Originally it was a publishing project of Jacaranda Press, a Brisbane educational publisher, for which an editorial committee was formed, largely from the Linguistics department of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

Since its first publication in 1981,[3] its use has grown so that it has come to rival longer-established dictionaries from elsewhere in the English-speaking world as a standard authority on the English language within Australia.

The fourth edition, published in 2005, increased the number of citations, includes etymologies for many phrases, and pays particular attention to Australian regionalisms.

The fifth edition was published in October 2009[8] and places particular emphasis on words relating to the environment and climate change.

[16] With a foreword by Australian author Markus Zusak, the ninth edition featured hundreds of new entries and updated definitions.

[19] Each year the editors select a short-list of new words added to the dictionary, and invite the public to vote on their favourite.

The public vote is held in December and results in the People's Choice winner.

A number of smaller versions of the dictionary are available, including a compact edition, as well as companion volumes such as a thesaurus.

The latest edition of the main complete version of the Macquarie Dictionary is the eighth, published in 2020.