I guess I could use some monolingual dictionaries now

Hello, everyone!

In my last post, I've talked a bit about bilingual dictionaries. They can be very useful for beginners, especially those that bring a lot of real-life examples. However, as you learn more about the language, bilingual dictionaries tend to be less and less useful. See, you're not supposed to use them forever, anyway - they work as a bridge to take you from “I don't know anything, really” to “I think I can handle a monolingual dictionary now”.

Think of it - a bilingual dictionary has to “shrink” the words in order to fit them in your reality. I'll give a very simple example: the verbs “ser” and “estar” (what a cliché, honestly). If you look for those words in Portuguese-English dictionaries, they'll give you the same definition for both verbs: to be. That'd be correct; however, they do not mean the same thing. “Ser” refers to inherent or permanent qualities, while “estar” has to do with changeable characteristics. (It's much more complex than that, actually, but that'll do for this brief explanation.)

That's just one example of how small differences can be lost in translations.

So, if you feel ready to use monolingual dictionaries like a native, or at least want to give them a try, here are some options for you:

Aulete is very complete and easy to use. There's etymological info about the words and the definitions are colorful, with many examples and idioms.

I like that little entries-list; you can jump from word to word randomly (for hours even, if that's your thing ;D). There's even a sort of “search history”!

Priberam, which I've mentioned before, is a Portuguese dictionary. At first, it was European Portuguese-only, but now there's more Brazilian content and you can choose between the different orthographies (keep in mind, though, that some idioms and definitions are not used in Brazil).

Something nice about it is the possibility to double-click the words and check their definition.

Dicio.com.br is not as visual as Aulete, but it provides a lot of info about the word, including real-life and literature examples, rhymes, conjugation of verbs, anagrams and other things.

Nossa Língua Portuguesa is a good option as well, but not nearly as complete as the ones above (literally; some idioms are listed but not explained). But the word definitions are very didactic.

Dicionário do Aurélio is quite famous in Brazil, specially in schools. Some people actually use the word “Aurélio” meaning “dictionary”, even when it's not an “Aurélio”. :)

I don't like the web version very much, because it's a mess. When you have such organized dictionaries as Aulete, using something as messy as Aurélio seems a waste of time...

Léxico, on the other hand, is much more organized. It's very didactic: each definition is followed by examples. There are real-life and literature examples as well.

TheFreeDictionary - yes, there's a Portuguese dictionary in this site as well! You can double-click the words to see their definition, as in Priberam. There aren't examples there, though...

Michaelis has been mentioned before as well. I'll just quote myself here:

“I've seen some (minor) errors there, not only in the bilingual dictionaries, but also in the Portuguese one. Also, they seem to be aimed at secondary students, so there are many less-usual words you won't find there.”

Infopédia is very neat. Unfortunately, there aren't many examples, so most entries only have definitions.

Something I find interesting about it is that “Outros Dicionários” list on the right -- you can instantaneously check your word in other languages.

Maybe I shouldn't recommend Wikcionário, but some entries look decent, so here it is. Most of time, though, it's... a mess.

BONUS!

I've talked a lot about synonyms, but what about antonyms?

Behold Antônimos, an antonym dictionary. You can click the words to find out their definition - no, wait, the opposite of that... I mean... aghhh... :D

Dicionário inFormal is kind of our “Urban Dictionary”. I truly love it! You can find many “informal” words there, such as idioms, slang, profanities and many less common words that normally aren't included in dictionaries because they are exclusive to some regions. As someone who's interested in dialectal peculiarities, I find it deliciously entertaining.

I hope you have enjoyed these dictionaries! See you! :)