Dictionary

SearchDefine: search for word definitions right from Spotlight

There come times when you need to define words quickly, and because iOS has no dedicated Dictionary app, there is really no convenient way to define a word when you’re stuck.

Rather than downloading a third-party dictionary app from the App Store to clutter your Home screen even further, a new jailbreak tweak called SearchDefine lets you define words via the iOS dictionary right from Spotlight.

iOS 10 tidbit: “Define” has become “Look Up,” now supports Siri-powered web suggestions

As a non-native English speaker, I rely on a Define feature which helps me pull up the definition for any selected word in Safari and other apps, as determined by iOS’s built-in Dictionary.

With iOS 10, Apple has rebranded this feature as Look Up and it’s not just a marketing gimmick: On iOS 10, Look Up’s greatly expanded scope now serves up any piece of Internet content that Siri Suggestions support.

Locktionary: search the iOS dictionary from the Lock screen

Locktionary is a new jailbreak tweak that can be had for free from Cydia’s BigBoss repository that will let you search for the definition of any word right from the Lock screen.

The tweak offers a simple way to quickly figure the meaning of a word without having to be vocal with Siri and without even having to unlock your iPhone. In this piece, we’ll walk you through how the tweak works and let you know what we think about it.

How to manage dictionaries and look up word definitions on iPhone and iPad

The App Store’s virtual shelves carry dozens of dictionary apps but did you know that as of iOS 5 Apple’s offered a feature designed to make it easy for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad owners to look up word definitions in a bunch of foreign languages?

Built-in dictionaries are available system-wide and work great as a general quick-reference tool so consider using them whenever possible.

Up until iOS 8, bringing up word definitions was as easy as selecting a piece of text and choosing the Define option. iOS 8, however, requires you to manually download dictionaries before you can define words on an iOS device.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to download and manage specific language dictionaries, use the Define feature and remove dictionaries you might no longer need in order to conserve storage space.

How to define words from anywhere using Activator

Have you ever wanted to quickly learn the definition of a word, but you weren’t actually viewing the word on your iPhone? Sure, you can use Siri, but sometimes even that’s not a option or a possibility.

Define Activator is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to define text using a preset Activator gesture. Once you invoke the assigned gesture, a pop-up box appears where you can type in the term that you wish to define.

How to use Spotlight Search to look up the definition of words

I like to say that the best tweaks are often the most simple ones. I also like to say that there are tweaks for just about everybody, and something that works great for me might be completely useless to you.

This is the case of SpotDefine, a new tweak by Tyler Hoffman that lets you use Spotlight Search on iOS 7 to look up the definition of words…

New in iOS 6: custom dictionary in the cloud

While we already know a ton about the major new features in iOS 6,  we are still learning about the update’s lesser-known enhancements. Things that didn’t make it into Apple’s keynote yesterday.

The latest one we’ve come across, as pointed out by Gizmodo, is that your customized (personalized, whatever) dictionary gets the iCloud treatment in iOS 6, syncing it across all devices…

SpotDict: Search iOS’ built in dictionary from Spotlight

Spotlight search is very useful when you actually need to use it, but how many times do you find yourself needing to do so?

If you’re anything like me, you can probably count on one hand how many times you’ve used Spotlight over the past few months.

Perhaps this recently released jailbreak tweak will coerce you into using Spotlight a bit more often? It’s called SpotDict, and it allows you to look up words in iOS’ built in dictionary directly from the Spotlight search page…