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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Free, comprehensive and well-designed, Teachmaster is a great program to use. It is divided into 4 areas - Editor, Teaching Program, Converter and Quiz. Editor is where you add the words you want to learn. Teachmaster allows you to load an audio file for each entry and there is a management function to search for entries and eliminate duplicates.

Teaching Program is where you'll open your Teachmaster lessons and drill yourself on the right answers. You can set a time limit and an 'interrogation method', get hints and view statistics on your performance. Converter allows you to convert to and from CSV, WinVok II, Teachmaster 1.5 and HTML formats so they can be used in the program and imported/exported. Finally, Quiz mode will test you on what you have learned.

Although Teachmaster isn't the prettiest program, it does its job well. Not only does it effectively teach you vocabulary, it also has lots of features that make the experience just that little easier, from hotkeys and a back-up function to batch lesson naming and a study diary. Teachmaster would be perfect for any learner, especially if you already have a vocabulary list in .CSV or .HTML format that can be imported and used.

Teachmaster is a great program for language-learners who need a vehicle for their vocabulary lists.

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This special web browser seems to have been developed for linguists, professional translators or students of foreign languages. Fora features a simple interface with support for multiple tabs, but with no other outstanding characteristics, except for its built-in dictionaries.

Fora's native support for dictionaries is its strongest point. While browsing the web with Fora, you can select any word and the program will immediately look it up in the active dictionary. What's more, Fora includes a complete dictionary manager where you can add and remove dictionaries, assign a color code to each of them, and set the order in which their results will appear.

Fora also enables you to create separate user profiles with different dictionary configurations, depending on which ones you want to use on a given moment. The browser supports different dictionary formats, which you can download from the Internet and add them to the browser straight away.

Though quite basic as a browser in itself, Fora is a great reference tool for translators or language students, probably best used as a secondary browser.

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