Using our dictionary


General warnings

Please always keep in mind that this is a dictionary and not an automatic translator. Therefore, search for one word at once. If you enter more words or sentences in the search box, only the first word will be searched.
The system is case insensitive, it does not make the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters and does not take into account any accents or diacritical marks.


Nouns, adjectives and pronouns

The Latin nouns, adjectives and pronouns must be searched in the singular nominative masculine. Exceptions are male names which also have a feminine form; in that case, an entry will also be made for the feminine form. For example: dominus and domina, temptator and temptatrix, etc. All enclictic particles shall also be removed. Thus, enter the term populus and not populusque.
English nouns, adjectives and pronouns must be searched in the masculine singular.


Verbs

Latin verbs must be searched in the first person of the present tense in the active form. English verbs must be searched in the infinitive present with or without the particle to.


Phrases and quotes

Idioms, figures of speech and quotes appear in the Latin Dictionary under the various forms which compose them, for the most significant words. The sentence alea iacta est is shown both under the verb iaceo, and under the noun alea, but does not appear in the verb sum because it would have too many verb phrases, thus making the consultation more difficult.

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Homographs

When the search returns multiple results, as it is the case for homographs, the first word found will be displayed, along with a section where homographs can be selected.
With the links «previous entry» and «next entry» you can go to the adjacent entry, thus displaying any possible homograph.


Wildcards

In the search, you can use wildcards «?» (question mark) and «*» (asterisk). The question mark (?) replaces one character, e.g. co?rado will find corrado and conrado. The asterisk (*) replaces any quantity of characters, e.g. abell* will find Abella, Abellana, Abellanus, Abellinas and Abellinum.
To avoid an excessive number of results, this feature is limited to searches which contain at least 4 letters, e.g. abe* does not work, while abel* works.


What to do in case of entry not found
When your search does not return any results, before giving up, we suggest that you:
a) Check the correct spelling of the word you entered before you try again;
b) repeat the search by selecting the box «Search within inflected forms»;
c) if you used wildcards, repeat the search reducing the number of specified characters;
d) Click on «Browse the dictionary» and look for entries in the list of possible matches or similar entries.