dictionarylike

Dictionarylike is an adjective describing something that resembles or functions like a dictionary. It can refer to the organization, content, or user expectations of a dictionary: entries arranged by lemmas, each with definitions, pronunciations, part of speech, etymology, usage examples, and cross references. The term is often used in linguistics, lexicography, and information design to indicate a resource that provides concise, entry-based information arranged by lexical entries rather than narrative text.

In lexicographic contexts, a dictionarylike resource may present senses in numbered or bullet form, include etymologies, pronunciation guides, and usage notes, and support alphabetical or lemma-based navigation. It emphasizes stand-alone definitional information per entry and a navigation scheme that mirrors traditional dictionaries.

In computer science and data organization, dictionarylike describes structures or interfaces that map keys to values in a way similar to a dictionary. A dictionarylike data structure offers efficient lookups, insertions, and deletions, often implemented as hash tables or balanced search trees. The label underscores the resemblance to a dictionary’s straightforward retrieval model rather than a relational or index-only structure.

Compared with related concepts, dictionarylike resources focus on definitional content and lemma-centered organization rather than relational data models or semantic networks found in thesauri or encyclopedic works. The term is informal and may appear in technical literature, design documentation, or critique to indicate a resource that presents information in a dictionary-style format.

See also lexicography, lexicon, dictionary, data structure, hash table, associative array.