Collins has launched a dictionary site, www.collinsdictionary.com, that will give open, free access to 220,000 dictionary entries alongside synonyms, translations, word frequency graphs and illustrative Flickr photos.

The new dictionary site has been developed over 18 months by the editorial team in Collins’ headquarters in Glasgow and represents an interesting move for the dictionary’s publisher, HarperCollins. A number of other reference publishers — such as the Oxford English Dictionary — already have an online presence but tend to use a paid subscription model. Collins’ open approach means that it will compete against other established free web-only dictionaries such as Dictionary.com.

The site launched on 31st December with 120,000 dictionary entries, which will rise to 220,000 from March 2012. It aims to stay true to the spirit of the founder of the dictionary, William Collins, whose vision in 1819 was to offer “knowledge to all” through his publishing. Users will be able to find correct spellings and definitions, check synonyms with an integrated thesaurus, and access words in French, Spanish and German and 35 other languages.

See: Wired.co.uk