<P> It was believed that , until August 2010 , Google used many definitions from Collins COBUILD . COBUILD entries were easy to recognize by their characteristic full - sentence definitions as well as grammar codes such as ( N - VAR ) , which in Google Dictionary went unexplained . In August 2010 , a blog site reported that Google Dictionary switched from the Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner 's English Dictionary to the Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English as its English definitions provider . This report , although close , was not quite accurate , as in fact the content now came from another Oxford dictionary , the Oxford American College Dictionary . </P>
<P> It was believed that , until August 2010 , Google used many definitions from Collins COBUILD . COBUILD entries were easy to recognize by their characteristic full - sentence definitions as well as grammar codes such as ( N - VAR ) , which in Google Dictionary went unexplained . In August 2010 , a blog site reported that Google Dictionary switched from the Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner 's English Dictionary to the Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English as its English definitions provider . This report , although close , was not quite accurate , as in fact the content now came from another Oxford dictionary , the Oxford American College Dictionary . </P>
where do the definitions on google come from
where do the definitions on google come from
the Oxford American College Dictionary
the Oxford American College Dictionary