In learning a foreign language, dictionary is one of learning aids to assist students in making
decision about making sense of words in usage –in the target language. This research is
conducted to discover how English Department students in Universitas Diponegoro perceive
dictionary and use it to assist meaning discovery. The data in this paper is obtained from
returned questionnaires previously distributed across four academic years in. The results show
that dictionary is not the primary source of English vocabulary intake. Most dictionaries are
bilingual (English-Indonesian or Indonesian-English), and may take the form of printed or
electronic dictionary. We also discovered that the respondents tend to choose a dictionary
based on the number of words listed. Further clarifications of the respondents’ answers indicate
the preference of vocabulary intake, where dictionary is not a priority. Bilingual dictionaries
are preferred as compared to monolingual ones with the assumption that they are easier to
understand. Although the definition of word is still very loose, students seem to be more
attracted to dictionaries, which claim to have vast number of entries. For practical purposes,
portable dictionary or application dictionary is more preferred as they support mobility. From
the results, we may conclude that dictionaries are used by the respondents with restriction in
meaning discovery. We suggest that they take it to the next level, where existing linguistic
features from dictionaries might also be used to assist writing
