dictionaRy

Retrieve the dictionary definition of English words in tidy format, along with their phonetics, audio pronunciation, parts of speech, origins, examples, synonyms, and antonyms.

Installation

Installation via GitHub devtools::install_github("stevecondylios/dictionaRy")

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("stevecondylios/dictionaRy")

Future: Installation via CRAN install.packages("dictionaRy")

install.packages("dictionaRy")

Usage

Load library

library(dictionaRy)
library(tidyverse)

Get information for the word “hello”:

word <- "hello"
(word_info <- define(word))

## # A tibble: 3 x 11
##   original word  meaning_number part_of_speech phonetic audio  origin definition
##   <chr>    <chr>          <int> <chr>          <chr>    <chr>  <chr>  <chr>     
## 1 hello    hello              1 exclamation    həˈləʊ   https… early… used as a…
## 2 hello    hello              1 noun           həˈləʊ   https… early… an uttera…
## 3 hello    hello              1 verb           həˈləʊ   https… early… say or sh…
## # … with 3 more variables: example <chr>, synonyms <I<list>>,
## #   antonyms <I<list>>

Definitions and parts of speech

word_info %>% 
  select(part_of_speech, definition)

## # A tibble: 3 x 2
##   part_of_speech definition                                          
##   <chr>          <chr>                                               
## 1 exclamation    used as a greeting or to begin a phone conversation.
## 2 noun           an utterance of ‘hello’; a greeting.                
## 3 verb           say or shout ‘hello’.

Word origins

word_info %>% 
  select(origin)

## # A tibble: 3 x 1
##   origin                                                          
##   <chr>                                                           
## 1 early 19th century: variant of earlier hollo ; related to holla.
## 2 early 19th century: variant of earlier hollo ; related to holla.
## 3 early 19th century: variant of earlier hollo ; related to holla.

Example word usage

word_info %>% 
  select(example)

## # A tibble: 3 x 1
##   example                                           
##   <chr>                                             
## 1 hello there, Katie!                               
## 2 she was getting polite nods and hellos from people
## 3 I pressed the phone button and helloed

Phonetics

word_info %>% 
  select(phonetic)

## # A tibble: 3 x 1
##   phonetic
##   <chr>   
## 1 həˈləʊ  
## 2 həˈləʊ  
## 3 həˈləʊ

Audio pronunciation

Visit the urls to hear the word spoken.

word_info %>% 
  select(audio)

## # A tibble: 3 x 1
##   audio                                                                     
##   <chr>                                                                     
## 1 https://ssl.gstatic.com/dictionary/static/sounds/20200429/hello--_gb_1.mp3
## 2 https://ssl.gstatic.com/dictionary/static/sounds/20200429/hello--_gb_1.mp3
## 3 https://ssl.gstatic.com/dictionary/static/sounds/20200429/hello--_gb_1.mp3

Technical details on the relationship between word meanings, parts of speech, and definitions

A word that is found in the English dictionary may have one or more meanings
- each meaning can have one or more parts of speech.
- each combination of meaning and part of speech will have one or more definitions.
Example: the word bark has 4 meanings. Take the first meaning: a dog’s bark. This meaning has 2 parts of speech (noun and verb). The noun has 1 definition the sharp explosive cry of a dog, fox, or seal.
The verb has 2 definitions (of a dog, fox, or seal) give a bark and utter (a command or question) abruptly or aggressively. So we have a total of 3 definitions just for the first of four meanings of ‘bark’ (and more for the second, third, and fourth).
If a word cannot be found in the English dictionary a 0-row tibble will be returned, and message to that effect printed to the console (e.g. define("sdlkfjsldkjf")).

More examples

“hello”

define("hello")

## # A tibble: 3 x 11
##   original word  meaning_number part_of_speech phonetic audio  origin definition
##   <chr>    <chr>          <int> <chr>          <chr>    <chr>  <chr>  <chr>     
## 1 hello    hello              1 exclamation    həˈləʊ   https… early… used as a…
## 2 hello    hello              1 noun           həˈləʊ   https… early… an uttera…
## 3 hello    hello              1 verb           həˈləʊ   https… early… say or sh…
## # … with 3 more variables: example <chr>, synonyms <I<list>>,
## #   antonyms <I<list>>

“bark”

define("bark")

## # A tibble: 9 x 11
##   original word   meaning_number part_of_speech phonetic audio origin definition
##   <chr>    <chr>           <int> <chr>          <chr>    <chr> <chr>  <chr>     
## 1 bark     bark                1 noun           bɑːk     http… Old E… the sharp…
## 2 bark     bark                1 verb           bɑːk     http… Old E… (of a dog…
## 3 bark     bark                1 verb           bɑːk     http… Old E… utter (a …
## 4 bark     bark                2 noun           bɑːk     http… Middl… the tough…
## 5 bark     bark                2 noun           bɑːk     http… Middl… thin shee…
## 6 bark     bark                2 verb           bɑːk     http… Middl… strip the…
## 7 bark     bark                2 verb           bɑːk     http… Middl… tan or dy…
## 8 bark     bark                3 noun           bɑːk     http… late … a ship or…
## 9 bark     barque              4 noun           bɑːk     http… Middl… a sailing…
## # … with 3 more variables: example <chr>, synonyms <I<list>>,
## #   antonyms <I<list>>

“set” (..is said to have more meanings than any other English word!)

define("set")

## # A tibble: 25 x 11
##    original word  meaning_number part_of_speech phonetic audio origin definition
##    <chr>    <chr>          <int> <chr>          <chr>    <chr> <chr>  <chr>     
##  1 set      set                1 verb           sɛt      http… Old E… put, lay,…
##  2 set      set                1 verb           sɛt      http… Old E… put or br…
##  3 set      set                1 verb           sɛt      http… Old E… adjust (a…
##  4 set      set                1 verb           sɛt      http… Old E… harden in…
##  5 set      set                1 verb           sɛt      http… Old E… (of the s…
##  6 set      set                1 verb           sɛt      http… Old E… (of a tid…
##  7 set      set                1 verb           sɛt      http… Old E… start (a …
##  8 set      set                1 verb           sɛt      http… Old E… (of bloss…
##  9 set      set                1 verb           sɛt      http… Old E… sit.      
## 10 set      set                2 noun           sɛt      http… late … a group o…
## # … with 15 more rows, and 3 more variables: example <chr>, synonyms <I<list>>,
## #   antonyms <I<list>>

“lead” is an example of a heteronym (a word that has a different pronunciation and meaning from another word but the same spelling)

define("lead") %>% 
  group_by(meaning_number) %>% 
  slice(1)

## # A tibble: 2 x 11
## # Groups:   meaning_number [2]
##   original word  meaning_number part_of_speech phonetic audio  origin definition
##   <chr>    <chr>          <int> <chr>          <chr>    <chr>  <chr>  <chr>     
## 1 lead     lead               1 verb           liːd     https… Old E… cause (a …
## 2 lead     lead               2 noun           lɛd      https… Old E… a soft, h…
## # … with 3 more variables: example <chr>, synonyms <I<list>>,
## #   antonyms <I<list>>

Visit the audio links for the first and second meanings of “lead”:

Advanced usage

Iterate over many words

words <- c("hello", "bark", "set", "lead")

map_df(words, ~ define(.x))

## # A tibble: 53 x 11
##    original word  meaning_number part_of_speech phonetic audio origin definition
##    <chr>    <chr>          <int> <chr>          <chr>    <chr> <chr>  <chr>     
##  1 hello    hello              1 exclamation    həˈləʊ   http… early… used as a…
##  2 hello    hello              1 noun           həˈləʊ   http… early… an uttera…
##  3 hello    hello              1 verb           həˈləʊ   http… early… say or sh…
##  4 bark     bark               1 noun           bɑːk     http… Old E… the sharp…
##  5 bark     bark               1 verb           bɑːk     http… Old E… (of a dog…
##  6 bark     bark               1 verb           bɑːk     http… Old E… utter (a …
##  7 bark     bark               2 noun           bɑːk     http… Middl… the tough…
##  8 bark     bark               2 noun           bɑːk     http… Middl… thin shee…
##  9 bark     bark               2 verb           bɑːk     http… Middl… strip the…
## 10 bark     bark               2 verb           bɑːk     http… Middl… tan or dy…
## # … with 43 more rows, and 3 more variables: example <chr>, synonyms <I<list>>,
## #   antonyms <I<list>>

Note that words which aren’t found in the English dictionary will return 0 row tibbles, and hence will have no affect on the resulting tibble

words <- c("paint", "sldkfjlsdjkf")

map_df(words, ~ define(.x))

## No definition found for sldkfjlsdjkf

## # A tibble: 6 x 11
##   original word  meaning_number part_of_speech phonetic audio  origin definition
##   <chr>    <chr>          <int> <chr>          <chr>    <chr>  <chr>  <chr>     
## 1 paint    paint              1 noun           peɪnt    https… Middl… a coloure…
## 2 paint    paint              1 noun           peɪnt    https… Middl… a piebald…
## 3 paint    paint              1 noun           peɪnt    https… Middl… the recta…
## 4 paint    paint              1 verb           peɪnt    https… Middl… cover the…
## 5 paint    paint              1 verb           peɪnt    https… Middl… depict (s…
## 6 paint    paint              1 verb           peɪnt    https… Middl… display a…
## # … with 3 more variables: example <chr>, synonyms <I<list>>,
## #   antonyms <I<list>>

Bug reports, suggestions, pull requests

Please reports bugs on the issues page.
Please make suggestions on the issues page.
Please open an issue before making a pull request, unless it’s for a typo.
Thank you!