OneLook Dictionary Search

Frequently Asked Questions

There's an online dictionary that you don't include. Why?
It could be any of the following reasons:
- Access to the dictionary site is not freely available.
- We're awaiting permission to include it.
- We don't know about it yet. Tell us about it!
- The quality of the site is poor, or it provides nothing new. (Read our guidelines.)
Why can't I find a particular word?
If you get no results for a particular word, it means it's not in any of the dictionaries we index. But that doesn't mean it's not a word.
- Maybe you've misspelled it. We try to recognize spelling errors, but sometimes we fail. Try using the wildcard features to find your word. The page you get when you search for an unknown word should help guide you in this process.
- If it's an inflected form of a root word ("desks", for instance, is the plural of the word "desk"), you might try searching for the root word.
- If neither of those suggestions are fruitful, you've stumped us! Try clicking on the "other sources" link at the bottom of the page to try your search on other sites.
Why don't you show the definitions right on OneLook.com instead of making us click on links to read them?
OneLook.com, like most Internet search services, provides a way to find and explore third-party content but does not incorporate it directly into the site. We're committed to respecting the intellectual property of the dictionary and glossary providers we index.

For many words we show "Quick Definitions" and an encyclopedia article on the right-hand-side of the search results page. These are derived from various public domain and open source databases, and only serve as a starting point for understanding a word's meaning, but if you're in a hurry you need not leave our site to read them.
I found some profanity on OneLook.
OneLook is a search engine that indexes dictionary sites from across the Web, and as such it includes words from a wide variety of cultures, styles, and languages. OneLook does not offer a way to filter out profanity or sexually suggestive terms at this time. If you feel that such terms are inappropriate for your child to see, please do not use OneLook with your child. For a good online children's dictionary, try Wordsmyth or this Google search.
How do wildcard patterns work?

Sometimes you don't know what word you're looking for or how to spell it. Other times you only know a few letters. For these situations there are "wildcard" symbols available for finding words on OneLook.com.
- The asterisk (*) matches any number of characters. That means that you can use it as a placeholder for any sequence of letters or symbols. For example, if you enter blueb* you'll get all the terms that start with "blueb"; if you enter *bird you'll get all the terms that end with "bird"; if you enter *lueb* you'll get all the terms that contain the sequence "lueb", and so forth. An asterisk can match zero characters, too.
- The question mark (?) matches exactly one character. That means that you can use it as a placeholder for a single letter or symbol. The query l?b?n?n, for example, will find the word "Lebanon".
- (NEW!) The number-sign (#) matches any English consonant. For example, the query tra#t finds the word "tract" but not "trait".
- (NEW!) The at-sign (@) matches any English vowel. For example, the query abo@t finds the word "about" but not "abort".
Advanced tips for using wildcard patterns:
- Page through results: If your search produces more than 100 matches, a "Next" link at the bottom of the screen will allow you to view the next page of results, 100 at a time.
- See common words only: If you enter a short pattern, you may get too many results to sift through. In this event, take note of the link that says "Common words only" near the top of the results page. This link lets you filter out terms that are very uncommon (meaning that they appear in fewer than six dictionaries.) You can make this behavior the default on the Customize page.
- Filter by meaning: Did you know that you can filter your wildcard searches by meaning? Put a colon (:) after your pattern and then type a word or two describing what you're looking for. For example, the query p*:ireland finds terms beginning with "p" that have something to do with Ireland, and the query *:widespread epidemic searches for terms having something to do with "widespread epidemic". The latter case demonstrates how OneLook.com can be used as a means of finding a word (in this case, pandemic) if you only know its definition. See the reverse dictionary page for more details on this feature.
- Solve crossword puzzle clues: For crossword puzzle fans, the "Filter by meaning" feature above can be used to help you find answers to crossword puzzle clues, or generate your own crosswords. You may also want to know about the special "crossword puzzle mode", described below.
- Search only one dictionary: Did you know that you can restrict your wildcard searches to almost any individual dictionary indexed by OneLook.com? Just find the dictionary on the browse page (or on any search results page that brings up the dictionary) and click on "More info". The page that comes up will have a search box specific to that dictionary.
- Find phrases: If you flank a word with two asterisks to the left and to the right, as in the query **bird**, you'll get all of the phrases (multiple-word terms) that contain the word as a whole entity.
- (NEW!) Expand acronyms: Want to find phrases that match a certain acronym, like NASA? Try the special "expand:" shorthand. For example, try expand:nasa.
What does "crossword puzzle mode" mean?
On the Customize page you can change the way the wildcards work when you search for words on OneLook.com. By default, the "?" wildcard matches any single character, including spaces and punctuation. If you're using OneLook.com to help with crossword puzzles, you may prefer to match only real letters with your question marks. You can do this by selecting "Letters only" on the Customize page.

Enabling crossword puzzle mode has another effect useful to crossword puzzlers: every pattern search is assumed to allow optional spaces between letters. This allows you to find phrases that are run together (as they would appear in a crossword puzzle) without having to worry about where the spaces would go. For example, searching for "h?ttot?ot" will find "hot to trot" in this mode, and "a?ric??li??" will find "African lily".
Mind if I write a script that makes tens of thousands of queries on OneLook.com?
Please don't, as it wastes bandwidth and slows things down for other users. If you're looking for a decent-sized downloadable word list, try WordNet, which offers that and much more. If you're working on a project for school or academic research, let us know and we might be able to help steer you in the right direction. If you just want to get links for a few thousand words, or use the wildcard functions from a program, see the section below.
Is there an XML interface to OneLook?
Appending the parameter "&xml=1" to a OneLook word lookup request will format the results as an XML document, making it easier for developers to access the results programmatically. For example, this URL shows the results for the query "bluebird": http://www.onelook.com/?w=bluebird&xml=1. Please limit your usage of this API to ten thousand requests per day, or contact us if you have grander plans than that. Please note that only basic word lookups are supported by the XML interface at this time -- definition links and Quick Definitions, but not reverse dictionary lookups and wildcard searches. A separate JSON API is now available for wildcard and reverse dictionary searches.
Why do you serve "pop-up" advertisements?
We don't! Please read this.
I have heard the following riddle:
There are three words in the English language that end in gry. One is angry and one is hungry. Everyone knows what the third one means and what it stands for and everyone uses them everyday. And if you listened carefully, I've given you the third word.
Why can't I find the third one?
This riddle has been around many years and no one has a good answer for the riddle as written above. However, when stated differently, it has an answer thanks to Michael B Quinion. The Internet Public Library provides an extensive answer too.