10.5: Change the dictionary used for Spotlight definitions

As we all know, Leopard's Spotlight can supply definitions of words. These definitions are pulled directly from Dictionary.app, and make a quick and convenient way to look up a word.

But what if you don't want to look up a word in the New Oxford American Dictionary? What if instead you want Spotlight to look up words in the thesaurus, or to find English translations of German words (or vice-versa) in the BeoLingus German-English dictionary plug-in?

The answer is simple. Spotlight gets its definitions from the first source in the source list of Dictionary.app's preferences. Just drag your desired dictionary to the top of the list, and its definitions will be used in Spotlight.

This seems to work for all normal dictionaries, whether built-in or supplied by third party plug-ins. However, it does not work for Wikipedia (Spotlight will skip it and move on to the next source in the list), which is fine since the Spotlight menu only shows the first few words of a definition anyway, which is hardly useful for Wikipedia entries.

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10.5: Change the dictionary used for Spotlight definitions
Authored by: osxpounder on Fri, May 8 2009 at 9:31AM PDT

Really great! Echt toll!

Thanks a lot. Vielen Dank.

I told a buddy about this idea because he's learning Swedish, and might want to find a Swedish-English dictionary for his own Mac.

10.5: Change the dictionary used for Spotlight definitions
Authored by: skippingrock on Fri, May 8 2009 at 9:54AM PDT

Are there other dictionaries that one can download and install into Apple's Dictionary app?

Specifically I would love to have a Canadian English dictionary and Korean, and a Korean to English dictionary.

Cheers, SkipR.

10.5: Change the dictionary used for Spotlight definitions
Authored by: megabulk on Fri, May 8 2009 at 10:10AM PDT

I was just looking for this, and found this tutorial.
The program DictUnifier seems a trifle buggy.
There are helpful tips in the comments to the above tutorial.
Dictionaries available here.

10.5: Change the dictionary used for Spotlight definitions
Authored by: skippingrock on Fri, May 8 2009 at 10:55AM PDT

haha thanks megabulk!

I guess we found it at the same time, I would have posted sooner, but I've been converting dictionaries!

Yay!

10.5: Change the dictionary used for Spotlight definitions
Authored by: skippingrock on Fri, May 8 2009 at 10:53AM PDT

never mind� I found it! Finally!

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-expanding-apple-dictionary-–-mac-only/

follow these instructions!, it works great!

cheers, SkipR

10.5: Change the dictionary used for Spotlight definitions
Authored by: auco on Fri, May 8 2009 at 3:01PM PDT

I'm using Quicksilver to quickly access Dictionary.app

It's very easy to configure QS to provide a quick & comfortable shortcut:

Open Quicksilver's Preferences:
"Plugins"-Tab:
- Make sure "Dictionary Module" is installed
"Preferences"-Tab:
- Command: Spacebar behavior: Select "Switch to Text Mode"
- Actions: Text: Move "Look Up in Dictionary" to the top (usually the topmost entry is "QSLargeTypeAction"
Done!

Now launch QS (ctrl+SPACE). Press SPACE again to switch to TextMode and enter the word. Type return and voià!

:)

10.5: Change the dictionary used for Spotlight definitions
Authored by: gballey on Fri, May 8 2009 at 8:32PM PDT

I'm running OS X 10.5.6, but the dictionary feature in Spotlight doesn't work for me. When I type a word in the Spotlight textbox, all it shows are files whose names or content/metadata match. I've seen examples from systems where this feature works, and there is a Dictionary (or was it Definition?) heading in the results list that shows the definition. There is no such heading in my results lists. Any ideas? Thanks.

10.5: Change the dictionary used for Spotlight definitions
Authored by: NaOH-Lye on Fri, May 8 2009 at 10:46PM PDT

Sounds like you either used a third-party utility (such as Secrets or Onyx) or a Terminal command to disable the Dictionary in Spotlight. Open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities) and enter this code:

defaults write com.apple.spotlight DictionaryLookupEnabled YES

Press Return. Then, quit Terminal and simply log out and log back in and you should have the Dictionary in Spotlight.

10.5: Change the dictionary used for Spotlight definitions
Authored by: gballey on Sat, May 9 2009 at 9:39PM PDT

Thanks. That did the trick (after I logged out and back in).

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