Earlier quoted context omitted.
The app isn’t currently available in the UK, any way you can change that?
Try this app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id1397172520
Works in India too, thanks!
You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)
81–90 of 90 posts
Re: You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)
#82Wow this is wonderful, thank you. I am wondering if something similar exists for German.
Potentially the Deutsches Wörterbuch started by the Brothers Grimm: http://woerterbuchnetz.de/DWB
That’s a great find. I’m just wondering, why are all nouns lowercased in this dictionary’s definitions?
> leibesübung als spiel und zum vergnügen; ein englisches wort
Re: You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Potentially the Deutsches Wörterbuch started by the Brothers Grimm: http://woerterbuchnetz.de/DWB
That’s a great find. I’m just wondering, why are all nouns lowercased in this dictionary’s definitions? > l eibesübung als s piel und zum v ergnügen; ein englisches w ort
The project slightly predates a standardized German orthography and the original manuscript used its own capitalization conventions: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Grimm_W%...
Re: You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)
#84Did anyone else find the writing in this post almost unbearable? It's deliberately showy in a way while also seeming self-conscious about being perceived as pretentious. The predictable dig at modernist architecture is exactly what I expect from this kind of prescriptive aesthetic paternalism.
No. It is in a discursive style appropriate to the topic. Not what you find in textbooks, but not everything needs to be like a textbook.
Re: You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)
#85So the idea here seems to be that the author prefers to write English that is about a century old, preferably more. This will be inteligible to a modern reader so I suppose that's fine but it's striking that they resist (unconsciously?) admitting to it.
I'm afraid you completely missed the point, probably by trying to read it too fast.
The author is pursuing flavor, not expeditiousness. Re-read it as a thing that tries to convey the pleasure in the activity of reading, beyond whatever value there may be in the data being propagated.
Re: You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)
#86This is a truly delightful dictionary! I put together a tool to improve the formatting somewhat the last time this went around: https://github.com/aparks517/convert-websters And also an iOS app: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id943993346 I’ve also been collecting patches to correct typographical errors which I’ve been meaning to post somewhere. I’ve met lots of neat folks through this project!
I tried installing both your convert-websters and https://github.com/mortenjust/webster-mac linked elsewhere in this thread, and I think I prefer the other one, webster-mac. It is almost the same as yours, but its font size is more similar to the font size of the built-in dictionary, and it displays words as lower-case (though they are still listed in upper-case). Even though the webster-mac version improperly renders proper nouns as lower-case, I think that is a better tradeoff given that I know that I shouldn’t depend on the dictionary for capitalization, as lower-case letters make terms easier to read.
However, I don’t think I’ll be setting webster-mac as my default dictionary. macOS’s built-in New Oxford American Dictionary may have less colorful descriptions of the words, but it has features that greatly enhance readability that neither version of Webster’s has:
• Quotes are visually distinguished from definitions.
• The font size is consistent with other dictionaries.
• It describes pronunciation for each word (supporting two formats: diacritical or IPA).
• The correct capitalization of every word is demonstrated, both in the entry and in the index.
• It uses proper typography, avoiding fake dashes “--”.
Re: You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)
#87The dictionary linked in this post has some formatting issues, so a kind soul improved upon it (Mac Dictionary.app dictionary): https://github.com/mortenjust/webster-mac
Thanks for the link. After trying both this version and https://github.com/aparks517/convert-websters linked elsewhere in this thread, I think I prefer this version of Webster’s Dictionary. But I don’t think either version is good enough to replace macOS’s default New Oxford American Dictionary. See my comment under the discussion of convert-websters for details: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19763435#19784835
Re: You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)
#88Thankfully Wiktionary imported wholesale the old Webster's dictionary (due partly to it being in the public domain). It has the same multitude of meanings and examples, including those from the article. On top, of course, it's updated for very modern language and with quotations from literature and journalism closer to us in time. Which is why I have three different methods for quick lookup in Wiktionary in the deskt…
I looked for a way to install Wiktionary within the Dictionary app, similar to installing Webster’s Dictionary as described in this post. I found an Apple Stack Exchange question “How to add wiktionary as a source to the default dictionary.app?” at https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/122494/21473, but some comments say that the suggested program conversion DictUnifier runs forever without finishing, so there may not be an easy method currently. I did find another program PyGlossary that might serve as a substitute, but I haven’t tried it.
Re: You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)
#89Thankfully Wiktionary imported wholesale the old Webster's dictionary (due partly to it being in the public domain). It has the same multitude of meanings and examples, including those from the article. On top, of course, it's updated for very modern language and with quotations from literature and journalism closer to us in time. Which is why I have three different methods for quick lookup in Wiktionary in the deskt…
I looked for a way to install Wiktionary within the Dictionary app, similar to installing Webster’s Dictionary as described in this post. I found an Apple Stack Exchange question “How to add wiktionary as a source to the default dictionary.app?” at https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/122494/21473 , but some comments say that the suggested program conversion DictUnifier runs forever without finishing, so there may not b…
Software errors tend to come and go for different users, so you could try DictUnifier anyway. I've successfully used it previously, though with a different dictionary.
Re: You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)
#90You can also find it here: