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Google Launches Dictionary, Drops Answers.com
ObsessiveMathsFreak writes "Google has expanded its remit once again with the quiet launch of Google Dictionary. Google word search definitions now redirect to Google Dictionary instead of to Google's long term thesaurus goto site, Answers.com, which is expected to take a serious hit in traffic as a result. Dictionary pages are noticeably more plain and faster loading than their Answers.com equivalents, and unusually feature web citations for the definitions of each word. This means that, unlike most dictionaries, Google considers ginormous a word."
I wonder why I haven't actually seen the snippets of definitions lately. I remember seeing them a few years ago. Not that it would had actually changed a lot - there's always lots of different sites linking to dictionaries on the first page of results.
Urban Dictionary has actually been the most useful one of those.
User ratings, definitions of almost all the weird (and stupid) words teens come up with and usually fun descriptions too.
Now get off my lawn.
Now we don't have to deal with M-W terrible website layout, popups, etc.
...we will have to pay to use any words that are in google dictionary. That's why frequently used but non-dictionary words like "ginormous" are in there. I notice that my native Irish (Gaelic) isn't there, so I'll just put on another few layers of tin foil and start speaking Irish
--
Ginormous IS a word. It's just a relatively new word.
... the websites for long-standing print dictionaries are still the best.
Oxford English Dictionary is considered the authoritative standard for the English Language.
If you or your employer/university don't have an OED online subscription, Merriam-Webster will do in a pinch.
If it's in the Oxford, then it's a bloody word! http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/ginormous?view=uk ... And that's the Compact dictionary - so it's definitely in the ginormous one!
Google "Dictionary" is nothing more than a simple aggregation. They take the definitions from other free dictionaries.
So why not just include Answers.Com in the Google Dictionary results?
Doesn't look like it's fully deployed yet. Google searches of the form "define:word" are not redirected to google dictionary yet. Which is a shame. Because that's one hell of an useful way of looking up terms.
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
By doing this, Google may have wrested control over third parties, but has significantly degraded the user experience. Prior to this, each word would have a hyperlink to a definition. Now it appears that one has a link to "definition" for one word. Furthermore, in my sampling the definitions are very basic and not of competitive quality. For instance, the word cricket has for the first definition the sport, the second a slang use, and then finally a first grade definition as an insect. No etymology. No context.
I can only imagine they are doing this to in some way differentiate themselves from Bing, which could also use freeonlinedictionary or the like. Unfortunately for Google, MS has encata, which tends to not have slightly more sophisticated definitions.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Why don't they add the results to "define: word" search in Google?
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
I speak 4 languages other than English: German, Japanese, Spanish, French and Sign language (ASL) as well. I tested it's translations in all the different languages and it performed fine by my standard except for ASL for obvious reason's.
I liked it.
I'm here for the experience, not the Hyperbole.
is there something I'm missing?
Do this mean I'm not going to get answer to this question on answers.com: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_know_when_its_time_to_poop
Yeah, so, after looking it up, I still don't know how to say "ginormous". (Not that I plan on using it any time soon anyway.) Their pronunciation guide could stand to also include the guide I've seen in dictionaries for decades, rather than an unnecessary international guide when I'm looking up an English word.
I hope the dictionary works on a sort of democratic principle, where words are defined by their actual usage.
Dictionary editors understand this, but they just don't update enough to make it work. M-W doesn't have the Simpsons' cromulent, but it has Shakespeare's puke and Dr. Suess's nerd. It'd be nice to have a dictionary that evolves as quickly as language.
Am I the only one to have the following three reactions?
Find free books.
Interesting the Chrome spell checker doesn't seem to be clued into the validity of this word.
"It's a doughnut stuffed with M&M's. That way when you finish the doughnut, you don't have to eat any M&M's."
It lists synonyms, but where's a decent online thesaurus when you need one? I've tried a few and most of them are useless, or hopelessly ad-cluttered or both :/
Hopefully this means a new API to go with the dictionary. API's are usually what I look forward to the most from these google launches.
"We're a monopoly, you say? Sir, the word 'monopoly' is not even in my dictionary." ...in fact, everything from 'marzipan' to 'morass' seems to be missing.
But what is with Google's pronunciation/phonetic spelling guide?
ginormous /danms/ DJ listen /-nrm-/ DJ US listen /da'nrms/ KK US
It follows the International Phonetic Alphabet, and I for one, don't like it. It's different. It's change. It's communism. I think it leads us one step closer to total Islamohitlerobamification.
I'm 35 and was using the word "ginormous" as a kid. Sure enough, it's in the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
It seems no one yet mentioned Wiktionary.org. Over 1 536 000 + in French, a similar number in English. While there's obvious room for improvement, it's generally usable and often useful.
So here's my question, why does Google dives into a new initiative instead of jumping on existing trains? I guess the answers has something to do with control. Google wants to keep the control (which is understandable and not necessarily a bad thing). This Wiktionary-Google Dictionary is not the only example, Google Map Maker and OpenStreetMap.org is another one (both crowdsourcing map data, and yes, OSM was there much before).
Animoog.org
Maybe they rolled it out quietly because, as dictionaries go, this one sucks. It's the only one I've ever seen that defines every word by using that word in a sentence. E.g. for the word "hold", we find:
That's fine for a spelling bee, but in a dictionary, I prefer the more conventional (and more succinct) definition:
What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!
1. A computer hacker is someone who tries to break into computer systems, especially in order to get secret information. :D
2. A computer hacker is someone who uses a computer a lot, especially so much that they have no time to do anything else.
(The smiley was on me though)
Glad to see that "nother" still isn't a word, and that "irregardless" brings up the definition for "regardless" with a wikipedia entry explaining that "irregardless" is considered incorrect.
http://www.google.com/dictionary?aq=f&langpair=en|en&q=puissant&hl=en
Still has ways to go before it catches up with standard dictionaries.
Did they come up with their own definitions for all these words? Did they "scrape" someone else's dictionary? Or pay someone for their content?
Just the definition I'm looking for! Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia [home, info] I hope this comes from a reliable source.
Oh, so that's how "Internet" got defined as "= Google".
Hopefully Answers.com wasn't paying the bills based on ad revenue... this is surely to hurt a bit if so.
Where will i find out what EVOO is?
I'm here for the experience, not the Hyperbole.
Unless I'm missing something, there seems to be extremely little difference between this new service and what Google has displayed when you use define:whatever as a search query for as long back as I can remember.
I just created and submitted a Search Plugin for Google dictionary, but it's probably going to stay in the Mozilla Add-on sandbox until it gets a few reviews. I don't know if you need to be logged on to the add-on web site ( http://addons.mozilla.org/ ) to see it, review it or use it. Enjoy!
It looks great, but I think I'll stick with WordReference.com.
The great thing about Wordreference is not only does it give a definition and shows the word in several sentences in context (especially so in the English to Spanish and Spanish to English dictionaries) is that it has language forums, and posts about words and phrases are also linked from the dictionary lookup.
One thing I'd like from a search engine or dictionary is the ability to look up grammar examples. For example, if I want to see if a certain construct is valid (well, at least, is in wide usage) I'd like to be enter something like this into a search engine (as a really simple example) "Mary (verb) a (noun)" - where it would search for sentences constructed with that structure. Or perhaps something more complex, specifying that the verb be a certain tense and mood.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Aparently the OP doesn't know what a thesaurus is.
What's another word for Thesaurus?
I had never seen it before, either, and I had the same reaction as you ("Huh?") to the term "Google word search definition". But I found it _is_ there, just very small and easy to miss.
1. Go to Google
2. Type in a single word (I typed "retch")
3. In the bar just above where the search results start, on the far right, I see this:
Results 1 - 10 of about 311,000 for retch [definition]. (0.34 seconds)
The word "definition" in brackets is a link to Google Dictionary's page on "retch".
Om
I think it's odd Google lists as the only pronunciation of Gigabyte a hard "G", like in giggle, when that pronunciation is only a result of mispronunciation started in the 1990's (the root is the same as gigantic, soft "g"), AND YET they don't list the common mispronunciation of "nuclear." Is Google dictionary what they want the language to be instead of what researchers have found it is? Did the CRU researchers find new jobs at google or something?
Web definitions /., is a technology-related news website owned by SourceForge, Inc. ...
...
o Slashdot, sometimes abbreviated as
o To render a web site slow or unusable via the unusually large number of page requests that result from a link on a very popular web site; To
o The act of self mutilation by an individual addicted to overclocking
So I played with the dictionary. Not bad. I like the multiple definitions, and possible links to chase down.
But what I *really* want is a 'distinctive thesaurus' -- a dictionary that distinguishes between synonyms so that you can get closer to the perfect word.
As an example,
Consider the differences between
Irony
Sarcasm
Sardony (Ok sardonic)
Facetiousness
All of them involve some degree of humour by stating things as they aren't.
If I look up sarcasm on thesaurus.com I get a longer list, yielding words that range from near to distant in their connotations.
acrimony, aspersion, banter, bitterness, burlesque, causticness, censure, comeback, contempt, corrosiveness, criticism, cut*, cynicism, derision, dig*, disparagement, flouting, invective, irony, lampooning, mockery, mordancy, put-down, raillery, rancor, ridicule, satire, scoffing, scorn, sharpness, sneering, superciliousness, wisecrack.
Yes creating my own distinctions is possible. So is writing my own definition possible. But trying to define a word from my own experience with a word is hard, and frought with potential pitfalls where my mental model of the word world is defective, so even harder is it to define the differences between closely allied words.
Anybody know of an online thesaurus that distinguishes between synonyms?
My own crack at the above four.
Irony applies to both statements and description. In events has a perverseness to it, poetic justice. In statements it has has less connotation of derision and mocking.
Sardony has a bitter, derisive quality to it. The object of sardony is most often the speaker, less often the world generally. Self-deprecating on steroids.
Sarcasm is a contrary statement intended to hurt someone else, to express contempt.
Facetiousness is similar to sarcasm, but humour is it's main goal. There is no intent to hurt.
Third Career: Tree Farmer Second Career: Computer Geek First Career: Teacher, Outdoor Instructor, Photographer.
Google and Bing both come up on top in definitions, but Yahoo gets hidden somewhere below (lower than it's messenger).
For the longest time I have been using
define:<word>
on Google. Try it. Make sure you put the colon.
For example:
define:hadron
define:compunction
etc.