Universal dictionary lookup?

**David Bell** · 03-17-2013, 10:49 PM

Thanks in advance! I have a brand new Nexus 7, my first Android device. There are a few features I've gotten used to on iOS that I'm still trying to figure out how to get working on Android. One I use a lot on my iPhone is a universal (well, almost universal) dictionary lookup. In many apps (Pocket, for example), all I have to do is highlight a word, and in addition to copy and share, I get a "define" option. When you tap define, the definition comes up in a dictionary app. On the same screen, there's a "done" button, that when tapped, takes you right back to where you were reading, no need to use the multitasking button. The whole operation takes three taps (one long tap to highlight, one tap for define, and one for done), pretty useful and a feature I use quite a lot. On my Nexus 7, the best I can come up with so far is to highlight, copy, open my dictionary app (which does automatically look up the word in the clipboard, nice), then switch back to what I was reading, a total of five taps, not too bad, but definitely more distracting than the iOS way. I think the iOS dictionary is one I downloaded to iBooks. Does anyone know of an app or built in feature of Jelly Bean that could do this?

Thanks!

**wunderbar** · 03-17-2013, 10:53 PM

there is no quick way like there is on iOS, the closest that I think we've come up with is if your dictionary app shows up in the share menu in android, so you can then hightlight the word and then "share" it with the dictionary app, which will then define it.

For those who have done that, it seems to works reasonably well, just not quite as easy as it is in iOS

**liljew** · 03-17-2013, 11:45 PM

There are some e-readers for Android that have dictionary plugins. Nobody claims that you get the equivalent of a $500 iPad in a Nexus 7. The way parents have been corrupted, it's even conceivable that the features in ios had been patented.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

**wunderbar** · 03-18-2013, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by liljew

There are some e-readers for Android that have dictionary plugins. Nobody claims that you get the equivalent of a $500 iPad in a Nexus 7. The way parents have been corrupted, it's even conceivable that the features in ios had been patented.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Yea it is completley a software thing. Has nothing to do with the hardware, or the cost of said hardware.

**David Bell** · 03-18-2013, 10:10 PM

Originally Posted by liljew

There are some e-readers for Android that have dictionary plugins. Nobody claims that you get the equivalent of a $500 iPad in a Nexus 7. The way parents have been corrupted, it's even conceivable that the features in ios had been patented.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Yeah, I didn't quite understand that post myself. Definitely a software thing, and now that you guys have pointed out the "share" options, I see that in fact, my Chinese English dictionary (pleco) does have this feature enabled! Whoopee! That's something I don't think I've ever had in iOS. So go android. Now I just need an English dictionary with this function. The merrium Webster I have installed does not show up under share. Any suggestions? Thanks!

**bigtroutz** · 03-19-2013, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by David Bell

Yeah, I didn't quite understand that post myself. Definitely a software thing, and now that you guys have pointed out the "share" options, I see that in fact, my Chinese English dictionary (pleco) does have this feature enabled! Whoopee! That's something I don't think I've ever had in iOS. So go android. Now I just need an English dictionary with this function. The merrium Webster I have installed does not show up under share. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Give this one a try - might work out

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