Because the Google Dictionary API is deprecated (e.g., following)

and has been replaced with define (e.g., following)

Does anybody know how to use/invoke the "Google define" API in java?

Here is the chrome extension which does similar thing.

As an alternative, are there any open source dictionary APIs? I found Oxford (OED), Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, Wordnik APIs which provide APIs in subscription models.

Also found Wordnet 3.1 which is pretty old. Not sure if it being updated or not.

3 Answers

Unfortunately, like others have said, the Google Dictionary API is deprecated.

As I needed a Google Dictionary API for my project, I decided to create one.

I scraped the web page for the URL where term is any word you want to get meaning of, and created the API. You can find it here.

How to use

The basic syntax of a URL request to the API is shown below:

<--language_code-->/<--word-->

As an example, to get definition of English word hello, you can send request to:

The API also provides other meanings of the word, example sentences, and synonyms, if any.

If you want me to include any other details, please comment and I will happily extend the API to cover your needs.

The source code is on GitHub.

Yes! Google Dictionary access is removed. This does the same job but still has access.

AFAIK, Dictionary Lookup is one of the most popular as listed by

To get the very best definitions I would go with api for Merriam-Webster or Oxford. As long as your use is not commercial you'll be okay up to 1,000 queries per day (Merriam-Webster) and up to 3,000 queries per month (Oxford).