writers.com resources

General References

• Dictionaries & Thesaurii
• Clichés
• Commonly Misspelled Words
• Etymology
• Words
• Varieties of English
• Translation
• Pronunciation
• Geographical Reference/Maps
• Measurement
• Currency
• [Also see our Grammar, Style, Punctuation & Usage Resources]

Dictionaries & Thesaurii

• The Alternative Dictionaries
  Collection of various forms of "bad language" -- slang, profanities, vulgarisms -- from many languages
• Amatory Thesaurus
  Amatory and erotic terms.
• Forthright's Phrontistery
  A 14,000-word dictionary of obscure and rare words.
• Glossarist.com
  A searchable and categorized directory of glossaries and topical dictionaries.
• iTools
  "Provides search, language and research tools on one page. Includes web, discussion groups, and people search, language identifier, translator, dictionaries, encyclopedia, biography, quotations, and telephone area codes."
• Merriam-Webster Online
• One-Look Dictionaries
  Possibly the only online English dictionary you need: "More than 5 million words in more than 900 online dictionaries."
• Thesaurus.com
  Online version of Roget's Thesaurus of English words and phrases

Varieties of English

• The English/American Dictionary
• American-British/British- American Dictionary
• Australian English Glossary from A to Zed
• Cornerstone 's Canadian English Page
• Dictionary of American Regional English

Etymology

• Online Etymology Dictionary
• Etymologically Speaking
• Phrase Minder: Meanings and Origins of Phrases and Sayings
• Take Our Word for It
• Word Detective
• A Word With You
• Wordorigins.org

Clichés

• Cliché and Word Journey
  Three thousand clichés and figures of speech. (The speech figures relate principally to the UK usage.)
• Cliché Finder
  An interesting resource that enables you to search for "clichés" by keyword.
• ClichéSite.com A list of over 2100 clichés, euphemisms, sayings and figures of speech complete with definitions and explanations.
• A Primer of Visual Cliché
  "...there are images that challenge our complacency that a concept is a cliché. Use a cliché to expunge a cliché."
• Political Cliché Site
• Sports Cliché List

Words

• Antique Words by C. J. Cherryh
  List of words that were commonly used prior to the 1900s.
• World Wide Words
  "English words and phrases: what they mean, where they came from, how they have evolved, and the ways in which people sometimes misuse them. A few others concern issues of grammar, style and punctuation."
• The Word Spy
  "Devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases."
• The Word Detective
  Online version of a newspaper column answering readers' questions about words and language.

Translation

• Babelfish Translation
• Free Translation.com
• The Translator's Home Companion
  "...intended to serve as a focal point of information about resources available on the Internet and elsewhere for translators, interpreters, and all those interested in the arts and crafts of foreign languages." Includes links to dictionaries in more than 60 language groups.

Pronunciation

• Voice of America Pronunciation Guide
  Look up not only the meaning and spelling of international words, but how they are pronounced.
• Pronouncing Dictionary of Music and Musicians "The purpose of this dictionary is to help American English-speaking persons pronounce the names of music composers, the titles of their compositions, and the names of artists who perform the music."

Commonly Misspelled Words

• Cuesta College
• One Hundred Most Often Mispelled Misspelled Words
• Six Hundred and Forty-two of the Most Commonly Misspelled Words
• Supplemented List from Student's Book of College English by David Skwire and Harvey S. Wiener
• UVic List

Geographical Reference and Maps

• Atlapedia Online
  Physical and political maps, facts and statistics on countries of the world.
• Xpeditions Atlas
  Clear, easy-to-read maps made for printing and copying from National Geographic.
• Historical Atlas of the 20th Century
• Mapquest
• National Geographic Map Machine
  National Geographic'sonline atlas: find nearly any place on Earth and view it by population, climate, and more. Plus antique maps, country facts, and trail maps.
• Perry-Castaˆ±eda Library Map Collection (U of Texas)
  Over 5000 maps online: World, Africa, Americas, Asia, Australia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Polar/Oceans, Russia/Republics, U.S., Texas, Historical, and Thematic. Also excellent links to other map sites including extensive collection of City Map Sites.
• University of Iowa Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research Maps & References
• The World of Maps: A Gateway for Maps and Mapping
• Yahoo! Maps

Measurement

• How Far Is It?
  Estimate distances between two cities.
• How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement
• OnlineConversion.com
  Convert just about anything to anything else; over 5,000 units and 50,000 conversions.

Currency

• Universal Currency Converter
• British Currency Before 1971
• History of Money from Ancient
• Times to Present Day
  Monetary history in context from the dawn of civilization to the beginning of the twenty first century, based on book by Glyn Davies.

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