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Spanish dictionary
Autor wątku: Alisha Rice
Alisha Rice
Alisha Rice  Identity Verified
USA
Local time: 08:30
hiszpański > angielski
+ ...
Aug 13, 2025

I am prepping for the ATA certification exam for the language pair Spanish into English. I wanted to get a recomendation of a book for Spanish words and how they are used in different contexts. What I have been struggling with on these practice texts is not understanding the context of a word, so I need a good dictionary that can outline all the different contexts of a word. A dictionary similiar to the Portuguese dictionary Vocabulando. Thanks!

Quinn
 
Sebastian Witte
Sebastian Witte  Identity Verified
Niemcy
Local time: 17:30
Członek ProZ.com
od 2004
angielski > niemiecki
+ ...
María Moliner Aug 13, 2025

https://www.amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/mwrdnn4d

This was recommended by a well-informed lecturer in the late nineties and is available in its 2016 edition. Even if I have never owned a copy, it certainly (also see its price) is one of the flagship products of this type, at least for European Spanish. ... See more
https://www.amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/mwrdnn4d

This was recommended by a well-informed lecturer in the late nineties and is available in its 2016 edition. Even if I have never owned a copy, it certainly (also see its price) is one of the flagship products of this type, at least for European Spanish.

I hope it's OK if this isn't useful due to its dimensions, weight, and price - I tried. There is also the 2016 edition of the Diccionario de la Real Academia https://www.amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/4taf4yx7

which is on offer at a bargain price if you own a Kindle. Caveat: To the best of my knowledge, this contains short definitions only, with no usage notes, unlike the María Moliner (at least my old nineties copies do). While it does cover terms used and/or at least understood by Latin Americans, it focuses on European Spanish, too. My two volumes came in a more handy format and were quite a bit more lightweight than the María Moliner.

Cheers.

[Edited at 2025-08-13 21:10 GMT] ▲ Collapse


Jorge Payan
Quinn
 
Maria Laura Curzi
Maria Laura Curzi  Identity Verified
Argentyna
Local time: 12:30
angielski > hiszpański
+ ...
European Spanish web resources Aug 14, 2025

Another source of European Spanish is the RAE (Real Academia Española) website, as it has several dictionaries and a lot of information.

Some of the dictionaries listed are:
* Diccionario de la lengua española > https://dle.rae.es/
* Diccionario panhispánico de dudas > https://www.rae.es/dpd/
* Diccio... See more
Another source of European Spanish is the RAE (Real Academia Española) website, as it has several dictionaries and a lot of information.

Some of the dictionaries listed are:
* Diccionario de la lengua española > https://dle.rae.es/
* Diccionario panhispánico de dudas > https://www.rae.es/dpd/
* Diccionario panhispánico del español jurídico > https://dpej.rae.es/
* Diccionario histórico de la lengua española > https://www.rae.es/dhle/
* Diccionario del estudiante > https://www.rae.es/diccionario-estudiante/

Some of the databases are:
* CORPES XXI (Corpus del Español del Siglo XXI) > https://www.rae.es/corpes/
* CDH (Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española) > https://webfrl.rae.es/CNDHE/view/inicioExterno.view;jsessionid=8A088620493E8FB1A5F77F41B996A142
* CREA (Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual) > https://corpus.rae.es/creanet.html
* CORDE (Corpus Diacrónico del Español) > https://corpus.rae.es/cordenet.html

Some of the grammar rules are:
* Nueva gramática de la lengua española > https://www.rae.es/gramática/cgi-bin/buscar.cgi
* Glosario de términos gramaticales > https://www.rae.es/gtg/

The spelling I have saved as favorite is Ortografía de la lengua española (2010) > http://aplica.rae.es/orweb/cgi-bin/buscar.cgi
Another good resource is El buen uso del español > https://www.rae.es/buen-uso-español/

And the Instituto Cervantes has its virtual center > https://cvc.cervantes.es/portada.htm with tons of resources in Spanish.

As for LATAM Spanish, that's another story altogether, and there are other resources. ▲ Collapse


Quinn
 
Mario Chávez
Mario Chávez
USA
Local time: 11:30
angielski > hiszpański
+ ...
RAE is not for “European Spanish” Aug 14, 2025

Let's clarify one thing: the online Spanish dictionary (and the various dictionaries under this umbrella) published and maintained by the Real Academia Española are not limited to European Spanish usage. For instance, search the word “computadora” and you'll find a rich and detailed entry, along with synonyms and associated words like “computador” and “ordenador”.

In short, the RAE dictionaries we see online encompass the Spanish language in all the countries it is spok... See more
Let's clarify one thing: the online Spanish dictionary (and the various dictionaries under this umbrella) published and maintained by the Real Academia Española are not limited to European Spanish usage. For instance, search the word “computadora” and you'll find a rich and detailed entry, along with synonyms and associated words like “computador” and “ordenador”.

In short, the RAE dictionaries we see online encompass the Spanish language in all the countries it is spoken; that applies to the ones published by the Spanish Engineering Academy and the Diccionario Panhispánico de Términos Médicos, among others.

So, Alisha, I've done some of the research for you. Use it.


Maria Laura Curzi wrote:

Another source of European Spanish is the RAE (Real Academia Española) website, as it has several dictionaries and a lot of information.

Some of the dictionaries listed are:
* Diccionario de la lengua española > https://dle.rae.es/
* Diccionario panhispánico de dudas > https://www.rae.es/dpd/
* Diccionario panhispánico del español jurídico > https://dpej.rae.es/
* Diccionario histórico de la lengua española > https://www.rae.es/dhle/
* Diccionario del estudiante > https://www.rae.es/diccionario-estudiante/

Some of the databases are:
* CORPES XXI (Corpus del Español del Siglo XXI) > https://www.rae.es/corpes/
* CDH (Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española) > https://webfrl.rae.es/CNDHE/view/inicioExterno.view;jsessionid=8A088620493E8FB1A5F77F41B996A142
* CREA (Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual) > https://corpus.rae.es/creanet.html
* CORDE (Corpus Diacrónico del Español) > https://corpus.rae.es/cordenet.html

Some of the grammar rules are:
* Nueva gramática de la lengua española > https://www.rae.es/gramática/cgi-bin/buscar.cgi
* Glosario de términos gramaticales > https://www.rae.es/gtg/

The spelling I have saved as favorite is Ortografía de la lengua española (2010) > http://aplica.rae.es/orweb/cgi-bin/buscar.cgi
Another good resource is El buen uso del español > https://www.rae.es/buen-uso-español/

And the Instituto Cervantes has its virtual center > https://cvc.cervantes.es/portada.htm with tons of resources in Spanish.

As for LATAM Spanish, that's another story altogether, and there are other resources.


[Edited at 2025-08-14 12:50 GMT] ▲ Collapse


Sebastian Witte
Jorge Payan
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