Google Adds Dictionary to Growing List of Services

Posted 12/04/2009 at 12:18pm | by Bart Salisbury

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Google has rolled out a dictionary, just in case the ones already available on the Internet or your desktop aren’t enough.

It’s nothing new, mind you. A Google search for a word preceded by the term: “define:” pretty much accomplishes the same thing. But, the definitions in dictionary are more extensive, and come with related phrases and web definitions. Web definitions both support and extend the initial definition.

The word “hack”, for example, comes with the standard defintion: “you cut with strong, rough strokes.” The related phrase: “hack off”. And the web definitions: one who works hard at boring tasks; the inability to deal with something; a machine politician; and piecemeal fixing a computer program until it works.

Precision, however, isn’t Google’s dictionary forte. Owner of Paragon Software, Alex Zudin, who works on dictionaries with Merriam-Webster and Oxford, says Google’s effort is okay for the “low-level consumer market.” Serious wordsmiths, however, will want to opt for a real dictionary.

All-in-all it seems just like another brick in the wall--to keep you trapped inside the Google plantation. All your needs, no matter how trivial, are being met, so why go elsewhere?

Image Credit: lizzie anne/Flickr