Single-field dictionary

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title: "Single-field dictionary" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["dictionaries-by-type"] description: "Dictionary specialized for one subject field" topic_path: "general/dictionaries-by-type" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-field_dictionary" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Dictionary specialized for one subject field ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/File-Oxford_Dictionary_of_Biology_Eighth_Edition.jpg" caption="The ''Oxford Dictionary of Biology''."] ::

A single-field dictionary is a specialized dictionary that has been designed and compiled to cover the terms of one particular subject field. Single-field dictionaries should be contrasted with multi-field dictionaries and sub-field dictionaries.

Examples of single-field dictionaries are a dictionary of law, a dictionary of economics and a dictionary of welding.

The main advantage of single-field dictionaries is that they can easily be maximizing dictionaries, i.e. attempt to cover as many terms of the subject field as possible without being a dictionary in several volumes.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::