If you want information about a word or word group, you may look it up in the traditional way: from word to meaning. This can be done in two different ways. The first way is to look at the left frame on the screen, where you’ll find a list with the first letters of words and word groups that are included in the ANW. When you click on the letter of the word you are looking for, you will see that specific part of the alphabetic word list. This list will be updated frequently. By clicking on the word you are interested in, it will appear on your screen and you can see the full dictionary article or parts of it.
The second way to retrieve more information about words or word groups is by using the search window in the middle of the webpage. As soon as you start typing the word or word group that you are looking for, a dynamic list of ANW lemmas appears that matches the letter combination you typed. It is also possible to use wildcards in your queries. By using a * you can look for any number of letters; with a ? you can look for exactly one random letter. The query b*r gives results varying from beer tot burgemeester, the query b??r r gives such as beer and bier.
Queries are not limited to the list of proper keywords; the search window also gives you the possibility to search through Verbindingen (combinations), Spreekwoorden (idioms) and Woordfamilie (lexical relationships). The results will be presented in order of relevance. For example: when you look for b*r, you will find a list of words that start with b and end with an r, regardless of whether these proper keywords are also included in Verbindingen (combinations), Spreekwoorden (idioms) or Woordfamilie (lexical relationships). Next, you will find all other keywords in the fields of Verbindingen (combinations), Spreekwoorden (idioms) and Woordfamilie (lexical relationships) that start with b and end with r. It is also possible to sort the results alphabetically.
Searching from meaning to word works in the exact opposite way to searching from word to meaning. You can try to find a word or word group by using its meaning or some of its features as a starting point. With this function you can search in both the semantic descriptions and the semagrams of the available words. This function offers two search options, which can be used either separately or combined.
The first search option works with a description of the thing you are looking for. For example, if you want to know which ANW words describe a particular sound that is made, you can type ‘geluid maken’ (‘making a sound’) under ‘description’ in the search box, which gives results such as the verbs bolderen, blèren, kukelen and kekken. It is always a good idea to try several descriptions; if ‘geluid maken’ does not give the right results, try ‘geluid voortbrengen’ or simply ‘geluid’. The shorter the search term, the more results you can expect.
The second search option works with a number of pre-set categories. In the current version of the ANW, only important categories such as animals, plants and object are available. If you have chosen a certain category, a window opens with questions that help you specify your query. The more questions you answer, the more exact your result will be.
You may combine both search options to steer the results into a certain direction. If you are looking for words for sounds made by animals, type ‘geluid’ into the search box, selecting the category ‘dier’ (‘animal’). The result will be an overview of all animals of which the dictionary describes what sound they make.
The most refined way of looking up words in the ANW is by searching from features to words. By entering all kinds of information that is included in the articles, you will be able to look for Words, Idioms or Combinations. The possibilities to find information are almost unlimited. You can look for information anywhere in the article (select ‘hele artikel’ in the left frame), but you can also look for information in a specific field (select one or more of the ‘overige velden’ in the left frame).
You can search by indicating in the right frame whether you are looking for information on Woorden (words), Spreekwoorden (idioms) or Verbindingen (combinations). By selecting the category or categories in the left frame you will be able to look into the categories of your choice. When you have made your choices, you can define the information in the right frame. For example: select the option woorden in the right frame, the category spelling en uitspraak in the left frame and the subcategory wijze van uitspraak. This option will then appear in the right frame. In the drop-down menu, you can choose the option Spaans and then you can click on the search button. This will show you all the words that have more or less kept their Spanish pronunciation in Dutch.
The search option requires a bit of creativity and will work better once you have become more familiar with it. We advise you to take the time and to try out different things yourself. To give you an idea of the search possibilities we will list several query examples next.
Method: select 'Woorden' on the right and 'Bijzonderheden gebruik' on the left, then you select 'Taalvariëteit'. Now you can select the option (vooral) in België in the drop-down menu. Now click on Zoek.
It is also possible to combine your search with another search query. For example, if you are looking for neologisms in Flemish you can select Bijzonderheden gebruik, (vooral) in België and the option neologisme that you will find under Tijd. Then click the search button Zoek.
Please note: the results will also include words that are in themselves used both in the Netherlands and in Belgium. In those cases, a component of the word is used mostly in Belgium, such as a collocation or the plural form of the word. Open the complete article to see which component(s) it concerns.
Method: select 'Woorden' on the right and 'Relaties met andere woorden' on the left and then 'Hyperoniem'. In the drop-down menu choose the option ‘is’ and the type ‘bier’ into the box behind it. Then click on Zoek.
Method: select 'Spreekwoorden en verbindingen' on the right and 'Type' on the left. In the drop-down menu select the option 'Spreekwoord' and click on Zoek.
Method: select 'Woorden' on the right and 'Multimedia' on the left, then click on 'Geluid' and on the search button Zoek.
Method: select 'Woorden' on the right and 'Spelling en uitspraak' on the left and then select 'Aantal lettergrepen'. Now you can select the option is gelijk aan in the drop-down menu and fill in the number 7, then click on the search button Zoek.
Method: select 'Woorden' on the right and 'Bijzonderheden gebruik' on the left and then 'Tijd'. Select 'neologisme' in the drop-down menu and click on Zoek.
This search option enables you to search within the example sentences used in the ANW. You can look for one or more words, authors, sources and dates, or a combination of these options. Your query will result in a list in which the example sentences are sorted on relevance, which means that the example sentences that include most matches appear at the top. You can sort the material in order of lemma or date. At the top of the screen you can see the number of results your query has returned.