On this page
Updated . Example details checked against merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture (also the APA Style example for a dictionary entry).
The MLA format
Pattern
“Word.” Name of Dictionary, URL. Accessed Day Month Year.
- Word as the entry heading prints it. The Oxford English Dictionary adds the part of speech to its headings, as in culture, n.
- Dictionary in italics, by the name it gives itself: Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.
- Publisher: left out when it repeats the dictionary’s name.
- Access date: online dictionary entries are revised without a date, so end with the day you looked the word up.
Do you need to cite a definition?
Only when you quote or closely paraphrase one. A definition makes a strong start when your paper turns on a word with several meanings, such as “culture” or “theory,” but a dictionary definition as a paper’s first sentence is a habit many instructors discourage. Say which sense you mean, and move on to your own argument.
A real example
Works Cited entry
“Culture.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.
In-text citation
(“Culture”)
When details are missing
- A print dictionary: give the edition, publisher, year and page in place of the URL and access date.
- A signed entry (rare outside specialist dictionaries): start with the writer’s name.
The rules for a missing author, date or page in every style are in no author, date or page.
Common mistakes
- The dictionary in quotation marks. The word is quoted; the dictionary is italic.
- No access date for an online entry. Online definitions are revised; the date tells readers which version you saw.
- Citing Google’s definition box as Google. Google shows definitions licensed from a dictionary. Cite the dictionary it names, or look the word up there.
Or let Format do it.
Choose Encyclopedia or dictionary entry and fill in the word, the dictionary, the link and the day you looked it up. Format writes the Works Cited entry and the in-text citation in MLA 9, exactly as shown above, and builds the Works Cited page when you export to Word or PDF. MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Which definition do I cite when the entry has several?
Cite the entry once and say which sense you mean in your sentence.
Is a dictionary entry different from an encyclopedia entry?
Not in pattern. See an encyclopedia entry in MLA 9 for signed articles and print volumes.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in MLA
Every source kind is on the MLA page, and every style is on How to cite.