Q: No contacts, no dictionary despite repeated synchs with iPhone and iCloud, mac mini late 2012, OS X 10.11.6

Are both Mac and iPhone using the same iCloud ID and is iCloud Contacts turned on for both devices?

What dictionary are you talking about?

So there wasn't any hint of these lost items in Launchpad or Application folder;

if those applications have gone missing, from where have you gone looking?

The ability to 'share content' across all iCloud enabled devices can be done in

another way than a simple sync. (Another new feature exists, that I did not link

and have no devices in which to try & use.) Several technologies &/or software

could be used to send content or share, between devices using OS X + iOS.

•If you don't see your family's shared content - Apple Support

•Use AirDrop to send content from your Mac - Apple Support

•iCloud - Apple

With an iCloud account, you could sync Contacts between iOS & macOS...

•How Mac experts deal with their contacts | Macworld

www.macworld.com/.../os-x/how-mac-experts-deal-with-their-contacts.html

Perhaps a search engine may be useful toward this end... in a few more weeks' time...?!