HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
n. 1. a. An itemized summary of estimated or intended expenditures for a given period along with proposals for financing them: submitted the annual budget to Congress. b. A systematic plan for the expenditure of a usually fixed resource, such as money or time, during a given period: A new car will not be part of our budget this year. c. The total sum of money allocated for a particular purpose or period of time: a project with an annual budget of five million dollars. 2. A stock or collection with definite limits: "his budget of general knowledge" (William Hazlitt). 3. Appalachian Mountains A wallet or small pouch. v. budg·et·ed, budg·et·ing, budg·ets v.tr. 1. To plan in advance the expenditure of: needed help budgeting our income; budgeted my time wisely. 2. To enter or account for in a budget: forgot to budget the car payments. v.intr. To make or use a budget. adj. 1. Of or relating to a budget: budget items approved by Congress. 2. Appropriate for a restricted budget; inexpensive: a budget car; budget meals. [Middle English bouget, wallet, from Old French bougette, diminutive of bouge, leather bag, from Latin bulga, of Celtic origin; see bhelgh- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] budget·ar′y (bŭjĭ-tĕr′ē) adj. budget·er, budg′et·eer (-ĭ-tîr) n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
