10 Ways To Look Up Dictionary Definitions On a Mac

Your Mac has a built-in dictionary that you can access in many ways. You can also get definitions from other sources.

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Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let me show you lots of different ways that you can look up definitions of words on your Mac. 
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So your Mac has a built-in dictionary. There are lots of different ways to access it to get definitions. The easiest way to remember is to simply use the Context Menu. So whether you are working in a document that you are writing or reading something like this webpage all you need to do is select a word and then either Control click it, two-finger click on the trackpad or right click on the mouse, and the first option should be Look Up. Select that and you get a quick dictionary definition. It's pulling the definition from the Mac's built-in dictionary. We're not actually opening the Dictionary App. You can scroll through the definition here. Sometimes there is a More button like this and you usually find a link for Open in Dictionary if you want to go to the full entry.
You can do the same thing with a Keyboard Shortcut as well. So if you select a word, then you can use the keyboard shortcut, Control Command and D for dictionary and it brings up the same window. 
Now if you don't happen to have the word available in something you're writing or reading you can still look up a word using Spotlight. So use Command Space to bring up the Spotlight Menu. Then simply type the word. When you do that you're going to get lots of different results. One of those results will be the definition. You can see that there at the bottom. But there's a shortcut to jump right to the definition. Simply use Command L. It will jump to the definition and in macOS Monterey it will actually show the definition to the right. But you can also use Command D. This will exit Spotlight and bring up the Dictionary App with the definition there. In macOS Ventura it will work a little differently. Command L will jump to the definition but then you need to use Return to actually view it. Command D will just take you right to the definition but not open the Dictionary App. 
Which brings us to the Dictionary App itself. You can use any method you want to launch it, like Spotlight. I'm going to use Launchpad here and launch it. You can add it to the Dock if you find you're using it all the time. Then you can look up words right here in the app. Of course keep the App window open if you find yourself frequently using it. 
Now there's also a way to get a dictionary definition from the Menu Bar. So most apps, if you select a word, you can go to the App's Menu here. Then go to Services and there is a Look Up in Dictionary option here. Use that and it will open the Dictionary App to that word. So since that is in the menus you can actually add a keyboard shortcut for it. Look Up in Dictionary. Just go to System Preferences, or in Ventura you would go to System Settings, and then go to Keyboard and then Shortcuts. Then under Services you should find, under Search, Look Up in Dictionary. Make sure it is checked and add a shortcut. Some I'm going to use Control Option Command and D for dictionary. So now I can see here in Safari, under Services, it has that keyboard shortcut assigned and I can use that to quickly get the definition of anything selected.
Now another way to get dictionary definitions is to use Siri. Define enormity. Enormity means the greater or extreme scale, seriousness, or extent of something perceived as bad or morally wrong. Another place you can get definitions is not even in text but in images using live text. You can go into an app like Photos or be viewing a photo in Preview or in some other app like email and you can select a word. The Keyboard Shortcut Control Command D won't work but Control clicking, right clicking, or two-finger clicking will. So you Look Up and you'll be able to get the definition. 
Of course you can also use your web browser to get a dictionary definition. In fact most search engines, by default, will give you a definition of a word as part of the results. So here using Goggle if I just type a word like this notice I'm going to get the dictionary definition here as part of a series of suggestions. That's the first way I get it there. But if I do the Search notice that Goggle's also is going to give me a dictionary definition.
Now if you want to go directly to a website that is a dictionary there are many out there including the big names of old fashioned print dictionaries. They've all get websites. But you can also go to Wiktionary.org to get a definition. Just type the word, get the definition, and you get tons of information about the word. 
Now wouldn't it be nice if there was just some way to trigger a keyboard shortcut or choose a menu item, type a word and get a definition? Not have to bother with all the different types of results that you get in Spotlight or you have to open up a web browser. Well, you can create a shortcut in the Shortcut's App to do this. So here I am in the Shortcut's App. I'm going to click the Plus button here to create a new shortcut. I'm going to type Ask here and say Ask for Input. So that will be asking for the word. Then I'm going to look up Define and there's a Show Definition right here. Let's call this Get Definition and let's set it up so it appears in the Menu Bar. Let's also set it up with a keyboard shortcut. I'm going to use Shift Control Option Command D like that. Now we can go to the shortcuts menu here, trigger this. It will ask for a word and then if I hit Return it's going to do a new line. So Command Return nicely just jumps right to it and brings up the Dictionary. Since we setup that keyboard shortcut we can use that to trigger it as well. 
So there are a bunch of different ways to bring up Dictionary Definitions on your Mac. Hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.

Comments: 4 Responses to “10 Ways To Look Up Dictionary Definitions On a Mac”

Andreas

2 months ago

Hi Gary, very interesting , many thanks. Is there a way to add more dictionaries to the menu , for instance a spainish thesaurus ?

Cheers Andreas

Gary Rosenzweig

Andreas: In the Dictionary app go to Dictionary, Preferences. You can see what is available there. You can add third-party ones, but they are difficult to find in the right format.

Darren

4 weeks ago

Fantastic tips as always. Ventura has ruined my old habit of using Spotlight to look up a word in the thesaurus with quick Command-D. Now, as you point out, that shows the definition inline. But most often I want the thesaurus entry instead. The Shortcuts advice is useful but still not quite as efficient. Would love to discover a keyboard command that opens the selected word from Spotlight results directly in the dictionary app.

Darren: I know what you mean. Maybe just go right to the Dictionary app? Put it in the Dock or create a Shortcut to launch it?

10 Ways To Look Up Dictionary Definitions On a Mac

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