Webster Dictionary

Noah Webster first published his American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. The dictionary was the first to emphasize American English pronunciations over British.¹

Fast Facts

1. Origin: 1828
2. Definitions: 70,000 (original edition)¹
3. No official Webster's dictionary exists today²
4. "Webster's" denotes any American English dictionary²

Who Was Noah Webster?

Noah Webster graduated from Harvard in 1778, after which he worked as a teacher. His experience teaching post-Independence children with schoolbooks that came from England and emphasized British values and fealty led him to create A Grammatical Institute of the English Language in 1783. This textbook was used to teach children for the next century.

Webster compiled his American Dictionary of the English Language over the course of 28 years, finally publishing at the age of 70. He lived another fifteen years.³

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