Wikipedia is the only dictionary source after upgrading to macOS Catalina.

I used to be able to right-click a word and select Look Up to get definitions in previous OS. After upgrading to Catalina I now have Wikipedia as the only source in the Dictionary App and don't see an option to add other dictionaries.

Thanks in advance for your input.

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 28, 2020 5:13 PM

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Posted on Apr 17, 2020 11:22 AM

I had this problem but solved it using a Time Machine backup from before I updated. I had updated to Catalina (10.15.4) from Sierra when the problem arose.


  1. Open Dictionary app. Go to File> Open Dictionaries Folder. Leave this open.
  2. Go to Volumes/"Your Backup Drive"/Backups.backupdb/"Your Computer"/"Date of Backup" *this backup should be before you updated to Catalina*/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Assets/com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX
  3. Open the folders in there you will find folders named "Asset Data". Your dictionary files should be there.
  4. Copy dictionary files to the "Dictionaries" folder from step one.
  5. They should now appear in the Dictionaries app for use.


I have attached a photo of the file path for ease.

47 replies

Mar 29, 2020 3:22 PM in response to leroydouglas

Hello, thank you for taking the time to respond. My issue is not with the Look Up feature. It works as expected but it only has one source which is Wikipedia.

My problem is adding additional dictionaries in Dictionary.app>Preferences>. I assume one can add/remove dictionaries, I just don't see an add button or option under preferences. See screenshot. Your second link is to a page showing how to reorder the list, change text size, search for words and hide profanity but does not show you how to add dictionaries.

Thanks






Apr 19, 2020 1:56 PM in response to muvinco

Hi Muvinco,


Thanks, this worked! When I searched .dict files in a backup I found them in a Dictionaries folder stored in Library (but a different Library folder to the folder in System). Hope that makes sense! Anyway, I copied the dictionaries from the backup into the application Dictionaries folder and they are now all there. Thanks again, very helpful :)

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Wikipedia is the only dictionary source after upgrading to macOS Catalina.

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