Install dictionary in GNU/Linux

If we want to have a dictionary on our computer we install the following packages:
– dictd: dictionary server
– dict: client for request the dictionary server

Install

Debian/Ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get install dictd dict

CentOS/RHEL/Fedora

yum install dictd dict

Check the dictionary server status

Debian/Ubuntu

$ sudo /etc/init.d/dictd status
dictd is running.

CentOS/RHEL/Fedora

# service dictd status
dictd is running.

We check that the client connects to the local server, we inspect: dictd.conf

$ cat /etc/dictd/dict.conf
server localhost
server dict.org
server dict0.us.dict.org
server alt0.dict.org

If you type:

$ dict hello
No definitions found for "hello"

We will see that this definition is not found because we didn't install any definition yet.

Install common dictionaries

$ sudo apt-get install dict-gcide dictd-dictionary 
dict-wn dict-jargon dict-foldoc

Now type:

$ dict hello
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

  hello
      n 1: an expression of greeting; "every morning they exchanged
           polite hellos" [syn: {hello}, {hullo}, {hi}, {howdy}, {how-
           do-you-do}]
...

Further reading

– man dictd
– man dict