dictionary for Word 2003

[SPS]

Is there a dictionary that I can purchase for Word 2003 that will give me
definitions of words, not just spellings?
I have this for WordPerfect.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If the dictionary you are using with WordPerfect is an add-in, it may work
with Word as well, but you may need to reinstall it to select that option.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[SPS]

Thanks, but I don't see how to get that to work. The WordPerfect dictionary
is made by Corel and comes as an executable file. Word asks for a "dic"
file.

 

[SPS]

I did a google search and found the 10th edition of the Oxford Concise
Dictionary that says:
Q4: Is there a link to Microsoft Word or to other processors?

Links to specific word processors have not been developed. Instead a
double-click look-up feature has been included. When the COD10 is open, a
double-click on a word in any Windows text-based application will
automatically look up the word in the dictionary

Does anyone know if this really works with Word 2003?

 

[Mike Williams [MVP]]

Thanks, but I don't see how to get that to work. The WordPerfect
dictionary is made by Corel and comes as an executable file. Word
asks for a "dic" file.

You can't add it to to the custom dictionary list because that's for the
spell-checker. A dictionary is different to a spell-checker lexicon in many
ways. You should not try to add dictionary support through the spell-checker
dialogs.

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi

I had a copy of the COD that linked to Word back in about Word 95. It
was just a tiny add-in, and it probably works with all subsequent
versions of Word.

But if you have Word 2003 and access to the internet, then use Word's
built-in research pane. It connects not only to on-line dictionaries but
to several other on-line information resources. Do Alt-click on the word
of interest, or choose Tools > Research.

I imagine that the choice of services depends on your language, but by
default (I think my settings are still default settings) I get
dictionary definitions in North American, UK and Australian English, a
UK and US Thesaurus, translation to about a dozen languages, lookup of 2
versions of Encarta and several news search services.

You can choose which of the built-in services Word searches by doing
Tools > Research and clicking Research Options at the bottom of the
research pane.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
Melbourne, Australia

 

[Rob Schneider]

Is there a dictionary that I can purchase for Word 2003 that will give me
definitions of words, not just spellings?
I have this for WordPerfect.

I had Encarta 2000 Dictionary previously installed, then installed
Office 2003, and the lookup "just works". I did nothing to make it
work. I presume you can buy the current version and it will also work.

 

[SPS]

I very much appreciate these helpful responses.
Harold