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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."

2 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No ginormous? You need a better dictionary by osu-neko · · Score: 0, Troll

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

    Indeed. I believe the word "ginormous" predates the Internet. Al Gore coined the term when describing the idea before it ever got implemented. ;)

    --
    "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  2. pronunciation by doug141 · · Score: 0, Troll

    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?