A command-line dictionary (thesaurus) app, with access to multiple sources, written in Go.

Pre-compiled binaries are available on the releases page.

If you have a working Go environment, you can install via go get:

go get github.com/Rican7/define

The define app allows configuration through multiple means. You can either set configuration via:

• Command line flags (good for one-off use)
• A configuration file (good for your "dotfiles")
• Environment variables (especially useful for API keys)

The list of command line flags is easily discovered via the --help flag. Any passed command line flag will take precedence over any other configuration mechanism.

A configuration file can be stored at ~/.define.conf.json and define will automatically load the values specified there.

To print the default values of the configuration, simply use the --print-config flag. This can also be used to initialize a configuration file, for example:

define --print-config > ~/.define.conf.json

Some configuration values can also be specified via environment variables. This is especially useful for API keys of different sources.

The following environment variables are read by define's sources:

• MERRIAM_WEBSTER_DICTIONARY_APP_KEY
• OXFORD_DICTIONARY_APP_ID
• OXFORD_DICTIONARY_APP_KEY

The define app has access to multiple sources, however some of them require user-specific API keys, due to usage limitations.

A preferred source can be specified with the command line flag --preferred-source="..." or in a configuration file. For more information, see the section on Configuration.

The following are links to register for API keys for the different sources:

• Merriam-Webster's Dictionary API
• Oxford Dictionaries API