If you don't know the meaning of an English word there are three things you can do:
1, you can simply ignore it
2, try to guess its meaning from the context
3, look it up in a dictionary.
I think the best way to learn a word is to guess its meaning from the context. If you make some mental effort to find out the meaning the chances of remembering it the next time you encounter the word are higher than if you look it up immediately. However, sometimes it is inevitable to use a dictionary. When I write dictionary, I mean a monolingual one, where the definition is given in English. Bilingual dictionaries are handy for translations but for learning a language monolingual dictionaries are far better. Nowadays, with the help of online dictionaries the search is easier than it used to be. One of the best sites I have found in this field is TheFreeDictionary. Besides being a fast, comprehensible and reliable dictionary, the site also provides word games(on the front page), medical, legal and financial dictionaries as well as several other features. For language teachers and others working with the language itself the idioms section can be very useful, for example when making exercises for students:_) From the online games of the site, I only liked the hangman; the spelling bee has a rather poor sound quality and the matching exercise is way too difficult if you are not a native speaker. But the hangman is just fine and you might as well have a go at it now.
Another very good site for looking up new words is Dictionary.com. It has a polished design and the features are similar to TheFreeDictionary. Its theasurus
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: crabby, temperamental
Synonyms:angry, cantankerous, capricious, changeable, crabbed, crestfallen, cross, dismal, doleful, dour, down in the dumps, down in the mouth*, downcast, erratic, fickle, fitful, flighty, frowning, gloomy, glum, huffy, ill-humored, ill-tempered, impulsive, in a huff, in the doldrums, introspective, irascible, irritable, lugubrious, melancholy, mercurial, miserable, moping, morose, offended, out of sorts*, pensive, petulant, piqued, sad, saturnine, short-tempered, splenetic, sulky, sullen, testy, touchy
Antonyms:balanced, cheerful, happy, overjoyed
The biggest problem for advanced learners of a foreign language (and sometimes for native speakers as well!) is understanding slang words and expressions. Finding the slang meaning of certain words (lame, awesome, cool, wicked...) isn't such a big problem because most dictionaries include slang meanings of a word. The real problem arises with idioms or expressions made up of several words. Some expressions such as 'rub it in, bee's knees...' may take much longer to find in a general dictionary than in a dictionary which is specialized in slang. The Urban Dictionary is a good tool for finding and understanding slang words and expressions. After entering a word in the search box all you have to do is to select the relevant meaning. The little thumbs next to the definitions can help. The more 'up' thumbs there are (and the fewer 'downs'), the more trustworthy the definition is. Try to find the meanings of the orange words in the following sentences in different online dictionaries.
The detective meticulously examined the whole place in hope of finding a clue.
Dude, what trendy specs! You're the cat's pajamas, man!
No wonder, Greg agreed with the boss, he is the main echo chamber in the office.
Tom, is a noob now but give him a few months and he's gonna be the top player!
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