App Profile: Webster's 1828 Dictionary USA

Will any new name work?

Rating: 4/5

One star deducted because I’d like to have the option to report any typos found (ex: under the definition of “mammon” it says “god or riches” instead of “god of riches”).

Pjmorris05

Rating: 5/5

First of all: THIS IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE DICTIONARY! It will not have modern words/definitions! You will be disappointed if you want that! Having said that, I have found this unique dictionary to be incredibly useful, when trying to understand words from a different era. It is insightful how a word can evolve over time and have a different meaning from one time period to another. I don’t like assuming what author’s are trying to say- and interpret their words through MY viewpoint. So when I’m reading American Authors at the turn of the century this dictionary is so enlightening! (Side-Note: as to where this dictionary originated) Daniel Webster (the author) felt compelled to write a dictionary for Americans and set a standard for how to spell and define words from an American’s point of view. Prior to his dictionary there was quite a bit of confusion for what a standard was for so many words that were spoken/written in America. You can imagine how school teachers, writers, lawyers, judges an so forth had a hard time communicating/educating. For this reason Webster took it upon himself to painstakingly work on a dictionary! Which makes him a very intriguing man to me. As a lot of men from his time- he was not boxed in by just one career or fixated on One speciality- but rather was multifaceted. This dictionary is a direct result of how American English broke from England’s way of spelling and vernacular.

Magnum3

Rating: 5/5

This is a remarkable resource. The interface is clean and easy to use. However, as someone who is vision impaired, it would be very helpful if I could enlarge the font sizes within the app or zoom in on the screen. With that being said, I still highly recommend this app.