Alternative: a standard database
Has clear advantages: structure, indexing, query language, relationships, integrity.
Many people have suggested using a database for lexical data and some have actually done it (IITLEX, Austin and Nathan)
But in general lexicographers oppose the rigidity, and, in practice, standard relational databases are quite ill-suited to dictionaries
- Dictionary entries vary enormously in structure
- A Database model is inflexible to extending the dictionary structure
- Lessens portability