Chapter 18. Dictionaries
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# Chapter 18. Dictionaries

## 1. How to download and install dictionaries

Dictionaries in OmegaT are based on the StarDict or on the Lingvo DSL format. To install the necessary files for the StarDict format, proceed as follows:

- Search for the required language combination - for instance on the dictionary links given by the OmegaT Wiki.

- Download the file - it should be a `tarball` archive (extension tar.bz or tar.bz2).

- Use untar utility (or its equivalent, for instance`winrar` in Windows) to extract its contents into the project folder "Dictionary". There should be three files, with extensions dz, idx and ifo.

Note that in addition to "source-target" dictionaries you can, using the Dictionary feature, obtain access to information such as:

- Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

- Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

- The Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

- etc...

Some of the dictionaries have no strings attached - i.e. are "Free to use", and others, like the selection above, are under the GPL license. The following example shows Merriam Webster 10th dictionary "in action":

Figure 18.1. Merriam Webster dictionary - use

## 2. Problems with dictionaries

- Check that your dict files are in the correct folder (or in a subfolder below it). Check in Project → Properties (Ctrl+E).

- Does the folder contain three files of the same name, with extensions? If only one file is present, check its extension. If it is tar.bz, you have forgotten to unpack (untar) it.

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