Julia Angwin in her WSJ article suggests maybe Google is our best modern dictionary. Brilliant! Her test was to research a word in online and conventional dictionaries. Why didn’t I think of that? 🙂 Eventually she came to Wordnik, which I mentioned in my icktionaries entry. I couldn’t put my finger on why I was not fully convinced of its merit. I thought it might not suit my simple needs, but perhaps I wasn’t asking the right questions of it.
One merit I did find was “the safety of expert opinions… experts do the finalizing on Wordnik.” and this need I share with Julia, who wrote, “And although Google is doing a pretty good job aggregating meanings, I would prefer some human experts to give authority and heft to a new database of meaning. The idea of Google as our modern dictionary has lit a bulb for me. Julia leaves us with this sentiment that I’d like to think on, “I am still hoping for a dictionary that will leave Google in the dust.“
The Temple Of Word Worship 
… but aren’t the language users themselves authorities?