dictionaRy
Retrieve the Dictionary Definitions of English Words
An R interface to the 'Free Dictionary API' < https://dictionaryapi.dev/>, < https://github.com/meetDeveloper/freeDictionaryAPI>. Retrieve dictionary definitions for English words, as well as additional information including phonetics, part of speech, origins, audio pronunciation, example usage, synonyms and antonyms, returned in 'tidy' format for ease of use.
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 barkandutter (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”:
- https://ssl.gstatic.com/dictionary/static/sounds/20200429/lead--_gb_1.mp3
- https://ssl.gstatic.com/dictionary/static/sounds/20200429/lead--_gb_2.mp3
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>>