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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."

8 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Good by rmushkatblat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now we don't have to deal with M-W terrible website layout, popups, etc.

    1. Re:Good by dov_0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think that the really interesting thing is how they've integrated Google Translate into the drop down language list. Absolutely beautiful. Very useful. Nice work.

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  2. But... by muncadunc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ginormous IS a word. It's just a relatively new word.

    1. Re:But... by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Funny

      Agreed, it's perfectly cromulent.

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    2. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Heck, a ginormous vocabulary embiggens even the smallest man.

  3. I don't care about "most dictionaries"... by lammy · · Score: 5, Funny

    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!

  4. why? by fermion · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This is one of those changes that makes me lose confidence in Google. It seems that Google wants to control all the resources instead of being part of an internet. As if it is playing the zero sum game of war rather than the non-zero sum game that allows businesses to exist and grow together.

    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.

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  5. Re:Urban Dictionary and so on by maxume · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is moderated.

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