Google Dictionary is an online dictionary service of Google that can be accessed by using the "define" operator and other similar phrases in Google Search. It is also available in Google Translate and in the form of an extension for Google Chrome.The dictionary content is licensed from Oxford University Press's Oxforddictionaries.com. It is available in different languages such as English, Spanish and French. The service also contains Google Translate, word origin chart, Ngram Viewer, and word games among other features for the English language version. Originally available as a standalone service it was integrated into Google Search with the separate service being discontinued in August 2011.
Some words previously available in the English dictionary (and still available on Oxforddictionaries.com) have been removed from the service, entries for all proper nouns and entries with controversial definitions from Oxford have been removed.
Microsoft's Bing also provides a similar dictionary service which licences dictionary data from Oxford Dictionaries as well. Apple also licences dictionary data from Oxford for its iOS and macOS products.
Video Google Dictionary
History
The service originated in Google Translate, and was launched as a standalone service (google.com/dictionary) in December 2009. Google displayed definitions from Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary for English until August 2010 when it switched to the Oxford American College Dictionary.
After being integrated into Google Search the dictionary was discontinued as a separate service on August 5, 2011. And can now be accessed by using the "define" operator or by simply searching for the meaning of a word. The dictionary service is also still available in Google Translate and can be accessed by selecting a single word. Google has also released the service as an extension for Chrome.
As of 2018 Google licenses dictionary data from Oxforddictionaries.com for multiple languages such as British/American English, Spanish and French among others (see below).
On Arabic Language Day (December 18) in 2015 Google added an Arabic language dictionary, available globally, to the service that showed definitions, translations, and example usages of the word in a sentence.
In February 2017, online news website Daily Caller accused Google of changing the definition of the word "fascism" in Google Dictionary. It was later found out that the definition was exactly from Oxford with no Google modifications. Google eventually removed "fascism" and related entries like "alt right" from the Dictionary. It has since added feedback options for the dictionary which includes reporting options for "wrong" and "offensive" definitions. It also does not display definitions for proper nouns provided by Oxford Dictionaries, though Bing which also uses Oxford displays all included definitions.
Google added a Hindi dictionary from Rajpal & Sons licensed via Oxford Dictionaries which also supported transliteration and translation to the service in April 2017.
In July 2017, the dictionary was made directly available by typing "dictionary" in Google Search and additional features such as a search box, autocomplete and search history were also added.
In January 2018, a "Similar-sounding words" feature was added to the English dictionary which highlights words that sound similar such as "aesthetic" and "ascetic", "pray" and "prey", "conscientious" and "conscious" etc. "Google Word Coach" vocabulary game was made available along with dictionary searches and as a separate game on mobile devices in February 2018. In August 2018, Google Search added an English and Hindi dictionary for mobile users in India with an option to switch to the English only dictionary.
Maps Google Dictionary
Languages
Google displays dictionaries for the following languages licensed from Oxford Dictionaries which provides data from its own and other published dictionaries.
See details for Oxford Dictionaries dataset licensing for other languages here.
See also
- List of Google products
Notes
References
External links
- Official website
- Google Dictionary Extension for Google Chrome
- Google Dictionary Online -- Provides a service via its JSON API
- "Is Google Dictionary a valid definition reference (in particular in answers)?". English Language & Usage Meta Stack Exchange. Stack Exchange Inc. August 11, 2015. - Discussion about Google Dictionary and it's sources on Stackexchange
Source of article : Wikipedia
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