Dictionary Bot
@DictionBot
FreeInline modeEN
An English dictionary built on WordNet: send up to ten words in one message and get every sense of each, grouped by part of speech, or type @DictionBot and a word in any chat. Free, open source, no ads.
Key features
- Every WordNet sense of an English word, grouped by part of speech
- Up to ten words in one message, one reply per word
- Inline mode with a Show All link to the full entry
- Built-in copy of WordNet, no outside dictionary site
What Dictionary Bot does
WordNet is the lexical database of English that Princeton University began building in the 1980s; linguists and language software rely on it because it lists every sense of a word, grouped by part of speech, each with a short definition. This bot carries its own copy of WordNet and answers from it, so a lookup does not depend on an outside website being up.
Send an English word and the bot replies with all of its senses: the noun meanings, the verb meanings and so on. A message with several words, up to ten, gets one reply per word, which is handy for a list of unfamiliar terms from a text. In other chats, type @DictionBot and a word to pick a single sense and send it; the message carries a Show All link that opens the full entry in the bot.
It is a plain tool. The definitions are WordNet's short glosses, not a learner's dictionary with pronunciation or translations, and words must be typed in plain letters: a phrase is split into separate words and hyphenated forms are rejected. The developer, Shibly Meeran, publishes the code on GitHub; it was last updated in January 2024.
How to start
- Open @DictionBot and press Start
- Send an English word, or several separated by spaces
- Read the senses under each part of speech
- In another chat, type @DictionBot and a word to share one sense
Pricing and limits
Free
Pros / Cons
- All senses at once, so you pick the one that fits
- Several words in one message
- Does not depend on an outside website
- Free, no ads, open source
- Short glosses only, no pronunciation or usage notes
- Phrases and hyphenated words are not looked up as a whole
- Code last updated in January 2024
Alternatives
Score breakdown
| Criterion | Weight | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Functionality | 25 | 6 / 10 | |
| Reliability & speed | 15 | 6 / 10 | |
| Popularity & trust | 15 | 3 / 10 | |
| Price & free tier | 10 | 10 / 10 | |
| Usability | 10 | 8 / 10 | |
| Safety & privacy | 10 | 8 / 10 | |
| Freshness | 5 | 4 / 10 | |
| Localization | 5 | 10 / 10 | |
| No intrusive ads | 5 | 10 / 10 | |
| Score | 100 | 66.5 |
FAQ
Can I look up a phrase like "ice cream"?
No. The bot splits a message on spaces and looks up each word separately, and it rejects words with hyphens or apostrophes.
Where do the definitions come from?
From Princeton's WordNet, bundled inside the bot's code, so the answers are WordNet's definitions and not an AI paraphrase.
Technical details
- Inline mode
- Mini App
- Works in groups
- Works in channels
- Accepts voice
- Accepts files
- Requires phone number
- Requires registration
- Shows ads
