Entry versions

About the Dictionary Tour

step 4 of 37

Second Edition

OED Online enables you to see how an entry has changed over time.

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). These are merged to form a mixed single sequence in which each entry can be seen in its most up-to-date form.

A unique feature of OED Online is the ability to see what both of these different texts said about a word, and to compare them at the click of a button.

Every entry is labelled with date of publication and a description of which text it is from, so that its status can be clearly seen.

Unrevised [enlarge]

Additions [enlarge]

Revised [enlarge]

If an entry has already been revised there will also be an Earlier button that lets you move to the Second Edition version, in order to identify the changes.

Let's look in more detail at a Second Edition entry.

About the Dictionary Tour

step 4 of 37

Second Edition