Chambers Dictionary 4+

It’s pretty confusing that such an elegant masterpiece has not been well-known in decades. As an ESL learner, it took me a while to find a concisely defined dictionary using relatively simple vocabulary. The vast majority of famous contemporary dictionaries tend to become wordy in terms of definitions. But the Chambers has rid me of that kind of annoyance. Three years ago, I purchased the same app on the google play store. And now I'm more than happy to invest in it again.

Clear, concise, and occasionally hilarious, the Chambers is the best English dictionary in existence. I’ve bought it in several forms over the years and this app does it justice.

I've tried all the dictionary apps, and this one is my new favorite. It has all the features of the other good apps combined: typing letters in the search box brings up matching words immediately; tapping a word in one definition brings you to the definition of THAT word; there's an immense vocabulary on tap; there's a standard pronunciation key, parts of speech, etymologies, and most importantly, very clear definitions.

The app makes intelligent suggestions about alternative spellings or related words. A book I was reading mentioned the word "chafron." I looked it up but found no match. Then I noticed a drop-down list of suggested alternatives on the right, one of which was "chaffron." Tapping this brought me to the definition of "chamfron," for which chaffron is an alternative, and which I knew from the context was the word I was looking for.

I haven't run into any of the "light-hearted" definitions yet, but the ones I've seen - and the app has all of the "test words" I try in a new dictionary - have been spot-on. This dictionary app, for me, is worth every penny.