Tech Friday: WordWeb Dictionary and Thesaurus
Posted By RichC on November 12, 2010
Although I’ve used a few different online dictionaries over the years, I’ve concluded that using a program called WordWeb is better than all the cookies, flash cookies and beacons. According to a WSJ article this summer, sites like Dictionary.com were pretty intrusive.
More than half of the sites examined by the Journal installed 23 or more "third party" cookies. Dictionary.com installed the most, placing 159 third-party cookies.
But back to WordWeb, it is a program for Windows based computers that can be installed on your computer and operates quickly from the taskbar with a programmable hotkey or mouseclick (but monitor your memory) . Since it doesn’t require Internet access for it’s basic features the program work well for those who aren’t always connected. The extensive small pop-up program offers everything from audio pronunciations to one-click lookups in most programs including Microsoft Word.
- Definitions and synonyms, including many compounds and proper nouns
- Word relations: find antonyms, parts or types, less specific words, etc.
- Over 130 000 synonym sets and 162 000 root words
- Search over 280 000 words, compounds and derived forms
- 70 000 pronunciations, with pop-up hint pronunciation key
- 70 000 usage examples
- View alphabetically nearest words, suggestions for many misspellings
One of the peculiar as aspects of using the “free version” of this program is the license. Take a look at the second paragraph of the licensing.
WordWeb free version may be used indefinitely only by people who take at most two commercial flights (not more than one return flight) in any 12 month period. People who fly more than this need to purchase the Pro version if they wish to continue to use it after a 30-day trial period.
Global greenhouse gas emissions are currently around 5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person per year, and probably need to be reduced by at least 80% have a good chance of avoiding dangerous warming. Most computer users are responsible for far more emissions than is sustainable. For example two short-medium distance return flights can be equivalent to over 1 tonne of emissions1: more than an average person can safely emit over an entire year.
If you do not qualify you must uninstall the program after the 30-day trial period or purchase WordWeb Pro. The licensing model is designed to allow relatively non-wealthy people to use the program free of charge, and to provide a small incentive for other people who fly a lot to cut down.
Whenever a user no longer meets the above requirements, and they have installed the product for more than 30 days, they must uninstall the product or purchase WordWeb Pro.
There is one exception to the above: not-for-profit educational establishments may make a network installation of WordWeb for the use of their students (regardless of whether their students individually meet the licensing requirement).
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