# Simple dictionary as tab seperated

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-dictionary-as-tab-seperated/184675>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 27, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-dictionary-as-tab-seperated/184675 "2003-06-27T01:49:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ScottHaneda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@ScottHaneda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScottHaneda)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-dictionary-as-tab-seperated/184675/1 "2003-06-27T01:49:57Z")

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I have looked everywhere, I need a simple dictionary, for import into a local database. Prefer word\<tab\>definition, but I can clean up most anything, however, I am looking for a versy simplistic one, with perhaps no more than 2 definitions, just the most common. I want to import this into a datbase and wrtie a small web app that will accept emails from cell phones, and return the definition of words, so the results must be simple since cell phones can not diaply a lot of data.

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**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-dictionary-as-tab-seperated/184675/2 "2003-06-27T02:42:52Z")

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This is just a WAG, but it might be easier to have your script pull (or _site scrape_) the first couple of definitions off a web-based dictionary like [www.m-w.com](http://www.m-w.com) or [www.dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com) I don’t have the first idea about how to code such a thing, but in theory it would have several advantages over a static database.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-dictionary-as-tab-seperated/184675/3 "2003-06-27T03:11:33Z")

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[Clever Keys from dictionary.com](http://www.cleverkeys.com/ck.html?p=home&os=).

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**Author:** ![ScottHaneda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@ScottHaneda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScottHaneda)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-dictionary-as-tab-seperated/184675/4 "2003-06-27T05:08:31Z")

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In case anyone ever needs it, here is the place  
[http://www.translatum.gr/dictionaries/download-english.htm](http://www.translatum.gr/dictionaries/download-english.htm)