Dictionary sites
alphaDictionary.com – Search for word meanings from more than 992 dictionaries.
AskOxford.com – The online version of the famous Oxford dictionary.
Cambridge Dictionary Online – Online English dictionary from Cambridge.
Dictionary.com – The ultimate website with thesaurus, word of the day and other features.
Dictionary.hm – An easy way to find the dictionary meanings of words.
DICT.org – Consolidates word meanings from various dictionary and thesaurus sites on the internet.
Freedictionary.biz – Search for dictionary meanings in English language and other popular languages.
Infoplease Dictionary – Dictionary search with extensive results for many words.
Merriam-Webster Online – Excellent online dictionary with extra features like word of the day, word games and audio pronunciation of the words.
OneLook Dictionary – Search for word definitions, their meanings and look up phrases from multiple dictionaries.
Online Etymology Dictionary – Search for etymologies of words to find out their history.
Ultralingua.com – Multilingual dictionary with translation options from English to French, Spanish and other European languages.
Vocabulary Building Dictionary – Users can look up word definitions and build their vocabulary.
Wordsmyth – Search for word meanings and find new tools to improve a child’s vocabulary.
YourDictionary.com – A free online dictionary with features like spelling check, pronunciation, thesaurus etc.
Encyclopedia and Reference sites
About.com – The biggest reference site on the internet with information on a large variety of topics.
Acronym and abbreviation dictionary – Comprehensive dictionary of abbreviations, acronyms and initial letters of words.
Answers.com – Excellent site finding answers to questions on any subject be it technology, news or even sports for that matter.
Britannica.com – Trusted source of information for a wide variety of topics.
BuzzWhack – Dictionary of business and slang terms.
Citizendium – An encyclopedia project with the philosophy of generating a reliable knowledge base by users.
Columbia Encyclopedia – One of the leading encyclopedias produced the world over.
eHow.com – Over 35,000 articles by experts on various subjects.
Encyclopedia.com – Magazine articles, encyclopedia, dictionary…everything is there in one place.
MSN Encarta – Dictionary, thesaurus and translation engine from Microsoft.
Refdesk.com - Covers information from multiple places and is the best site consolidating and collecting facts at a single place.
Reference.com – Online encyclopedia, dictionary and thesaurus.
Rhymezone.com – Find out rhyming words and phrases.
W3Schools Online – Excellent collection of tutorials in various technology subjects.
WebReference.com – A reference site for web-based technologies.
Whatis.com – The biggest encyclopedia of Information technology.
WikiHow.com – Free resource assisting world wide users by providing solutions to daily problems.
Wikipedia – User generated free encyclopedia of topics written by contributors from all over the world.
wiseGEEK.com – Articles containing answers to most popular questions.
Visual
The Visual Dictionary – User generated image catalog of over 3000 words.
Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus – Nice way to research and explore connected meanings of words with visual aid.
Visual dictionary – Visual dictionary with clear image search results for words.
Visuwords.com – Graphical dictionary displaying visual connections between words.
Others
A Word a Day – Best way to build vocabulary of words, it provides users with a unique word everyday.
Chuala.com – User generated dictionary for pronouncing words.
Google’s translation dictionary – Google’s translation engine allows users to translate English words to those in other languages.
Internet Archive – Comprehensive and consolidated glossary of information on the internet like audio, video, various websites etc.
Ninjawords.com – Get quick results for meanings of words.
Query by example – Enter words, phrases and find out their synonyms and related meanings.
SpellWeb.com – Check the world wide web for spellings of various words.
Urban Dictionary – A dictionary of slang words.
VoyCabulary.com – It converts words on web-pages into links enabling users to easily look up their meanings in dictionary and other reference sites.