diff --git a/resources/schema/top_dictionaries.xsd b/resources/schema/top_dictionaries.xsd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ea7428
--- /dev/null
+++ b/resources/schema/top_dictionaries.xsd
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<xsd:schema xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
+  <xsd:import namespace="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace"
+              schemaLocation="http://www.w3.org/2001/xml.xsd" />
+
+  <!-- top-level element is a dictionary -->
+  <xsd:element name="dictionary" type="dictionaryType"/>
+
+  <!-- top-level type consists of sequence of entries -->
+  <xsd:complexType name="dictionaryType">
+    <xsd:sequence>
+      <xsd:element name="entry" type="entryType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
+    </xsd:sequence>
+  </xsd:complexType>
+
+  <!-- entry consists of head and body -->
+  <xsd:complexType name="entryType">
+    <xsd:sequence>
+      <xsd:element name="head" type="xsd:anyType"/>
+      <xsd:element name="body" type="xsd:anyType"/>
+    </xsd:sequence>
+  </xsd:complexType>
+
+</xsd:schema>
diff --git a/scripts/validate_examples b/scripts/validate_examples
index d3870b3..4f7b71c 100755
--- a/scripts/validate_examples
+++ b/scripts/validate_examples
@@ -4,14 +4,21 @@ script_dir="$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")"
 cd $script_dir
 
 schema_dir=../resources/schema
+top_schema=$schema_dir/top_dictionaries.xsd # for now we only have dictionaries
+
 example_dir=../examples
 for example_subdir in $example_dir/*
 do
     base=${example_subdir##*/}
-    schema=$schema_dir/$base.xsd
+    bottom_schema=$schema_dir/$base.xsd
     for example_file in $example_subdir/*.xml
     do
-        command="xmllint -schema $schema $example_file --noout"
+        command="xmllint -schema $top_schema $example_file --noout"
+        echo $command
+        if ! $command; then
+            exit 1
+        fi
+        command="xmllint -schema $bottom_schema $example_file --noout"
         echo $command
         if ! $command; then
             exit 1