dict ☆

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Description:
Dictionary Server Protocol (RFC2229) client

Type: Formula | Latest Version: 1.13.3@0 | Tracked Since: Dec 17, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Developer tools

Tags: dictionary cli networking rfc2229 productivity

Install: brew install dict

About:
Dict is a robust command-line client for the Dictionary Server Protocol (RFC2229). It enables users to query remote dictionary servers to retrieve definitions, synonyms, and etymological data for words and terms. This tool is essential for developers and writers seeking quick, scriptable access to lexical resources directly from the terminal.

Key Features:

Supports querying multiple dictionary databases simultaneously
Provides fast, text-based results ideal for scripting and automation
Includes a local server component for hosting custom dictionaries
Offers advanced search capabilities including regex and prefix matching

Use Cases:

Integrating dictionary lookups into shell scripts and automation workflows
Quickly verifying technical terminology or definitions during development
Hosting a private dictionary service for a team or organization

Alternatives:

wordnet – Provides a lexical database but lacks the standard client-server protocol support of dict.
curl + web API – More flexible for web APIs but requires parsing HTML/JSON and is less standardized for dictionary queries.

License: GPL-2.0-or-later

Dependencies: libmaa

Bottles available for: arm64_tahoe, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_ventura, sonoma, ventura, arm64_linux, x86_64_linux

Version History

Detected	Rev	Change	Commit
Sep 15, 2025 6:58am	0	VERSION_BUMP	faa82312
Nov 16, 2024 9:45pm	0	VERSION_BUMP	fa6c45e9
Nov 16, 2024 2:30pm	0	VERSION_BUMP	f605cbdb
Sep 12, 2024 5:24pm	1	VERSION_BUMP	66e17e37