Using the Built-in Thesaurus on Your Mac, iPhone or iPad

Your Mac comes with a built-in Dictionary app that also includes a thesaurus. You can also access it while writing, or on the iPhone and iPad while writing though not in an app.

Comments: 8 Responses to “Using the Built-in Thesaurus on Your Mac, iPhone or iPad”

    Jaime Saborio
    2 months ago

    Hi Gary, excellent video, however, that only works for english. I could not find a thesaurus for Spanish nor French. Is there a way to add new thesaurus for other languages to the Dictionary app and do you know where can I find them (I searched everywhere and I could not find any)? Thanks a lot.

    2 months ago

    Jaime: You can add dictionaries, but you'd need to find one in a particular format and I've never really seen a good source for that. Best to use your favorite online thesaurus instead.

    Rae L
    2 months ago

    The Mac Thesaurus was woefully inadequate on my very first search. I looked up "polymath" in the dictionary and found synonym "polyhistor." I looked up "polyhistor" in the dictionary and found synonym "polymath."

    However, when I went to Thesaurus, both "polymath" and "polyhistor" came up "not found."

    Dave Taenzer
    2 months ago

    What is the Apple Dictionary in the iPhone -> General -> Dictionary settings (and in the Mac Dictionary settings)?

    jel888
    2 months ago

    Thanks Gary, tried this and saw that mine was auto setup based on the languages I had set up for the Mac (at least I don't recall every setting the dictionary up). @Rae Ln that's because you're accessing the Oxford American English Thesaurus and even online there isn't a "polymath" synonym entry.

    2 months ago

    Dave: that’s the dictionary used for definition lookups.

    grooey
    2 weeks ago

    dictionary/thesaurus does not show up when right clicking in pages.... locations; safari etc show up.
    How can I add dictionary/
    to the options of what shows up?

    2 weeks ago

    grooey: Make sure you have a word selected and are Control+clicking on that word.

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