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Google Launches Dictionary, Drops Answers.com

Posted by timothy on from the urbandictionary-has-nuthin-to-fear dept.

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."

7 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Good by narcberry · · Score: 4, Informative

    Who cares about popups, now we have a standardized scrabble dictionary!

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    Modding me -1 troll doesn't make me wrong.
  2. Re:Google Dictionary? by jack2000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Because it's also what answers.com does too. You wouldn't want a metasearch engine referencing another metasearch engine.
    On that path madness dwells.

  3. Re:I don't care about "most dictionaries"... by HawkinsD · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's really interesting, thanks. The main dictionary (oed.com) is $295/year. I didn't know they had a concise one for free.

    And it really is concise. One (really good) definition. Not 37 links, like the Google dictionary.

    Not that there's anything wrong with 37 links. But sometimes I just want to want to know the definition of the word.

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    Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by mere idiocy.
  4. huh? by bcrowell · · Score: 4, Informative

    Am I the only one to have the following three reactions?

    1. I remember answers.com solely as one of those annoying sites that mirror's Wikipedia's content, polluting search results with fifty copies of the same WP article. It astonishes me to find out that Google has ever been associated with one of these things; they all strike me as sleazy attempts to sop up some ad revenue without actually making any positive contribution of their own. I would have expected Google to try to filter out such things, not to be associated with them.
    2. Huh? What is a "Google word search definition?" Okay, click through to the LA times blog, which say, "Previously, the 'definition' button at the top right of all Google searches for words would direct users to entries on the Wikipedia-like Answers.com site. Now those links go to Google Dictionary, a less colorful, less cluttered interface." Double huh? Never noticed such a thing before. I did two Google searches on dictionary words just now, and neither one came up with a "'definition' button at the top right." I've never noticed one in the past, and I'm not seeing one now.
    3. Aparently the OP doesn't know what a thesaurus is.
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    Find free books.
  5. Re:When google finally presses the evil button... by amRadioHed · · Score: 4, Informative

    Did you look at the whole page of results from google? It has the excrement definition in the "related phrases" and "web definitions" sections.

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    We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
  6. No ginormous? You need a better dictionary by Tim+C · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm 35 and was using the word "ginormous" as a kid. Sure enough, it's in the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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    It's official. Most of you are morons.
  7. Re:Wiktionary.org? by icegreentea · · Score: 3, Informative

    Guessing you didn't RTFA. Or try the google link. Google Dictionary is still an definition aggregating thing from a bunch of sources (just like answers.com one). That includes wikitionary in the list.