Dictionary (software)

Dictionary
Dictionary running on macOS 11
Developer	Apple Inc.
Stable release	2.3.0 / August 18, 2018;7 years ago (2018-08-18) [1]
Operating system	macOS
Type	Dictionary
License	Proprietary
Website	support.apple.com/ja-jp/guide/dictionary/welcome/mac

(This article is not about Dictionary.com ^[2] .)

Dictionary is an application developed by Apple Inc. as a part of macOS. The application provides definitions and synonyms from various dictionaries, Wikipedia articles and a glossary of Apple-related terms.

Dictionary was introduced in OS X 10.4 with the New Oxford American Dictionary 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 (and NEXTSTEP) provided similar functionality, called Digital Webster, providing dictionary and thesaurus 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 "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. ^[3]

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), or British English (IPA).

The dictionary and thesaurus in Dictionary are in an XML 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 after a Control-click on the selected word.
• The key combination control+⌘ Command+D 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.
• As of Mac OS X Lion, a three finger tap on the trackpad (either the built-in MacBook trackpad or the Magic Trackpad) has the same effect as the control+⌘ Command+D 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 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, allowing users to view definitions from immediately within the system search. ^[4]

Other languages

Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) added the Japanese-language dictionary Daijisen, Progressive English to Japanese and Progressive Japanese to English dictionaries, and the 25,000-entry thesaurus "Tsukaikata no Wakaru Ruigo Reikai Jiten" (使い方の分かる類語例解辞典), all of which are provided by the Japanese publisher Shogakukan. 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 ), Spanish (Vox), and Chinese (Standard Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese).

Software such as DictUnifier ^[5] can be used to add more dictionaries to the application.

List of all pre-installed dictionaries

Type	Language(s)		Original name	English name	Publisher
	Language A	Language B
Monolingual	English (US)		New Oxford American Dictionary		Oxford University Press
Monolingual	English (UK)		Oxford Dictionary of English		Oxford University Press
Monolingual	Norwegian Bokmål		Norsk Ordbok	Norwegian Monolingual Dictionary	Kunnskapsforlaget ANS (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Danish		Politikens Nudansk Ordbog	Politikens Modern Danish Dictionary	Politikens Forlagshus (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Swedish		NE Ordbok	NE Dictionary	Nationalencyklopedin (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Dutch		Prisma woordenboek Nederlands		Uitgeverij Unieboek (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	German		Duden-Wissensnetz deutsche Sprache		Bibliographisches Institut GmbH (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	French		Multidictionnaire de la language français		Les Éditions Québec Amérique Inc. (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Portuguese		Dicionário de Português		Editora Objetiva (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Spanish		Diccionario General de la Lengua Española Vox		Larousse Editorial, S.L. (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Italian		Il Devoto-Oli. Vocabolario della lingua italiana		Mondadori Education S.p.A. (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Russian		Толковый словарь русского языка	Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language	"Universe and Education" Publishing House Ltd. (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Turkish		Arkadaş Türkçe Sözlük		Arkadaş Publishing LTD (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Hebrew		מילון אבן-שושן מחודש ומותאם לשנות האלפיים	Even-Shoshan Dictionary Renewed and Updated for the 21st Century	The New Dictionary Ltd (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Hindi		राजपाल हिन्दी शब्दकोश	Rajpal Hindi Dictionary	Rajpal & Sons (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Thai		พจนานุกรมไทย ฉบับทันสมัยและสมบูรณ์	Complete Thai Dictionary	Se-Education PLC (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Korean		뉴에이스 국어사전	New Ace Korean Language Dictionary	DIOTEK (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Japanese		スーパー大辞林	Super Daijirin Japanese Dictionary	Sanseido Co., Ltd. (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Chinese (simplified)		现代汉语规范词典	The Standard Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese	Oxford University Press & Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing, Co., Ltd.
Monolingual	Chinese (traditional)		五南國語活用辭典	Wu-Nan Chinese Dictionary	Wu-Nan Book Inc. (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Monolingual	Chinese (traditional, Hong Kong)		商務新詞典（全新版）	Commercial New Dictionary for common word or character	Commercial Press (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Thesaurus	English (US)		Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus		Oxford University Press
Thesaurus	English (UK)		Oxford Thesaurus of English		Oxford University Press
Thesaurus	Chinese (simplified)		现代汉语同义词典	Modern Thesaurus/Synonyms & Antonyms	Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Bilingual	Chinese	Japanese	超級クラウン中日辞典	Sanseido's Super Crown Chinese-Japanese Dictionary	Sanseido Company Ltd. (licensed to Oxford University Press)
	Japanese	Chinese	クラウン日中辞典	Sanseido's Crown Japanese-Chinese Dictionary
Bilingual	Dutch	English	Prisma Handwoordenboek Engels		Uitgeverij Unieboek (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Bilingual	German	English	Oxford German Dictionary		Oxford University Press
Bilingual	French	English	Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary		Oxford University Press & Hachette Livre
Bilingual	Portuguese	English	Oxford Portuguese Dictionary		Oxford University Press
Bilingual	Spanish	English	Gran Diccionario Oxford - Español-Inglés	Oxford Spanish Dictionary	Oxford University Press
	English	Spanish	Gran Diccionario Oxford - Inglés-Español
Bilingual	English	Italian	Oxford Paravia Il Dizionario inglese - italiano	Oxford - Paravia Italian Dictionary	Pearson Italia & Oxford University Press
	Italian	English	Oxford Paravia Il Dizionario italiano - inglese
Bilingual	Polish	English	Wielki słownik polsko-angielski	Oxford PWN Polish-English Dictionary	Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN S.A. & Oxford University Press
Bilingual	Russian	English	Oxford Russian Dictionary		Oxford University Press
Bilingual	Arabic	English	Oxford Arabic Dictionary		Oxford University Press
Bilingual	Hindi	English	The Oxford Hindi English Dictionary		Oxford University Press
	English	Hindi	Oxford English-English-Hindi Dictionary
Bilingual	English	Thai	พจนานุกรมอังกฤษ-ไทย & ไทย-อังกฤษ ฉบับทันสมัยและสมบูรณ์ที่สุด	New SE-ED English-Thai & Thai-English Dictionary	Dr. Wit Theingburanathum (licensed to Oxford University Press)
	Thai	English
Bilingual	Vietnamese	English	Lac Viet Dictionary		Lac Viet Computing Corp. (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Bilingual	English	Korean	뉴에이스 영한사전	New Ace English-Korean Dictionary	DIOTEK Co., Ltd. (licensed to Oxford University Press)
	Korean	English	뉴에이스 한영사전	New Ace Korean-English Dictionary
Bilingual	English	Japanese	ウィズダム英和辞典	The Wisdom English-Japanese Dictionary	Sanseido Company Ltd. (licensed to Oxford University Press)
	Japanese	English	ウィズダム和英辞典	The Wisdom Japanese-English Dictionary
Bilingual	Indonesian	English	Oxford Study Indonesian Dictionary		Oxford University Press
Bilingual	Cantonese	English	英譯廣東口語詞典	A Dictionary of Cantonese Colloquialisms in English	Commercial Press (licensed to University Press)
Bilingual	English	Gujarati	Gujarati Lexicon English-Gujarati		Gujarati Lexicon & Oxford University Press
	Gujarati	English	Gujarati-English Dictionaries
Bilingual	Tamil	English	Oxford Tamil-Tamil-English Dictionaries		Oxford University Press
	English	Tamil	Oxford English-English-Tamil Dictionaries
Bilingual	English	Telugu	Oxford English-English-Telugu Dictionary		Oxford University Press
	Telugu	English	Oxford Telugu-English Dictionary
Bilingual	English	Urdu	Oxford English-Urdu Dictionary		Oxford University Press
	Urdu	English	Oxford Urdu-English Dictionary
Bilingual	French	German	PONS Großwörterbuch Französisch – Deutsch		PONS GmbH (licensed to Oxford University Press)
	German	French	PONS Großwörterbuch Deutsch – Französisch
Bilingual	English	Chinese (simplified)	牛津英汉汉英词典	Oxford Chinese Dictionary	Oxford University Press & Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd.
	Chinese (simplified)	English
Bilingual	English	Chinese (traditional)	譯典通英漢雙向字典	Dr. Eye Chinese English Bilingual Dictionary	INVENTEC (licensed to Oxford University Press)
	Chinese (traditional)	English
Monolingual, Chinese Idioms	Chinese (simplified)		商务成语大词典	Commercial Idiom Dictionary	Commercial Press (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Bilingual, Chinese Idioms	Chinese (traditional)	English	漢英對照成語詞典	Chinese Idioms and Their English Equivalents	Commercial Press (licensed to Oxford University Press)
Other	English		Apple Dictionary		Apple Inc.
Other	Multiple languages		Wikipedia		Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

References

1. "OS X 10.10 Yosemite release date". October 16, 2014. Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
2. "Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words". Dictionary.com. November 14, 2025. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
3. "Inside Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: New dictionaries, multiple word views, multitouch lookups". Apple Insider. April 12, 2011. Archived from the original on May 8, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
4. "Get Immediate Dictionary Definitions Using Spotlight". OS X Daily. Archived from the original on April 13, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
5. "mac-dictionary-kit - Mac Dictionary Kit - Google Project Hosting". Archived from the original on June 3, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2013.

External links

• Install dictionaries on Mac OS X - YouTube