Sometimes it becomes quite a task to look up every second word in a dictionary. Thumbs up to this advanced era where a variety of electronic dictionaries are lending a big helping hand to learners of the English language. And the web world is the fastest and cheapest learning source.

www.thefreedictionary.com is one such great source available on the Internet that provides a comprehensive and free dictionary, not only in English but also in Russian, French, German, Greek, Norwegian, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Italian and Spanish. The site under review consisting of various sections such as 'Spelling Bee', 'Word Pronunciation', 'My Word List' and 'Match Up', and is definitely going to make room in the “Favourites list” of your browser.

Along with meanings, pronunciation of words in British and American, enunciation greatly helps to comprehend the difference between the two prevailing accents. The “Also found in” option locates the searched word in idioms, acronyms, encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, medical dictionary, legal dictionary and financial dictionary in one go, which certainly is a defining feature of the site.

Spelling Bee table in three different modes (easy, hard and expert) tests your ability to deliver “one word” for a given line and marks your points accordingly. However, when a correct answer is marked wrong (when it is not present in “already fed memory”), it can be annoying. “Hangman” and “Match up the word” tags are equally captivating and advantageous for youngsters and grown-ups alike.

You can also create your own homepage by adding and removing, dragging and dropping, and “using or losing” existing content windows. Desktop Assistant is a free downloadable convenient software available on the website that allows you to access The Free Dictionary's definitions and encyclopaedia entries by selecting a word or phrase with one click.

Nonetheless, as it is an online dictionary so it demands a Net connection to work which might be a drawback for those who don't remain connected to the Net 24/7.

Other catchy tags of the website comprise 'Day's history', 'Quotation of the day', 'Birthdays today', 'Horoscope', 'Article of the day' and many more. So folks, a complete learning package is just a click away from you.

— F. D. Sheikh