You hear starving in a film and you do not know it. You open a translation app, it gives you one word in your own language, and you move on. Two days later you meet the word again and you are not sure what it meant.
In one podcast episode, Paul asks learners to try something different: “Put your bilingual dictionary away.” He compares a bilingual dictionary to a calculator in a math class, and Emily finishes the thought: “You get the right number, but you never learn how to count.” What he suggests instead is a learner’s dictionary, “where English words are explained in simple English.”
This page is about that tip. It shows what to read in an entry, how four free online learner’s dictionaries look on a real word, what the Oxford app costs, and a routine that takes three minutes.
(Quotes in curly marks are from the podcast episode linked at the end. Facts about the dictionaries come from the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries website, the Cambridge Dictionary website, the Collins Dictionary website, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online website and the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary page on the US App Store, all opened on 11 November 2026. Websites and prices change, so check them before you decide. This page has no affiliate links and earns nothing from any link on it.)
What changes when the explanation is in English
A bilingual dictionary gives you the shortest road: a word in your language. A learner’s dictionary gives you a short explanation in English, written with common words, and usually an example sentence. While you read it, you are already thinking in English, which is the point of the tip in the episode.
Paul is honest about the cost. It feels slower at the start: “The first week, it’s slower and a little annoying.” Sometimes you will need to look up a word inside the explanation, and Emily’s name for that is “a dictionary inside a dictionary.” His answer is that “each extra word is one more English path.”
What to read in one entry
Open any entry and look for these five things, in this order:
- The headword and its type. starving is shown as an adjective in the Oxford entry, starve as a verb in the Longman entry. The type tells you where the word can go in a sentence.
- The explanation. Read it once, all the way through. Do not stop at the first word you do not know.
- The example sentence. This is the most useful part for speaking. It shows the word with the words it likes to sit next to.
- The sound. Both dictionaries below have audio buttons, so you can hear the word before you say it.
- A level or frequency mark. It tells you how common or how advanced the word is, so you know if it is worth learning this week.
Four free online dictionaries on one word
We opened the entries for starving (Oxford, Cambridge and Collins) and starve (Longman) on 11 November 2026 and wrote down only what was on the pages. This is not a ranking.
| Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries | Cambridge Dictionary | Collins (COBUILD entries) | Longman (LDOCE Online) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publisher shown | Oxford University Press | Not recorded | HarperCollins (the entry credits Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary) | Pearson |
| Cost to read online | No sign-in or payment was asked on the pages we opened | No payment was asked; the entry opened without logging in | No payment was asked on the entry page | No sign-in or payment was asked on the pages we opened |
| The entry we opened | starving (adjective): two senses, one marked informal, each with an example | starving (adjective): three senses with examples, two about hunger (one marked informal) and one regional sense about being cold, plus a box of close words | starving (adjective): one sense marked informal, explained in a full sentence (“If you say…, you mean…”), one example, and a short list of close words | starve (verb): numbered senses with example sentences, plus a separate list called Examples from the Corpus |
| Audio | British and American pronunciation buttons | British and American pronunciation (two audio buttons on the page) | A Pronunciation tab on the entry | Audio buttons on the entry (six on the page we opened) |
| Level or frequency signs | Level marks such as B2 and C2 beside topic labels; the About page lists the Oxford 3000 and 5000 word lists | A level label (B2) beside each meaning about hunger | A level label (B2) beside the word | Frequency marks beside the headword (the entry we opened shows ●●○ S3) |
| Other things on the site | A Text Checker for the Oxford 3000, 5000 and OPAL lists; a page explaining symbols and labels | Menu links to Thesaurus, Grammar and Translate; bilingual tabs (English–French, French–English here) | Tabs for Synonyms, Sentences, Pronunciation, Collocations, Conjugations and Grammar; a translator; an Apps link | Vocabulary exercises and quizzes mentioned on the home page; bilingual versions listed (English-Japanese, English-Korean, English-Spanish) |
| App | An Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app exists (next section) | Not checked on this page | An Apps link is on the page; not checked further | Not checked on this page |
How to choose between them depends on what you need this week:
- If you want to know whether a word is one of the common ones, and you like word lists, the Oxford site gives you level marks and the Oxford 3000 and 5000 lists.
- If you want the level of each separate meaning, the Cambridge entry puts a level label beside each sense, so you can see which meaning is the one a B1 or B2 learner meets first. Its box of close words helps when you know a word but not the strongest one.
- If you find a short definition hard to hold, the Collins entry explains the word in a whole sentence, built from the word itself, and then gives a close-word list. The episode’s own example of what a learner’s dictionary might say works the same way: a simple explanation in simple English.
- If you like to see a lot of real sentences, the Longman entry lets you read the word in a numbered list of senses and then in more examples below.
- If you cannot decide, use one for a week and then another for a week. The routine below works with any of them.
The Oxford app: what its store page says
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app is sold by Oxford University Press. This is what the US App Store page said when we opened it on 11 November 2026:
- It is free to download with in-app purchases, and the description says a purchase is needed to open the full content and all features.
- A free three-day trial is listed. The OALD10 plans were 1 month for 9.99 and 4 years for 4.99, 49.99 for the same three lengths.
- The page lists British and American pronunciation, offline access, topic word lists and favourites lists.
- The page showed a rating of 2.3 out of 5 from 99 ratings, so read the recent reviews in your own store before you pay.
Prices are for the US store and will be different in other countries. Because you can read entries on the website without paying, you can try the dictionary there first and decide on an app later, or never.
Three minutes, one word
Do this with any English-only dictionary, once a day:
- Write the word you did not know, with the sentence where you met it.
- Read the explanation once. If one word inside it stops you, look up that one word and nothing else. That is the dictionary inside a dictionary.
- Copy one example and change one word so it is about your own life.
- Say it out loud once. The episode gives two sentences for the week: “I’m looking this up in English, not in my language.” and “The explanation was easier than I expected.”
- Close the dictionary. You are finished. One word, learned in English, is enough for today.
Three habits that bring you back to the translation app
- Looking up every word. Look up only the words that stop you from understanding the sentence. If you can guess, keep reading and come back later.
- Copying the whole explanation into your notebook. Write the word, one example, and a few of your own words. A page of copied explanations is no easier to remember than a page of translations.
- Giving up in the first week. The episode says it plainly: the first week is the slow one.
Try it: starving and starve
Open the Oxford entry for starving and the Longman entry for starve, then answer. If you like, open Cambridge and Collins too and see which explanation you find easiest.
- How many senses does the Oxford entry for starving give, and which one fits I’m starving! said at lunch?
- In the Longman entry for starve, sense 1 is about what kind of situation?
- Write the explanation of starving in one sentence of your own, using only words you know.
- Say your sentence out loud, then say I’m looking this up in English, not in my language.
Answers
- Two senses on the page we opened on 11 November 2026: one is about dying of hunger, and the other is marked informal and means very hungry. The informal one fits I’m starving! at lunch.
- A situation where a person suffers or dies because there is not enough to eat.
- A sample answer written for this page: Starving means very, very hungry. Your own sentence is better than this one.
- Say both sentences slowly. You do not need to say them fast.
Hear the tip in the episode
The tip comes from a podcast episode about the habit of translating in your head. Paul and Emily try starving with a learner’s dictionary, and then they go on with five more habits. If you want to hear it at normal speed, start at Tip 1: How to Stop Translating in Your Head: Paul’s Orange Story, Six Habits and a Three-Second Game. If your problem is word-for-word sentences, see Word-for-Word English: Fix Open the Light, I Have Hunger and Two More Translation Leaks.