dict

A CLI for querying Oxford Dictionaries' API. Functions and features:

• Look up a word's definition, synonyms, and antonyms,
• Manpage-like or simplified output formats,
• Retrieve raw JSON API responses,
• Optional HTML page generation using Blackfriday, a Markdown renderer.

V2 API Changes

V2 of Oxford Dictionaries' API removes free access to the thesaurus endpoint. Synonym and antonym lookups will fail with a Prototype tier plan or lower.

Installation

With a proper Go environment set up:

$ go get -u -v github.com/travis-g/dict
github.com/travis-g/dict (download)
...

Before using the CLI you'll need to retrieve an API key from the Oxford Dictionaries developer portal. You will also need to create a .dictrc.yaml file in your home directory (other filetypes work but are not documented). The CLI will fall back to checking the current working directory for a config file.

The .dictrc.yaml config file should have the following properties:

app_id: <APP_ID>
app_key: <APP_KEY>
api_url: https://od-api.oxforddictionaries.com/api/v2
region: en-gb # or "en-us" for the New Oxford American Dictionary

Note that certain spellings are used in only certain regions (try "skillful" vs. "skilful" across regions).

Usage

$ dict -h
NAME:
   dict - Oxford Dictionary CLI tool

USAGE:
   dict [global options] command [command options] [arguments...]

VERSION:
   ...

COMMANDS:
     antonyms, a  look up antonyms
     define, d    define a word
     synonyms, s  look up synonyms
     help, h      Shows a list of commands or help for one command

GLOBAL OPTIONS:
   --help, -h     show help
   --version, -v  print the version

For example, to look up the definition of "console":

$ dict define "console"
console
=======

...

The raw JSON response object can be output with the --raw or -r flag:

$ dict define --raw console
{"metadata":{"provider":"Oxford University Press"},"results":[...]}

The subcommands have their own usage information.

Notes

• If you're concerned about burning an API call on a word that may not exist, try greping through local wordlist files, possibly in /usr/share/dict/, and then make the request.
• See also:
  • dictionary network protocol
  • words (Unix)

License

Source code is available under the MIT license.

Please be sure to read Oxford Dictionaries' Terms and Conditions and their FAQ.