PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Dictionary entry

How to Cite a Dictionary Entry in APA 7

An APA 7 dictionary entry reference starts with the dictionary's author (often the publisher itself, like Merriam-Webster), then the date in parentheses (n.d. for most online dictionaries), the word you looked up, the word In, and the dictionary's title in italics. An online dictionary that keeps changing ends with "Retrieved Month Day, Year, from" and the entry's URL. The in-text citation is the author and the date: (Merriam-Webster, n.d.).

The format

Author. (Year or n.d.). Word. In Title of dictionary (edition). Publisher. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from https://xxxxx

PERRLA APA Experts ยท Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Paste the entry's link into PERRLA's reference search. For Merriam-Webster and the APA Dictionary of Psychology, PERRLA fills in the group author, the word, the dictionary's name, n.d. for the date, today's date as the retrieval date, and the URL, and it leaves the publisher out because it's the same as the author. A Wiktionary link comes back with a permanent link to the version you read, so no retrieval date is needed. A Taber's link fills in the editor, the dictionary, the edition, and F. A. Davis Company as the publisher; add the year yourself.

Adding one by hand? Choose Reference Work, then Entry in a reference work, and pick Entry in a dictionary or thesaurus. Add the Group Author (Organization) for the entry (or the Editor for the entry for an edited medical dictionary), then fill in the Entry Title, the Reference Work Name, the Publication Year, and the Edition. For a print dictionary, add the entry's page in Page Number, and PERRLA puts it after the edition: (11th ed., p. 727). Paste the URL, and click Today on the Retrieval Date for a dictionary that changes over time. PERRLA handles the italics, the "In," and the "Retrieved ..., from" wording.

Look up
Paste a Merriam-Webster link, get the reference

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burnout

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Burnout. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved October 21, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burnout

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Author

Most dictionaries are written by an organization, so the organization goes first as a group author, spelled out in full. For Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, that's Merriam-Webster. For the APA Dictionary of Psychology, it's the American Psychological Association.

Merriam-Webster.

Some dictionaries, especially medical ones, are edited and list no author for individual entries. Then the word itself moves into the author spot, and the editor goes after In: Triage. (2021). In J. Law (Ed.), ...

2. Date

Online dictionaries are updated a little at a time, and most don't date their entries, so use n.d. (no date). Some sites show the same "Updated on" date on every single entry; that's a site date, not a date for your word, so it doesn't count.

(n.d.).

A print dictionary, or an online one tied to a dated edition, takes the year of that edition: (2021).

3. Entry word

Write the word or phrase you looked up, capitalizing only the first word and any proper nouns, the way you would a sentence. No italics and no quotation marks. End it with a period.

Burnout.

4. In and the dictionary title

Write In, then the dictionary's title in italics and sentence case. Use the title of the version you used: the website's dictionary is Merriam-Webster.com dictionary, while the printed book is Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary.

In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary.

For an edited dictionary, the editor's initials and last name come right after In, followed by (Ed.) and a comma: In J. Law (Ed.), A dictionary of nursing

5. Edition and page

If the dictionary has an edition number, put it in parentheses after the title, not in italics: (8th ed.). For a print dictionary, APA also puts the entry's page number in the same parentheses, after a comma: (11th ed., p. 727).

(8th ed.).

6. Publisher

Name the publisher after the title. When the publisher is the same as the author, as with Merriam-Webster or the APA Dictionary of Psychology, leave the publisher out so the name doesn't appear twice.

Oxford University Press.

7. Retrieval date and URL

For an online dictionary whose entries change and aren't archived, add the date you looked the word up, then the URL: "Retrieved Month Day, Year, from" and the link. No period after the URL.

Retrieved October 21, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burnout

Skip the retrieval date when the entry belongs to a fixed edition, or when you have a permanent link to the exact version you read. A print dictionary has no URL at all; the reference ends after the edition and page.

Examples

A Merriam-Webster online entry, with a quoted definition

The Merriam-Webster.com entry for burnout, looked up on October 21, 2026. Merriam-Webster is both the author and the publisher, so its name appears once. The citation points to the numbered definition that was quoted, since the entry has no page numbers.

  • Parenthetical citation(Merriam-Webster, n.d., Definition 2a)
  • Narrative citationMerriam-Webster (n.d., Definition 2a)

An APA Dictionary of Psychology entry

The online APA Dictionary of Psychology entry for compassion fatigue, a term nursing and counseling students cite often. The page says "Updated on 04/19/2018," but every entry on the site shows that same date, so it belongs to the site, not the entry. The reference uses n.d. and a retrieval date, the same way APA's own example for this dictionary does.

  • Parenthetical citation(American Psychological Association, n.d.)
  • Narrative citationAmerican Psychological Association (n.d.)

An entry in an edited nursing dictionary

The entry for triage in A Dictionary of Nursing (8th ed.), edited by Jonathan Law and published by Oxford University Press in 2021, read on Oxford Reference. No one is credited with the entry itself, so the word moves into the author position and the editor follows In. The edition is fixed, so there's no retrieval date.

  • Parenthetical citation("Triage," 2021)
  • Narrative citation"Triage" (2021)

In-text citations

A dictionary entry's in-text citation uses whatever comes first in the reference, plus the date. Most online dictionaries have no date, so the citation uses n.d.

  • Group author: (Merriam-Webster, n.d.) or Merriam-Webster (n.d.)
  • Group author with a well-known abbreviation: spell it out the first time with the abbreviation in square brackets, then use the abbreviation: (American Psychological Association [APA], n.d.), then (APA, n.d.)
  • No author, so the word comes first: put the word in quotation marks and title case: ("Triage," 2021) or "Triage" (2021)
  • A quoted definition: dictionary entries have no page numbers online, so name the definition: Burnout can mean "exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration" (Merriam-Webster, n.d., Definition 2a).
  • A print dictionary: the page number lives in the reference, so the citation is just the author and year: (Merriam-Webster, 2003)

The retrieval date never goes in the in-text citation.

Common mistakes

  • Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Burnout. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Merriam-Webster.Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Burnout. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved October 21, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burnoutWhen the author and the publisher are the same, the name appears once, as the author. An online dictionary that changes over time also needs the retrieval date and the URL.
  • Burnout. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary.Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Burnout. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary.Merriam-Webster is the author of its own dictionary, so its name goes first. The word moves to the front only when the dictionary gives no author at all.
  • Merriam-Webster. (2026). Burnout. ...Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Burnout. ...Don't use the year you looked the word up as the date. An undated online entry takes n.d., and the day you looked it up goes in the retrieval date at the end.
  • ("Burnout," n.d.)(Merriam-Webster, n.d.)The in-text citation matches the first part of the reference. When the dictionary has an author, cite the author, not the word.
  • In Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary.A dictionary is a book-like work, so its title takes sentence case in the reference, even though the site capitalizes it. Proper nouns, like Merriam-Webster, stay capitalized.

Quick checklist

  • The group author first (or the word, if no author is credited)
  • n.d. for an undated online entry, or the edition's year
  • The word in sentence case, not italic
  • In and the dictionary title in italics and sentence case
  • Edition (and page, for print) in parentheses
  • The publisher left out when it's the same as the author
  • Retrieval date and URL for an online dictionary that changes

Questions students ask

Do I need a retrieval date for a dictionary entry?

For Merriam-Webster.com, the APA Dictionary of Psychology, and other online dictionaries that update their entries without keeping old versions, yes. Write "Retrieved" and the date you looked the word up, then "from" and the URL. A print dictionary, a fixed edition, or a permanent link to a version doesn't need one.

How do I cite a print dictionary in APA 7?

Use the year of the edition, the word, In, the dictionary title in italics, and then the edition and the page number in one set of parentheses: (11th ed., p. 727). Leave the publisher out if it's the same as the author, and there's no URL or retrieval date. In the text, cite the author and year.

Should I cite the dictionary or just the word's definition?

Cite the entry, the single word you looked up, not the whole dictionary. Cite a whole dictionary only when you're talking about the dictionary itself, such as comparing two dictionaries.

How do I quote a dictionary definition in APA?

Put the definition in quotation marks and cite the author and date. Since online entries have no page numbers, add the definition number instead: (Merriam-Webster, n.d., Definition 2a). Many instructors discourage opening a paper with a dictionary definition, so use one when the exact meaning of the word really matters.

How do I cite a thesaurus entry?

The same way as a dictionary entry. Use the thesaurus's title after In, such as Merriam-Webster.com thesaurus, and give the URL of the thesaurus page you used. In PERRLA, it's the same choice: Entry in a dictionary or thesaurus. If you paste a Merriam-Webster thesaurus link into the search, check the Reference Work Name and change it to Merriam-Webster.com thesaurus.

How do I cite a medical dictionary like Taber's?

Most medical dictionaries are edited, and their entries have no author. Start with the word and the year, then In, the editor's initials and last name with (Ed.), the dictionary title in italics with its edition, the publisher, and the URL if you used it online. In the text, cite the word in quotation marks: ("Triage," 2021).

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.14, 8.21, 8.28, 9.12, 9.16, 9.17, 9.26, and 10.3, and the APA Style website's dictionary entry and nursing student reference examples. Each example entry was opened on October 21, 2026, to confirm the word, the definition numbering, the dictionary's title, editor, edition, publisher, and year, and the URL.

PERRLA builds the dictionary entry from its link, group author, n.d., and retrieval date included.

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