Thursday, 20 May 2010

Top 5 'new-age' Dictionaries

Dictionaries is the home of words. The list is according to their awesomeness, the most awesome one is at last. Although, i'm pretty sure you will have to try each one of them. The list contains two software, i had been partial choosing the list as Mac and Linux users already enjoy in-built dictionaries and the poor windows users has to download one. No otiose crap, every element is different.


Wordweb
It is a software, a lightweight software that runs in the system tray. To look for meaning of a word, select the word, then Ctrl+Alt+W or Ctrl+Click the word. The small dictionary pop-ups and magically shows the meaning. I was previously using Wordweb pro version 4, it was all i needed but had no support for google chrome so had to upgrade to version 6 free version.


Onelook
It is the meaning of internet. In a true sense, i use it as a word finder. Use operators to find new words that make sense to you. The website is suffice to understand the importance of it.
 

Urban Dictionary
Things get short, internet has provided a boost to english as a language. It is dictionary by people. That's the reason that every word ever spoken in the backwaters of this planet is even in this thing.The old fun: Try seaching the your name in it, you will be fascinated. If not, then just add a new definition!



Google Dictionary
Yes, google even has a dictionary. It shows quotes that were in news in the recent past. Below the usage examples it displays some links to other dictionaries also. I use it for the defining the word in simple language. As you can see in the screen shot, it is a multi-lingual dictionary. Every widely spoken language is included.



Visual Thesaurus
I'm sorry but it is the only one not free. That was also the reason i didn't wanted to include this but It is the dictionary for fun. If style is what matters to you, it is one of those softwares on your computer that you want to show to the world. Not quite popular however best of it's kind. Try this free online version/emulator of the dictionary, though the software is a lot more cool. Each branch with different color represent a different thing. That wow thing. It is also available for Apple users.
Cost: $40
Simply vacuous fun.

I strongly think that if i had to pick any one of them, breaking the rules, i would choose the in-built dictionary of Mac as the best one.

Update:
Google Chrome Extension
I noticed that there is a google chrome extension called Google Dictionary, since most of us need it when on web, it can be quite a handy tool.
Ubiquity
Wikipedia is neutrality is amazing. I too want to be neutral, a Google chrome extension means another add of Firefox one. You will find many dictionary addons on Firefox, but no one has that aura. Ubiquity is not really a dictionary, it is much more that that. Aza Raskin started this lab experiment it had to be great. To get the definition select the word on page press Ctrl+Space, in the interface that comes on type define. Here is the video by himself explaining it all.


Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

You know something more kewl? Please leave a comment.

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