Dictionary is an
application developed by
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
as a part of
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
. The application provides definitions and synonyms from various dictionaries,
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
articles and a glossary of Apple-related terms.
Dictionary was introduced in
OS X 10.4 with the ''
New Oxford American Dictionary
The ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' (''NOAD'') is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press.
''NOAD'' is based upon the ''New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (''NODE''), published ...
'' and ''Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus'' (as well as the ''Wikipedia'' and ''Apple Dictionary'' sections).
10.5 added Japanese dictionaries,
10.7 added the British ''
Oxford Dictionary of English'', and
10.8 added French, German, Spanish and Chinese.
History
OS X's progenitor,
OPENSTEP
OpenStep is a defunct object-oriented application programming interface (API) specification for a legacy object-oriented operating system, with the basic goal of offering a NeXTSTEP-like environment on non-NeXTSTEP operating systems. OpenStep wa ...
(and
NEXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT Computer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its range of propri ...
) provided similar functionality, called Digital Webster, providing
dictionary and
thesaurus
A thesaurus (plural ''thesauri'' or ''thesauruses'') or synonym dictionary is a reference work for finding synonyms and sometimes antonyms of words. They are often used by writers to help find the best word to express an idea:
Synonym dictionar ...
definitions from
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary and Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus (termed the "First Digital Edition"). OPENSTEP Services provide lookup from all applications.
Dictionary was first introduced with
Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) is the 5th major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. Tiger was released to the public on April 29, 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Som ...
"Tiger" and provided definitions from the ''
New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition''. With
Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion", Dictionary was updated to the Third Edition of the ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' and the British ''
Oxford Dictionary of English'' was added.
Functionality
Words can be entered in the search bar by just typing the first few letters. The application will perform an incremental search to show any matching headwords or forms and will try to bypass spelling errors. Clicking on any word in a definition searches for that word in the dictionary again. Almost any word is clickable, except the pronunciations in phonetic characters and numerals.
The Preferences allow a user to select from three different pronunciation schemes, either US English (Diacritical or
IPA
IPA commonly refers to:
* India pale ale, a style of beer
* International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation
* Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound
IPA may also refer to:
Organizations International
* Insolvency Practitioners ...
), or British English (IPA).
The dictionary and thesaurus in Dictionary are in an
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
format, but make use of precompiled binary index files to access the XML file directly. Therefore, the
lexicon cannot easily be modified. However, the user can add new words to the macOS system-wide
spell checker, which uses its own lexicon.
Quick access
* In applications which support "Services", there is an option in the application menu (for example, Safari>Services>Look up in Dictionary) which brings up the Dictionary application and displays the definition of a selected word. The same option appears in the
contextual menu
A context menu (also called contextual, shortcut, and pop up or pop-up menu) is a menu in a graphical user interface (GUI) that appears upon user interaction, such as a right-click mouse operation. A context menu offers a limited set of choic ...
after a Control-click on the selected word.
* The key combination can be used in
Cocoa applications which display text – it brings up a small contextual menu-like definition or synonym of the word under the
cursor
Cursor may refer to:
* Cursor (user interface), an indicator used to show the current position for user interaction on a computer monitor or other display device
* Cursor (databases), a control structure that enables traversal over the records in ...
.
* As of
Mac OS X Lion
OS X Lion, also known as Mac OS X Lion, (version 10.7) is the eighth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers.
A preview of OS X 10.7 Lion was publicly shown at the "Back to the Mac" Apple Speci ...
, a three finger tap on the trackpad (either the built-in
MacBook trackpad or the
Magic Trackpad
Apple Inc. has designed and manufactured several models of mice, trackpads and other pointing devices, primarily for use with Macintosh computers. Over the years, Apple has maintained a distinct form and function with its mice that reflect th ...
) has the same effect as the shortcut.
* In applications which support the ability of the user to drag selected text, it is possible to select a word and drop it onto the icon of the Dictionary application in the
Dock.
*
Dashboard For business applications, see Dashboard (business).
A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel (IP), or fascia) is a control panel set within the central console of a vehicle or small aircraft. Usually located directly ahead of the drive ...
includes a
widget for accessing the Dictionary application.
* macOS catches any queries to the
dict:///
URI scheme, say from a web browser, and routes them back to the Dictionary application.
* Since
OS X Leopard, the dictionary has become tightly integrated with
Spotlight
Spotlight or spot light may refer to:
Lighting
* Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps
* Spotlight (theatre lighting)
* Spotlight, a searchlight
* Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types
Art, entertainment, an ...
, allowing users to view definitions from immediately within the system search.
Other languages
Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) added the Japanese-language dictionary
Daijisen
The is a general-purpose Japanese dictionary published by Shogakukan in 1995 and 1998. It was designed as an "all-in-one" dictionary for native speakers of Japanese, especially high school and university students.
History
Shogakukan intended for ...
, Progressive English to Japanese and Progressive Japanese to English dictionaries, and the 25,000-entry thesaurus , all of which are provided by the Japanese publisher
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the H ...
. The Japanese dictionaries do not show up by default and must be enabled in Preferences.
In
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, the Japanese dictionaries were replaced by Super Daijirin and the Wisdom English-Japanese Dictionary. In addition, dictionaries were also added for French (''Multidictionnaire de la Langue Française'' for Macs sold in Europe, or ''Les Éditions Québec Amérique'' for Macs sold in America), German (''
Duden
The Duden () is a dictionary of the Standard High German language, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880, and later by Bibliographisches Institut GmbH. The Duden is updated regularly with new editions appearing every four or five years. , ...
''), Spanish (''Vox''), and Chinese (''Standard Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese'').
Software such as DictUnifier
can be used to add more dictionaries to the application.
List of all pre-installed dictionaries
References
External links
Install dictionaries on Mac OS X - YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dictionary (Software)
MacOS
Dictionary software
Language software for macOS