WordWeb is an international

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologie ...

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 ...

program for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

, iOS, Android and

Mac OS X 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 lap ...

. It is partly based on the

WordNet WordNet is a lexical database of semantic relations between words in more than 200 languages. WordNet links words into semantic relations including synonyms, hyponyms, and meronyms. The synonyms are grouped into '' synsets'' with short defin ...

database.

Functions

WordWeb usually resides in the Windows' notification area. It can be activated by holding down

CTRL In computing, a Control key is a modifier key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, performs a special operation (for example, ); similar to the Shift key, the Control key rarely performs any function when pressed by itself. ...

and right-clicking a word in almost any program. This opens the WordWeb main window, with definitions. In addition to its dictionary and thesaurus features, it includes: * Phrase guessing—for example, CTRL + right-clicking 'Princeton' in '

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

' shows the meaning of the combined entity rather than only 'Princeton'. * Words from pictures—CTRL + right-clicking a word within an image (for example, the 'Free' in the

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 ...

logo) asks WordWeb to guess the word. Wordweb is used primarily by international students to find out meanings, improve their vocabulary and progress through academic life.

Information

The thesaurus is integrated into the dictionary. Under each definition, various related words are shown, including: *

Synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...

s *

Antonym In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is ''long'' entails that it is not ''short''. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members ...

s * Hyponyms ('

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

' lists several sub-types of play, including ' passion play') * Hypernyms ('

daisy Daisy, Daisies or DAISY may refer to: Plants * ''Bellis perennis'', the common daisy, lawn daisy or English daisy, a European species Other plants known as daisy * Asteraceae, daisy family ** '' Euryops chrysanthemoides'', African bush daisy ** ' ...

' is listed as a type of '

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...

') * Constituents (under '

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

', listed parts include '

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

' and '

underbrush In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...

') * Words describing things that might be thereby constituted * Similar words (words that are not synonyms, but are semantically similar; ' big' is listed as similar to '

huge Huge may refer to: * Huge cardinal, a number in mathematics * ''Huge'' (Caroline's Spine album), 1996 * ''Huge'' (Hugh Hopper and Kramer album), 1997 * ''Huge'' (TV series), a television series on ABC Family * Huge (digital agency) * ''Huge'' ...

') Each shown word can be double-clicked to jump to its entry. WordWeb keeps a history of each session, allowing users to see their previously viewed entries. Users can also actively improve the dictionary and thesaurus by submitting errors (such as missing words, phrases, or more senses for existing entries) and enhancement requests. Wordweb is not a social platform in any way.

Versions

There are two WordWeb versions: the free version, which does not have the word list, search,

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

, or customization features; and the paid version, WordWeb Pro. WordWeb 5 added the ability to list entries from three online sources:

Wiktionary Wiktionary ( , , rhyming with "dictionary") is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary of terms (including words, phrases, proverbs, linguistic reconstructions, etc.) in all natural languages and in a num ...

, and WordWeb Online. These details appear in three separate tabs. Version 6 added audio pronunciations and support for third-party Oxford and Chambers add-on dictionaries. WordWeb 7 was mainly a content upgrade, with revised definition and sound databases, but also had significantly updated one-click support for the latest browsers and 64-bit programs. Other changes included updated audio pronunciations, improved one-click integration with other programs, better one-click 64-bit and Windows 8 program support, keyboard hotkeys for Bookmark menu items, and auto-detect support for the latest third-party Concise Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionary add-ons. As of version 7, WordWeb required

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was release to manufacturing, released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Wind ...

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and later to ...

, or

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on ...

. WordWeb 8 includes one-click and keyboard lookup, including in

Mozilla Thunderbird Mozilla Thunderbird is a free and open-source cross-platform email client, personal information manager, news client, RSS and chat client developed by the Mozilla Foundation and operated by subsidiary MZLA Technologies Corporation. The projec ...

and

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...

without browser plugins. Support for Windows XP was dropped.

Open-source alternative

No version of WordWeb (including Pro) is available for

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, ...

, however, it can be used with

Wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

Artha ''Artha'' (; sa, अर्थ; Tamil: ''poruḷ'' / ''பொருள்'') is one of the four aims of human life in Indian philosophy.James Lochtefeld (2002), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Rosen Publishing, New York, , pp 55–56 ...

, a similar program that includes some of WordWeb Pro's features, is available for both

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...

and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

; a port to Macintosh is promised.

License

Use of the free version is subject to license terms. However, it may be used by an educational institution (free of cost) for their students, even if they violate said terms.

Regions

WordWeb is regionalized, with specific dictionaries for

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, Irish,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, South African, and

Indian English Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. ...

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

WordWeb official website

WordWeb online dictionary (uses the WordWeb database)
Web services Dictionary software Pascal (programming language) software