Meaning
Enter a word to look up its definitions and meanings. You can choose to display the results in a different language.
Translation tells you what a foreign phrase says in your language; a dictionary tells you what a word actually means — its part of speech, its senses, the examples that show it in use. This tool is the second step when a translation alone is not enough.
When to use this
Use the dictionary when a translation leaves you unsure whether you understood a word correctly — when you want the part of speech, the different senses, or an example sentence that shows the word in context. It is the right tool for learning a language, decoding an unfamiliar term in a document, or choosing between near-synonyms.
It is less useful for whole sentences, which translators handle better, and for finding alternative words, which the Synonyms tool handles better. The dictionary answers “what does this word mean?”, not “how do I say this differently?” or “what does this paragraph say?”
How this works
When you enter a word or term, the tool looks it up in Wiktionary, the free multilingual dictionary, which holds definitions, parts of speech, example sentences and etymology across hundreds of languages. For single English words it also queries the Free Dictionary API as a fallback. Multi-word phrases, idioms and slang are resolved through Wiktionary, which handles canonical title casing so "break a leg" and "Break a leg" both find the right entry.
If you choose a display language different from the word's language, each definition is translated individually into that language via the same translation engine the Translate tool uses, so a Spanish speaker can read an English word's definitions in Spanish. The detected source language is shown so you can confirm the tool found the right entry.
Dictionary lookup is strongest for single words and established phrases. Brand-new slang, very rare terms, and highly inflected word forms may not have their own entry — in those cases try the base form (the infinitive of a verb, the singular of a noun), or use the Synonyms tool to explore related words that may have richer entries.
Worked example
You read "serendipity" in an article and want a proper definition, not just a translation.
- 1Type "serendipity" into the word field and leave the word language on "Detect".
- 2Set the display language to English (or your own language to read the definitions translated).
- 3Press "Get meaning" — the tool returns the part of speech (noun), the definition "the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way", and an example sentence.
- 4Switch the display language to Spanish and search again to read the same definitions translated into Spanish.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I look up phrases and idioms, not just single words?
- Yes. Wiktionary holds entries for many multi-word phrases, idioms and slang — "break a leg", "piece of cake", "what's up" all resolve. The tool handles the canonical casing Wiktionary uses, so capitalisation does not block the lookup.
- Why did I get no definitions for my word?
- The word may be very new slang, a rare term, or an inflected form that has no entry of its own. Try the base form — the infinitive for verbs, the singular for nouns — or use the Synonyms tool to find related words with richer entries.
- How do translated definitions work?
- When the display language differs from the word's language, each definition is translated individually into your chosen language. The original definitions come from Wiktionary; the translation uses the same engine as the Translate tool.
- Which languages are supported?
- Wiktionary covers hundreds of languages, so lookups work far beyond English. Coverage is deepest for major languages and thinner for minority ones. The Free Dictionary API fallback is English-only.
- Are the definitions authoritative?
- Wiktionary is a community-built dictionary curated under editorial policies. It is broad and usually accurate, but for legal, medical or technical precision, confirm against a specialist source.
Related tools
Definitions provided by Wiktionary and the Free Dictionary API. Definition translation uses the MyMemory translation API. Last updated: September 2026.
These tools are provided for general everyday use. Translation, definitions and synonyms are machine- or community-generated and may contain errors; exchange rates are reference values and not transaction rates; unit conversions use exact constants but do not account for regional unit variants beyond those listed. Always confirm critical information with an authoritative source before acting on it.