What is the difference between vocabulary and glossary

So even the OED contains what you might call circular references; this always happens with close word-sets like these. In its entry for dictionary, onomasticon, gazetteer, synonymicon, lexicon, wordbook, glossary , Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms offers this gloss on the words dictionary and lexicon :.

Dictionary is now the usual term for a book which gives not only the words that belong to a language or in an abridged dictionary, the most important and most common words of a language but also their meanings, their accepted spelling or spellings, their pronunciation, etymology, and the like; as Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language.

It is also the general term applied to a book that embodies an alphabetical list of names with explanatory information or that presents an alphabetical list of terms with their synonyms; as Lexicon , though often used interchangeably with dictionary , especially as a name for the type as, "In the lexicon of youth Consequently, lexicon is often, but not invariably, the preferred designation of a dictionary that interprets words of one language in terms of another,; as, a Latin-English lexicon ; an English-French lexicon.

Webster's synonymicon parks its discussion of vocabulary under a different set of words— language, vocabulary, phraseology, phrasing, diction, style —with the predictable result that it doesn't address the dictionary-like sense of vocabulary :. Vocabulary , when used in reference to verbal expression, calls attention only to the extent or variety of the writer's or speaker's stock of words or to the sources from which such a stock is derived; [examples omitted]. As the OED coverage of the word in tchrist's answer indicates, however, vocabulary in the "dictionary" sense usually refers to a glossary or wordbook of not especially abstruse terms; it falls far short of a dictionary or lexicon in range and depth of coverage.

Dictionary: a book that contains the words of a language in alphabetical order. The word Greek word lexicon means principally the same, but in English the standard term for books containing the words of a language is dictionary. In German the same thing is called Lexikon. Vocabulary: a list of words contained in a text for the convenience of those who learn a language.

If you study a text you can note down your own vocabulary list. In linguistics specialists make a difference between the words that exist in a language and they have chosen the term lexicon. An individual doesn't use all the words of the dictionary. Only a small part is used. And for this part of words used by an individual person some linguists use "vocabulary".

If you are a learner this linguistic use of the terms lexicon and vocabulary doesn't need to concern you. When you look up a word you use a dictionary. Lexicon is a vocabulary specific to a 'thing' ie a strike is different in baseball and bowling, because it depends on what lexicon it is in. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more.

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Turnip vs. Examples: "My Russian vocabulary is very limited. Examples: "The vocabulary of social sciences is often incomprehensible to ordinary people. Examples: "The vocabulary of any language is influenced by contacts with other cultures.