I want to be able to access dictionary results directly within spotlight search without launching the dictionary app because I find the app popping up in my dock troublesome. This seems to be a new issue for me after I updated my system to Sonoma: Before this, I could just click on the definition in spotlight search and access it there.
rylan303 wrote:
I want to be able to access dictionary results directly within spotlight search without launching the dictionary app because I find the app popping up in my dock troublesome. This seems to be a new issue for me after I updated my system to Sonoma: Before this, I could just click on the definition in spotlight search and access it there.
Spotlight is very useful
Have you tried and Alternative Method to Lookup Definitions of words
Highlight the word >>Control click the highlighted word
Lookup up >> Alternative <<
Pop Up appears without launching Dictionary application
I keep the Apple Dictionary application in my Dock, dead center for ease of access.
How you order the dictionaries in its application settings will determine the left-to-right order on the Dictionary toolbar. That ordering is also relevant for the top-to-bottom presentation of dictionary results from the optional trackpad three-finger tap, or by pressing the control+command+D keyboard shortcut with the mouse pointer over the word you want to look up. One does not need to select that word, only hover over it.
And, current versions of Safari, Firefox, and Brave can open the Dictionary application by using this URI, where the word is that which is to be found in the Dictionary application, once you agree to the browser prompt to open it.
dict://word
I never use Spotlight other than to find files/folders or features on my Mac or quick calculations. Entering a word as though to look it up in a dictionary is misleading as it is telling Spotlight to scan every one of its Search Result categories for that string — including document contents.
Thank you for your answer. However, this is not my problem because I do know how to look up a word that’s on the page in front of me, and I am familiar with the methods that you mentioned. The issue that I am having is that sometimes I would want to look up a random word like to either check what it means or to check how it’s pronounced. While I know that pulling out the dictionary app or simply going to google for it might be the best course of action, I am pretty used to just prompting spotlight search to look at the dictionary app results that it gives me (because I don’t like opening apps when I don’t have to). But since the Sonoma update, every time I do this and try to click on the definition it opens the dictionary app for me. My question is simply, if it would be possible to stop this from happening.
What syntax are you using in Spotlight to look up a word in dictionary?
If you enter any word to look up in Spotlight and then press cmd+D the Apple Dictionary will launch with that definition displayed. That was tested on Sonoma 14.5.
Sometimes but not always
Changing to a new method may work better overall
How to stop the dictionary app from launching when looking up a word in spotlight search?