or more languages, normally ordered alphabetically and explaining each word's meaning and sometimes containing information on its etymology, usage, translations and other data.

As an adjective textbook

is of or pertaining to textbooks or their style, especially in being dry and pedagogical; textbooky, textbooklike.

As a verb dictionary is

(label) to look up in a dictionary.

textbook

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A coursebook, a formal manual of instruction in a specific subject, especially one for use in schools or colleges.

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of or pertaining to textbooks or their style, especially in being dry and pedagogical; textbooky, textbooklike.
  • * 1917 , George Ransom Twiss, A textbook in the principles of science teaching?
    • It is likely to kill interest, and give both teacher and pupils a didactic, textbook attitude at the very beginning.
  • * 2000 , Okasha El Daly, Janet Starkey, Desert travellers: from Herodotus to T.E. Lawrence?
    • They are mentioned in his flat, textbook voice, alongside schoolroom descriptions of topography and assessments of economic significance.
  • * 2004 , David Henn, Old Spain and new Spain: the travel narratives of Camilo José Cela?
    • ...a kind of descriptive account or a social, geographical, anthropological, or historical commentary that may at times have a certain textbook tone to it.
  • Having the typical characteristics of some class of phenomenon, so that it might be included as an example in a textbook.
  • * 1997 , Alexander De Waal, Famine crimes: politics and the disaster relief industry in Africa?
    • It was a textbook case of how prompt government action could avert a major crisis.
  • * 2003 , Felice Picano, A house on the ocean, a house on the bay?
    • Every night had been clear and star-studded, the progression of the moon through its phases absolutely textbook , its dance with the planets visible in the ecliptic...
  • * 2003 , Robert J Art, Patrick M Cronin, The United States and coercive diplomacy?
    • In many ways the Korean nuclear crisis is a textbook example of coercive diplomacy — its strengths as well as the risks inherent in such a strategy.

    Quotations

    * (English Citations of "textbook")

    dictionary

    English

    Noun

    (dictionaries)
  • A reference work with a list of words from one or more languages, normally ordered alphabetically and explaining each word's meaning and sometimes containing information on its etymology, usage, translations and other data.
  • *
    • But what other kind(s) of syntactic information should be included in Lexical Entries? Traditional dictionaries' such as Hornby's (1974) ''Oxford Advanced Learner's '''Dictionary of Current English'' include not only ''categorial'' information in their entries, but also information about the range of ''Complements which a given item permits (this information is represented by the use of a number/letter code).
  • By extension, any work that has a list of material organized alphabetically; e.g. biographical dictionary, encyclopedic dictionary.
  • (label) An associative array, a data structure where each value is referenced by a particular key, analogous to words and definitions in a physical dictionary.
  • * 2011 , Jon Galloway, ?Phil Haack, ?Brad Wilson, Professional ASP.NET MVC 3
    • User calls RouteCollection.GetVirtualPath, passing in a RequestContext, a dictionary of values, and an optional route name used to select the correct route to generate the URL.
    * (Citations dictionary)

    Synonyms

    * wordbook

    Derived terms

    * encyclopedic dictionary * explanatory dictionary * fictionary * pedagogical dictionary * Pictionary * pronunciation dictionary * subdictionary * translating dictionary * translationary

    See also

    * lexicon * encyclopedia * vocabulary

    Anagrams

    *

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • (label) To look up in a dictionary.
  • (label) To add to a dictionary.
  • * 1866 , William Henry Ward, The international day, night, and fog signal telegraph (page 12)
    • By a reference to the following dictionaried abbreviations, the simplicity and harmony of each sentence will be manifestly apparent; although it does not embrace everything, and could not, as it would be far too voluminous for general use.
  • * 2001 , The Michigan Alumnus (page 25)
    • Should I use a word that a lot of people use but isn't in the dictionary? Uncle Phil would rather get a root canal than say he was scrapbooking, because the word isn't dictionaried .
  • To compile a dictionary.
  • * 1864 , Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (volume 96, page 334)
    • They [dictionary-makers] may have had their romance at home — may have been crossed in love, and thence driven to dictionarying ; may have been involved in domestic tragedies — who can say?
  • (label) To appear in a dictionary.