A few days ago I typed www.dictionary.com into the google search bar instead of the address bar on IE. Naturally, I got the google page back. I clicked on the link (no reason to type re-type the addy into the address bar) and got a ‘Cannot find server’ page. Weird. So I went to the address bar and typed the address. Instead of going to dictionary.com, I got the google search! I went to Cambridge instead.
Today I went to Cambridge, but it was taking forever to load. Then it chugged for several minutes after I entered the word whose spelling I wanted to check. Tired of waiting, I went to the address bar and entered www.dictionary.com…
And I got the google search page. And the link didn’t work.
This doesn’t explain all your experiences, but dictionary.com has been down frequently these past few days. It’s down right now. Perhaps your browser is detecting these problems and whisking you off to what it considers a good substitute site.
Interesting. Usually when a server is down I just get the ‘Cannot find server’, not a google page. Something to do with putting the google bar on IE?
What about Cambridge Dictionary Online? Why was it so slow? (I haven’t gone back to check.) Are people suddenly bombarding dictionary sites with requests?
Or - www.onelook.com It searches several dictionaries, including some pretty specialized ones, and returns several brief definitions the links from which to choose a dictionary for the full entry.