Are you a visual learner?  Are traditional print or online dictionaries and thesauruses just not cutting it?  Do you wish there was a better, more visual way to discover words and their associations with other words?  Visuwords.com is an online dictionary and thesaurus that graphically displays words, related words, and how they’re connected, with color-coded diagrams.  According to Visuwords:

Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary — Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts.  Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net.  Learn how words associate. Enter words into the search box to look them up or double-click a node to expand the tree.  Click and drag the background to pan around and use the mouse wheel to zoom.  Hover over nodes to see the definition and click and drag individual nodes to move them around to help clarify connections…  Visuwords™ uses Princeton University’s WordNet, an opensource database built by University students and language researchers.  Combined with a visualization tool and user interface built from a combination of modern web technologies, Visuwords™ is available as a free resource to all patrons of the web.

http://www.visuwords.com/

Is there a common phrase that you hear often that just doesn’t make any sense?  Is there a phrase that sounds like it makes sense, but you’re just not quite sure what it means?  Phrases.net is a free, easy to browse, online dictionary of common phrases.  Phrases.net describes itself as: “a large collection of common phrases, casual expressions and idioms that can be browsed, searched, rated, heard and translated to several languages.”   Phrases can be searched for or browsed alphabetically.

http://www.phrases.net/

Don’t have a clue how to pronounce asclepian or burg khalifa?  Would you like to hear how to pronounce any word instantly?  Howjsay.com is an online talking dictionary that pronounces words or phrases up to six words.  There are currently 129,193 words in dictionary and more added everyday, so just about any word you can think of should be there.  Every word in the dictionary is prerecorded and no form of synthetic speech is used.

http://www.howjsay.com/

Skepdic.com is an online dictionary for skeptics and a whole lot more.  According to Skepdic:

The Skeptic’s Dictionary provides definitions, arguments, and essays on topics ranging from acupuncture to zombies, and provides a lively, commonsense trove of detailed information on things supernatural, paranormal, and pseudoscientific.   Dozens of topics in logic, perception, science, and philosophy are also covered to help explain the appeal and popularity of occult beliefs and to provide a guide for critical thinking…  Another purpose of  The Skeptic’s Dictionary is to provide references to the best skeptical materials on whatever topic is covered.

The dictionary can be browsed alphabetically or by topic.

http://skepdic.com/

NoSlang.com is an on line dictionary for slang, text, and acronyms. According to No Slang: “No Slang.com is a translator similar to those offered by Google or AltaVista with one major difference: We don’t translate language, we translate slang and acronyms.” You can find slang alphabetically in the Slang Dictionary or translate entire phrases and sentences in the Slang Translator. There is also a Netspeak Guide with articles about slang. If you think you already know your slang you can take a slang quiz. If you can also submit slang if you know some that is missing from the dictionary.

http://www.noslang.com/