One of them is Ultimate Dictionary, a complete collection of dictionaries with which you can look up words right on your Windows desktop. Ultimate Dictionary includes a huge collection of dictionaries – hence the 158 MB installation file – that enable you to look up definitions, synonyms and translations to a bunch of different languages.

The program features a very simple, minimalist interface with two main areas: on the left side, you can choose to have either the list of available dictionaries or the list of word results as you search. On the right, you'll see words' definitions and/or translations. You can also enable the "Scan" mode in Ultimate Dictionary, which makes the dictionary follow the mouse and displays a pop-up window with the definition of the word right below the cursor.

Ultimate Dictionary is easy to use and performs very fast searches. You can also customize the order in which dictionaries appear, so that you can have your most frequently ones on top of the list. On the downside, the program still lacks some advanced features, such as the ability to add more dictionaries or to minimize the window to the System Tray.

With Ultimate Dictionary you can look up any word in more than 30 dictionaries at the same time, right from the desktop.

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What you’re looking for in a dictionary application is something you can open in a click, paste your word, and immediately get the results. You get that in Wordweb via system tray integration, and a Ctrl+Alt+W hot key combination. On install WordWeb will ask you the English locale you will use, such as Australian, Canadian American or New Zealander. The program keeps a history of your searches and you can quickly access them via the side arrows. You can refine your search by selecting word category like nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs and decide to show pronunciation, usage and offensive or vulgar words. WordWeb isn’t associated to any world famous reliable dictionary like Webster’s ,preferring its very own online source, comprising of more than 240,000 words and updated regularly, according to the developer.

The heart of WordWeb resides in the results tabs, although the difference between them all wasn’t obvious from the start. After a bit of testing we found that the “nearest” tab showed you the preceding and following words in the dictionary, “see also” was a suggestion of related words and “similar” presented a word that resembled your search but had a slightly different meaning. “Types” goes down to the meaning of the word, for example solid “types” will be plastic, crystal or block. The “type of” tab is another variation. “Types of” solid will be substance, state or form. These tools will be particularly helpful if you feel limited by your vocabulary and are looking to diversify your choice of words in the document you are writing.

WordWeb is a reliable dictionary and thesaurus with a simple, hands-on approach. It is an ideal partner to fight off writer’s block and improve your vocabulary. The online dictionary is a rich source and WordWeb should help you out of any mind jam whenever you’re writing an article.

Download WordWeb 6.71 in Softonic

Babylon works from various aspects. The main interface is a translation window. From here you can access all the program features, as well as the configuration options. There is also a floating module which will appear when you ask Babylon for a translation. The whole module can be disabled if you want.

No matter which option you use, Babylon provides access to a standard multi-lingual dictionary (to which you can add an unlimited number of additional dictionaries), a text/document translation feature, a unit converter, web search and, of course, access to Babylon's paid translation services.

You can also use Babylon inside applications and online as an on-the-spot translation tool. You can configure the feature in the options area, but the default hotkey is Ctrl+right click. This will allow you to translate whatever word you happen to be hovering over or have highlighted.

In all, Babylon is a very complete tool for language enthusiasts. The translations are accurate (in the context of machine translation) and system-wide integration means that you'll never have to wonder about a word again, no matter what you are working on.

If you have to work with foreign languages on a regular basis, Babylon is a comprehensive, well-integrated tool for the job.

Download Babylon 9.0.0 in Softonic

Dictionary.NET makes use of the technology behind Google Translator to offer you instant translations between more than 50 different languages, in all possible combinations. The program is meant to detect the languages automatically, though I have to say this feature didn't work that well for me.

Dictionary.NET doesn't require installation, and runs unnoticed in the background. You can open it with a keyboard shortcut, a mouse combination or from the program's icon on the System Tray, and then enter whatever word or sentence you want to translate. Another option – probably easier – is selecting a given word or sentence and then using the predefined keyboard shortcut or mouse combination to bring Dictionary.NET up with the translation already loaded.

That said, you should bear in mind that Dictionary.NET is still an automatic translator that doesn't produce perfect results. As long as you don't need professional translations, Dictionary.NET works perfectly fine for quick dictionary look-ups.

Need to quickly translate a specific word or sentence? Dictionary.NET can do the work for you.

Download Dictionary.NET 4.8.4518 in Softonic

Dictionary.com is a dictionary that you can access from your desktop. This dictionary function - arguably the most important part of the app - is integrated into the charm bar - sweep your mouse into the top right corner, and the bar will appear. Search is the first option, then specify that you want the search to be limited to Dictionary.com.

As well as basic search functions, Dictionary.com includes some of the more entertaining content from the website - your history, a word of the day feature (with pronunciation), hot words, trends and the interesting local searches (though it's not obvious how often this feature is updated).

In all, Dictionary.com is an attractive and useful app. As we've seen with some other Windows 8 Metro Apps, though, it doesn't have any content or functionality that makes it stand out from the website, which is disappointing, especially as the app is optimized for tablet use and is a little ungainly on the PC.

Dictionary.com looks good, but it doesn't have anything that's not on the website.

Download Dictionary.com Metro App 1.0.0.22 in Softonic

Don't expect anything futuristic though, LearnWords is just a simple matching words game in a non invasive window that you can leave on while you are working, ready to be used for a 5min break when you feel like it. A handy feature is that you can run it also on most mobile phones, so that you can train on the way back home too.

It's funny to play with and despite the very basic interface, it's not boring at all, as the different type of matching games are mixed while you play. In this way you will have the possibility to test your memory in different ways without getting lazy. When a word is displayed, just click on the right translation between the options available. Every now and then the program will ask you to translate a specific word and after you have done it correctly, you can choose not to be trained on that one again so that you can move on to new words. You can also click the speaker button to hear the correct pronunciation of it. It's a pity though that there are no exercises with entire sentences, as one would learn and remember more if words were placed in a context.

LearnWords is a very simple game with which you can improve your memory skills and improve foreign vocabulary at the same time.

Download LearnWords 4.8.1 in Softonic

Using Dixio is really easy. After installing the program and creating your free user account – which you can do from the application itself – you’re ready to go. Simply open any document or web page, hover the mouse over the word you’d like to translate and left click on it while pressing the Windows key. Dixio will immediately display a window with the results – either a translation from Spanish or Catalan, or a definition in English. You can also enter the term you want to look up right into the text field.

The results in Dixio feature definitions and translations from several resources, including powerful online dictionaries and thesaurus, Google Translate and the Wikipedia. You can also browse results from Google Images based on that word. The order of dictionaries, as well as the keyboard shortcut to trigger the translation and other details can all be adjusted in the program’s configuration options.

Dixio worked perfectly fine during our tests and proved to be a very useful tool for those of us who work with several different languages. Too bad it doesn’t support more!

With Dixio you can quickly translate words from Spanish or Catalan into English, and also obtain definitions from English words.

Download Dixio 2.1.0.156 in Softonic

With Lingoversity you can easily practice vocabulary and expressions in a foreign language, building a personal custom dictionary according to your own needs. Instead of having an embedded database, Lingoversity lets you download separate glossary files from the developer's website, which enables you to easily adapt the program to the language you want to learn and you current level of proficiency.

Besides the glossary lists, Lingoversity includes also a special tab for online dictionaries where you can look up words at any time, and a notes area for your personal annotations. What's more, the program has support for voice, which means you can hear exactly how each word is pronounced and practice it on your own.

Lingoversity features a nice design and has a lot of potential, especially taking into account the possibility to expand the program's functionality by downloading more glossaries. On the downside, it wouldn't hurt to have some starting content included in the download file (those blank windows don't look nice) and able to download more material (workbooks, mainly) besides glossary files. Also, note that the glossary files you download must match the language pair set in the program's options; otherwise they won't work.

Lingoversity helps you learn, practice and memorize vocabulary and expressions in several foreign languages.

Download Lingoversity 1.2.3.0 in Softonic

The program features several ways to query Latin and Greek databases, although the way they work sometimes is not clear and I ended up getting some cryptic database message errors which I wasn't sure how to avoid, as there's no documentation.

In any case, Diogenes offers very detailed answers including meaning, example of usage and other important informative elements that can be very useful when translating classical writers.

With some improvement, Diogenes would become the perfect alternative to paper dictionaries in classical translations.

Download Diogenes 3.1.6 in Softonic