I love using WordWeb on Windows. This free dictionary program is perfect! It hides away until it is invoked with the intuitive keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + W. The WordWeb UI is simple and the dictionary database is comprehensive.
I wanted such a light, comprehensive and offline dictionary in Ubuntu. I was surprised to discover that the GNOME Dictionary, which is the default, uses online dictionary servers. This is painful since quick word lookup is really nice to have and I do not always have Internet access.
Here is how to turn GNOME Dictionary into an offline dictionary and configure it to use a English-English dictionary database:
- Using the Synaptic Package Manager install the dictd package. dictd acts as the dictionary server and client dictionary programs, like GNOME Dictionary, can talk to it to get the definitions of words.
- The dictd dictionary server may not be running after the package installation. Start it up by using the command:
$ sudo service dictd restart
- Using the Synaptic Package Manager install the dict-gcide package. GCIDE is the GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English. This contains entries from the Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, WordNet and other free sources. Webster’s is the main source and it is quite dated, since it is the 1913 edition, which is now out of copyright and thus is available in the public domain.
- Launch GNOME Dictionary by choosing Applications → Office → Dictionary or invoking
gnome-dictionary. Choose Edit → Preferences.
In the Source dialog, choose Add to add a new dictionary source. Give the values for Description (say Local-GCIDE), Transport (Dictionary Server, the default value), Hostname (127.0.0.1) and Port (2628, the default value). Click Add. Back in the Source dialog, choose the Local-GCIDE dictionary to make it the default source. - Now you should be able to use GNOME Dictionary with the local GCIDE dictionary database. Words can be typed in the Look up field and their definitions from GCIDE should appear beneath.
- The icing on this cake would be to have a keyboard shortcut to launch GNOME Dictionary whenever needed. Open System → Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts. GNOME Dictionary does not have a keyboard shortcut, so we need to add one.
Choose Add. Give the values for Name as GNOME Dictionary and Command as gnome-dictionary and click Apply. Click on the GNOME Dictionary entry and click on New Shortcut …. Type in a shortcut, I prefer Ctrl + Alt + W, the same as that used by WordWeb on Windows. Click Close and the setup is complete!
You can now launch GNOME Dictionary in a jiffy by pressing Ctrl + Alt + W and lookup word definitions quickly without requiring any Internet access. 
antrix
/ April 10, 2010> This is painful since quick word lookup is really nice to have and I do not always have Internet access.
I assume I’m always online and so, for quick lookup I use ninjawords.com
What I’ve done is to set a keyword search (in FF & Chrome) for “d” which invokes http://www.ninjawords.com/%s
Now I just type “d foo” in the url bar, hit enter & in half a second have the definition in front of me
Ashwin Nanjappa
/ April 10, 2010Thanks for mentioning NinjaWords, I was not aware of an online dictionary built for superfast lookup. I used to have a Firefox keyword search linked to http://m-w.com/dictionary/%s since I love Merriam-Webster’s in-depth dictionary entries. MW is not as fast as NW though.
A lot of times I run into unfamiliar words right in the middle of reading an online article. I hate to lose focus of that article by opening up a new browser tab. So, I guess a good online solution would be a NW-Prism app that launches in a fixed-width small window and can be dismissed easily (like WordWeb can be dismissed by pressing Esc).
Googie
/ November 19, 2010Just in case you guys haven’t tried it already, I really like the “Google dictionary” extension with chrome (I don’t know if there’s a Firefox add-on as well). With that, I just need to double click a word, and the meaning shows up in a pop-up.
Thanks for the ninjawords pointer, it sure is fast!
@Ash – hope all’s well with you!
Ashwin Nanjappa
/ November 19, 2010Googie: Thanks for the tip! I use FF, will look out for a FF addon.
All iz well with me. Love seeing your global adventures!
antrix
/ April 13, 2010Umm.. `Ctrl+l > “d foo” > alt+enter > read > Ctrl+w` .. works for me
newbie
/ November 21, 2010thanks a lot for the neat help.
wat i still miss with gnome dict is the selected text look up. (select a word where ever u r reading, hit the key combo and see the meaning etc).
I’ve tried ‘artha’, which does all these – keyboard shortcut n selected text look up.
but its not as configurable as gnome dict in some aspects – or i could not figure out how to configure the following things:
it uses wordnet as the default source – hw to change it or add more dicts and order the sources in preferred way etc.
(Artha is simple and highly usable – its lot like wordweb on windows – and i like both these)
Ashwin Nanjappa
/ November 21, 2010Sukak: I agree that this is a problem. I am working on Windows mostly, so I can get by with Wordweb thankfully