BusinessDictionary.com is a free online reference guide to business terms and concepts. The site's disclaimer cautions users to “verify any information before using it for any personal, financial or business purpose” since the publisher “make[s] no guarantees as to the accuracy, thoroughness or quality of the information, and [is] not responsible for errors or omissions”. Users are also warned that some information may only be applicable in the USA. The company says it adds new terms frequently, but the upload date is not available. The information appears to be fairly current, with a few exceptions. For example, “actionable” is defined in legal terms as a “case or situation providing adequate grounds for initiating a court action”, but should also include the management definition, “capable of being acted upon”. The product does link to its sister site, InvestorWords.com, for some definitions, but contains mostly original material.
Access is simple, but can be slow to load at times. The menus, graphics, and advertisements may take longer to load with a lower bandwidth. Users are not required to register or pay any fees for complete access to BusinessDictionary.com
The dictionary homepage is slightly cluttered at the top with various ways to share, post, or bookmark the resource. The rest of the homepage is well organized, giving users the option to enter a term or browse a list of terms by letter or subject. The menu bar is organized intuitively. There are not many graphics beyond the menu buttons and buttons to share via social networking, but they do take some time to load. The color scheme is appropriate and businesslike. The first time a definition is accessed, the user receives a pop‐up advertisement asking them to sign up for BusinessDictionary.com's online newsletter and/or a term‐of‐the‐day e‐mail list; sign‐up is not required and the “close” button is easy to find. On each definition page there are simple advertisements by Google without graphics above, below, and sometimes to the right of the term and definition. These are fairly easy to ignore.
BusinessDictionary.com's Copyright Notice describes a partnership with Vijay Luthra granting “exclusive and permanent rights to publish the definitions online”. According to Vijay Luthra's LimeExchange profile, WebFinance Inc. licensed Luthra's 2004 book, InfoTool (Luthra, 2004), to create BusinessDictionary.com (LimeExchange, 2008). Luthra authored another book in 2005, Business Studies Companion (Luthra, 2005). Both books were published by InfoCorp Limited, of which Luthra was “Chief consultant” from 2001 to 2007 (LimeExchange, 2008). BusinessDictionary.com's homepage touts “over 20,000 definitions” and the original book contained 22,456 terms. In response to an e‐mail, a BusinessDictionary.com employee wrote “there is no one author or editor” since the “definitions are written by employees of [the] company”.
The user interface is easy to understand and use. The homepage allows users to type in a term, browse an alphabetical list of terms, or browse terms by subject area. It also provides a term of the day and a list of the most popular terms. The external links are mostly advertisements. Several links lead users to definitions hosted the sister site called InvestorWords.com. All links are well maintained. Very little training is required in order to use the product effectively.
The search box suggests terms based on the characters typed. The software also suggests terms if it does not find exactly what is typed. It will also provide a link to search for the term typed within another term's definition. The software does support some advanced search capabilities and will look for truncated words. The search is fairly efficient. Additionally, links are provided to link to, cite, print or e‐mail a definition. There is no way to access help files directly from the homepage. If a search is unsuccessful, users are directed to a page with suggestions including “Confirm that the words are spelled correctly” and “Try removing suffixes”. This suggestions page links to a Help Page that includes tips for a better search. The Contact Us link at the bottom of each page allows users to submit a question online or to e‐mail the company directly, but does not provide a toll‐free phone number for support.
In answer to an email inquiry about licensing, a BusinessDictionary.com representative responded by saying “we will be defining what content will be made available and how it will be shared in the coming months”. A sister site, a financial glossary at www.InvestorWords.com, will also be available for licensing.
BusinessDictionary.com is not the definitive resource on business terminology, but it is freely available online and may be adequate for some users' needs. Wikipedia, also freely available online, contains more in‐depth definitions for nearly all the terms in this resource and some references. Print dictionaries of business terminology with a named editor or author and a reputable publisher would be a better choice for more reliable, complete information. This resource may be beneficial to the general public for a basic definition of some business terms. The software is easy to use and intuitive. This free resource may be useful for public libraries or business practitioners needing a quick definition of a business term. Optional.
