How to Look Up Words in Seconds

As a writer, I often need to look up the meaning of words. Sometimes it’s because I don’t know what a certain word means; other times I need to confirm I’m using a word properly.

Of course, I’ve got dictionaries on my shelf. I’ve even got a monstrous Webster’s Unabridged dictionary from 1978. (It measures 4.5 inches thick.)

But when I’m in the middle of writing, it’s not my preference to haul down a dictionary to look up a word. I’d rather just type in the word-in-question and get the definition immediately.

So that’s been my habit for a number of years.

Up until now, I would go to Dictionary.com, but the site is really annoying. Lots of pop-ups and banner ads.

Now I’m using a better method. It’s called Google.

To look up the definition of a word using Google, all you have to do is use the define: operator.

So, for instance, if you wanted to know the meaning of “sesquipedalian,” you would type in the Google search box:

define:sesquipedalian

You would then get back multiple definitions of the word with all the sources cited.

I find this is a much cleaner, simpler way of looking up words (as compared to Dictionary.com). Give it a try the next time you need an online dictionary.