author
Noah Webster
1758–1843
Best known for shaping the look and sound of American English, this pioneering lexicographer gave generations of readers and students the tools to spell, define, and debate words in a distinctly American way. His name became so closely tied to dictionaries that it still feels familiar today.
7 Audiobooks
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages)
by Noah Webster
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1st 100 Pages)
by Noah Webster
A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings On Moral, Historical, Political, and Literary Subjects
by Noah Webster
The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section S
by Project Gutenberg, Noah Webster
The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section M, N, and O
by Project Gutenberg, Noah Webster
The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section R
by Project Gutenberg, Noah Webster
About the author
Born in West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1758, he studied at Yale and went on to become a teacher, writer, editor, and one of the most influential language reformers in the United States. He believed the new nation needed its own books and its own standards for language, not simply inherited British ones.
That vision drove his most famous work. The American Spelling Book of 1783 — often called the “Blue-Backed Speller” — helped teach reading and spelling to generations of American children. Later, his American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) became a landmark work that helped establish American English as a living form of the language in its own right.
He died in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1843, but his influence has lasted far beyond his lifetime. Through his textbooks, spelling reforms, and dictionary work, he helped shape everyday American writing in ways readers still notice whenever they choose forms like “color” or “center.”