Common Sense Media Review
By Leslie Crenna
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Comprehensive reference tool with games and customization.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Dictionary.
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
THE FREE DICTIONARY BY FARLEX features a black-and-white page full of content, from a word of the day to horoscopes, daily quotes, and lots of word games. The app pulls dictionary and encyclopedic content -- including legal, medical, financial -- from numerous respected sources such as McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin, HarperCollins, the Farlex clip-art collection copyright Princeton University, and Wikipedia and provides citations for each search. The Customize button allows users to choose which of 12 main-page daily updates to include. It's a dictionary too. At the top, users type words into the text box for word searches or expand for advanced search options, bookmarks, settings (such as larger fonts), and sharing. It can be toggled into 14 of the most common world languages and translated for individual searches.
Is It Any Good?
The Free Dictionary by Farlex may be the most comprehensive, well-cited, fun, crammed-with-content dictionary app available in the app stores. Elementary school-age kids will want to play the games, and everyone will find something of interest in the daily updates (though they're written at the upper elementary school-age level). With the ability to customize daily content, change font size, access various languages, and access simple word games and cartoon graphics, The Free Dictionary by Farlex is engaging for kids of almost all ages. One downside is that the design is very busy, and some kids may find it overwhelming. Another is that the incessant ads are distracting, though that can be turned off with an in-app purchase. Overall, however, it's a great tool for learning on the go.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the benefits of using a dictionary when encountering new words. How is it helpful? Does it work better to stop in the middle of reading or wait until the end of a section to look up a word?
Play dictionary games. Choose a difficult word and send one player out. Have other players make up definitions and write them down, along with the correct definition. Have the player come back and guess the correct definition.
Discuss the possible meanings, origins, and connotations of words to get kids thinking about how language changes and has shades of meaning.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android , Chromebook , Kindle Fire
- Subjects : Language & Reading : phonics , reading , reading comprehension , spelling , vocabulary
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : asking questions , investigation , part-whole relationships , thinking critically , Self-Direction : academic development , initiative , personal growth , Communication : conveying messages effectively
- Pricing structure : Free (Remove ads for $1.99 in-app purchase.)
- Release date : May 5, 2015
- Genre : Reference
- Publisher : Farlex, Inc.
- Version : 6.2
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 9.0 or later; Android varies
- Last updated : November 11, 2020
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