Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
lexical database

lexical database

7.6
A collection of information about words, including meanings, forms, and links between words
  • noun
  • /ˈlɛksɪkəl ˈdeɪtəˌbeɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : base de datos léxica
  • Researchers created a comprehensive lexical database to store information on word meanings and usage patterns.

Examples

  • Word frequencies were determined on the basis of the CELEX lexical database (Baayen et al., 1995).

    Academic text (2004)

  • The new software includes a lexical database that helps users find synonyms and antonyms quickly.

  • Linguists often use a lexical database to analyze the relationships between different words in a language.

Synonyms

database
vslexical database
  • Specialized
402 3.4

A set of information stored on a computer that you can search and update

is specific to word information and shows forms and relations
lexicon
vslexical database
4 6.6

A book or database that lists words and their meanings

focuses on structured word data including forms and relationships

How Comprehensive

WordNet3.1
  • Specialized
7.2
lexical database
  • Specialized
7.6
dictionary
165 1.0
glossary
9 4.4

Surface Forms

lexical database singular
lexical databases plural

Morphology

lexical + database

The meaning is directly compositional: 'lexical' describes the type of 'database' (a database concerning vocabulary/words), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer that it is a database about words. This modifier + noun pattern is regular in English and cross-linguistically common, making the expression immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.

Etymology

Lexical database comes from the idea of a database, a big, organized list, for lexical items, that is, 'words'. So, imagine a library card file where each card shows a word's meaning, forms, and links to other words; a lexical database is the computer version that stores this information about 'words'.