Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A dictionary.
  • noun A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary.
  • noun Linguistics The morphemes of a language considered as a group.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A word-book; a vocabulary; a collection of the words of a language, usually arranged alphabetically and defined and explained; a dictionary: now used especially of a dictionary of Greek or Hebrew.
  • noun Synonyms Dictionary, Glossary, etc. See vocabulary.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A vocabulary, or book containing an alphabetical arrangement of the words in a language or of a considerable number of them, with the definition of each; a dictionary; especially, a dictionary of the Greek, Hebrew, or Latin language.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The vocabulary of a language.
  • noun linguistics A dictionary that includes or focuses on lexemes.
  • noun A dictionary of Classical Greek, Hebrew, Latin, or Aramaic.
  • noun programming The lexicology of a programming language. (Usually called lexical structure.)
  • noun rare Any dictionary.
  • noun The vocabulary used by or known to an individual. (Also called lexical knowledge)
  • noun A vocabulary specific to a certain subject.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a reference book containing an alphabetical list of words with information about them
  • noun a language user's knowledge of words

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin, from Greek lexikon (biblion), word(book), from neuter of lexikos, of words, from lexis, word, from legein, to speak; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

English from the 17th century, from a Medieval Latin or New Latin lexicon, from Ancient Greek λεξικόν (lexicon, "a lexicon"), neuter of λεξικός (lexikos, "of words"), from λέξις (lexis, "a saying, speech, word"), from λέγειν (legein, "to speak").

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Examples

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  • -- I want you to write something for me, he said. Something with a bite in it. You can do it. I see it in your face. In the lexicon of youth...

    Joyce, Ulysses, 7

    January 2, 2007

  • another reference to dictionary

    September 13, 2007

  • I've always referred to my personal lexicon as the collection of words that I know and use. It's a synonym for vocabulary. Wordie is a great web site that helps us expand our lexica.

    September 13, 2007

  • "There is, of course, something distasteful and absurd in the very project of parsing this lexicon of death." - Justice Blackmun

    August 27, 2010