Dictionary Notes

Build a dictionary in your vault: look up definitions, idioms, and quotes, and save each one as a note using your own templates.

Type a word, an idiom, or a few words from a quote, pick the result you want, and Dictionary Notes creates a note in that type's folder, filled in from a template you can customize.

Features

• Three lookup types, one plugin:
  • Definitions of words, from Free Dictionary API, Wiktionary, or Merriam-Webster. Spanish words can be defined in Spanish (from Wikcionario) or explained in English.
  • Idioms such as "break the ice", with meanings, examples, and origin, from Wiktionary.
  • Quotes by keyword, author, or topic, with the author, work, and year, from Wikiquote.
• Quick lookup: select the book icon in the ribbon and choose Definition, Idiom, or Quote, or run a command from the command palette. If you have text selected in a note, it's used as the search text.
• Find what you mean: idiom search is forgiving ("spill beans" finds "spill the beans"), and every list can be filtered by typing.
• Honest quote attribution: quotes that Wikiquote lists as disputed, misattributed, or unverified are clearly labeled, with Wikiquote's explanation. A quote found on a topic page is checked on the author's own page.
• Notes from templates: each type has its own folder (default: Definitions, Idioms, Quotes) and its own template. Use the built-in templates or your own.
• Backup sources: if the main source for definitions or idioms is down or has no entry, Dictionary Notes can try another one.
• Clear errors: you get a plain message when you're offline, nothing is found, a service is busy or down, or your API key is wrong. Errors appear in the search window so you can retry straight away.
• Safe with existing notes: if a note already exists, Dictionary Notes opens it or creates a numbered copy. It never overwrites a note.

Definitions support Spanish and any Wiktionary language code. Idioms and quotes are in English. Requires Obsidian 1.13.0 or later.

Installation

From Community plugins

1. Open Settings → Community plugins and turn off Restricted mode if it's on.
2. Select Browse, search for Dictionary Notes, then select Install and Enable.

Manually

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. In your vault folder, create the folder .obsidian/plugins/dictionary-notes/ and copy the three files into it.
3. Reload Obsidian, then enable Dictionary Notes in Settings → Community plugins.

Usage

Select the book icon in the ribbon and choose a type, or open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd+P) and run one of these commands:

Definitions

1. Choose a button at the top of the search window:

   • English (or your main language from the Language setting): the word, from your dictionary source.
   • Español: a Spanish word, defined in Spanish, from Wikcionario.
   • Spanish → English: a Spanish word, explained in English.

   Dictionary Notes remembers the button you used last. To hide the buttons, turn off Spanish definitions → Spanish in the search window.

2. Type a word and press Enter. If a Spanish word isn't found, you're offered close spellings with accents, such as canción for cancion.

3. If the word is a form of another word, such as corrí (of correr) or ran (of run), you can look up the base word instead, or keep the form.

4. If the word has several meanings, choose one. Type to filter the list.

5. The note is created and opened: English words in your Definitions folder, Spanish words in your Spanish folder (default: Definitions/Español).

Idioms

1. Type an idiom, part of one, or a single word in it, such as break the ice, spill beans, or ice, and press Enter.
2. If what you typed matches an idiom exactly, it's used straight away. Otherwise, choose from the list of matching idioms.
3. If the idiom has several meanings, choose one.
4. The note is created in your Idioms folder and opened.

Quotes

1. Choose how to search:
   • Keyword: words from the quote, such as imagination is more important.
   • Author: a person's name, such as Mark Twain or einstein. Lists all of their quotes on Wikiquote.
   • Topic: a subject, such as courage. Lists Wikiquote's quotes on that topic.
2. Type and press Enter. Dictionary Notes remembers the search type you used last.
3. Choose a quote. The list shows the author and source, and a label for any quote that isn't firmly sourced. Type to filter by text, author, or source.
4. The note is created in your Quotes folder and opened. Its name is the author and the start of the quote, such as Albert Einstein - Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Tips:

• Assign hotkeys in Settings → Hotkeys by searching for "Dictionary Notes".
• To hide the ribbon icon, right-click the ribbon and turn it off. The commands keep working.
• The meaning you choose fills {{definition}} or {{meaning}}. {{allDefinitions}} and {{allMeanings}} always include every meaning.

Quote attribution labels

Many famous quotes are credited to people who never said them. Wikiquote tracks this, and Dictionary Notes shows it:

The label appears in the quote list, in the attribution property, and as a warning at the top of the note (the {{attributionNote}} variable), including Wikiquote's explanation when there is one.

When you pick a quote found on a topic page, Dictionary Notes looks it up on the author's own Wikiquote page and uses the label from there. On topic pages, the author is taken only from a linked name in the citation. If there's none, the author is "Unknown" and {{citation}} shows who Wikiquote names. Work and year are read from Wikiquote's citations and section headings, so they're sometimes empty.

Settings

The first two settings apply to all three types.

Each type has its own section with these three settings:

Definitions also has:

Spanish definitions has:

Idioms also has:

Templates

A template is a normal note containing {{variables}}. When a note is created, each variable is replaced with information from the lookup. Variables the plugin doesn't recognize are left as they are, so syntax from other template plugins keeps working.

These variables work in every template:

When a variable is the whole value of a property, such as synonyms: {{synonyms}}, Dictionary Notes formats it so the properties stay valid: text is quoted when needed, and lists become real list properties. Don't add your own quotes around these variables.

Definition variables

Not every dictionary provides every field. An unavailable field is left empty.

Idiom variables

Quote variables

Built-in templates

Definitions:

---
word: {{word}}
part-of-speech: {{partOfSpeech}}
phonetic: {{phonetic}}
synonyms: {{synonyms}}
source: {{source}}
created: {{date}}
tags:
  - dictionary
---
**{{partOfSpeech}}** {{phonetic}}

> {{definition}}

{{examples}}

## All definitions

{{allDefinitions}}

---
Source: [{{source}}]({{sourceUrl}}), {{license}}

Definitions written in Spanish:

---
word: {{word}}
language: {{language}}
part-of-speech: {{partOfSpeech}}
phonetic: {{phonetic}}
synonyms: {{synonyms}}
source: {{source}}
created: {{date}}
tags:
  - dictionary
  - spanish
---
**{{partOfSpeech}}** {{phonetic}}

> {{definition}}

{{examples}}

## Etimología

{{etymology}}

## Todas las definiciones

{{allDefinitions}}

---
Fuente: [{{source}}]({{sourceUrl}}), {{license}}

Idioms:

---
idiom: {{idiom}}
meaning: {{meaning}}
part-of-speech: {{partOfSpeech}}
source: {{source}}
created: {{date}}
tags:
  - dictionary
  - idiom
---
> {{meaning}}

{{examples}}

## Origin

{{origin}}

## All meanings

{{allMeanings}}

---
Source: [{{source}}]({{sourceUrl}}), {{license}}

Quotes:

---
author: {{author}}
work: {{work}}
year: {{year}}
attribution: {{status}}
topics: {{tags}}
source: {{source}}
created: {{date}}
tags:
  - dictionary
  - quote
---
{{attributionNote}}

> {{quote}}
>
> — {{author}}
> {{citation}}

---
Source: [{{source}}]({{sourceUrl}}), {{license}}

Network use and privacy

Dictionary Notes needs an internet connection to look things up. Each lookup sends only what you typed to the services below. With Merriam-Webster, your API key is sent along with the word, because Merriam-Webster requires it.

A quote search sends a few requests: one search, then one request for each Wikiquote page read (up to four for a keyword search) and a short Wikidata check for each page.

Dictionary Notes has no telemetry or analytics, and it doesn't read or send your notes. Each service may log requests under its own policies.

Content and licensing

• Definitions from Free Dictionary API and Wiktionary come from Wiktionary and are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Definitions written in Spanish come from Wikcionario and are also licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Definitions from Merriam-Webster are © Merriam-Webster, Inc. and subject to their terms.
• Idioms come from Wiktionary (directly, or through Free Dictionary API) and are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
• Quotes come from Wikiquote, whose collection is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Quotes from works that are still under copyright remain their authors' and are included on Wikiquote under fair use, as described in Wikiquote's copyright policy.
• Wikidata is used only to check whether a page is about a person. Nothing from it is saved in your notes. Its data is available under CC0.

If you publish notes that contain this content, keep the attribution. The built-in templates add a source line for this.

Upgrading from 1.1

Your settings, templates, and hotkeys carry over. What's new:

• Spanish definitions: the definitions search window has English, Español, and Spanish → English buttons. It starts on English, which works as before. To hide the buttons, turn off Spanish definitions → Spanish in the search window.
• Forms of words: looking up a form such as ran offers the base word (run) first. You can keep the form.
• Fixed: source links from Free Dictionary API for phrases such as ice cream now work, and non-English words link to their language's section on Wiktionary.
• Properties: a single word with accents, such as café, is no longer put in quotes. Both forms are valid.

Upgrading from 1.0

Your settings, templates, and hotkeys carry over. What changed:

• Definitions work as before. The command is now called Create new definition note, and existing hotkeys for it keep working.
• The ribbon icon now opens a menu with Definition, Idiom, and Quote.
• The default Definitions folder is now Definitions instead of Dictionary. If you ever changed any Dictionary Notes setting, your folder setting was saved and doesn't change. If you never opened the settings, new definition notes go to Definitions. Your existing notes aren't moved; to keep using Dictionary, set it under Definitions → Note folder.
• Create an editable template now saves the Definitions template as Templates/Definition note.md. A template you created before (Templates/Dictionary note.md) keeps working.

Troubleshooting

Development

npm install
npm run dev     # rebuild on every change
npm run build   # type-check and production build
npm run lint    # Obsidian's official ESLint rules

If a test-vault/ folder exists in the project, npm run dev copies main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into test-vault/.obsidian/plugins/dictionary-notes/ after every build. Open test-vault/ as a vault to try changes without touching your real notes. The Hot Reload plugin reloads the plugin automatically. test-vault/ is gitignored.

The code is organized by lookup type. src/core/ has the shared flow, network, error, and note code; src/lookups/definitions/, src/lookups/idioms/, and src/lookups/quotes/ each implement the LookupType interface in src/lookups/lookup-type.ts.

Releasing

1. Run npm version patch (or minor / major). This updates package.json, manifest.json, and versions.json, commits, and creates a tag such as 1.0.1 (no v prefix).
2. Run git push --follow-tags.
3. The Release Obsidian plugin workflow builds the plugin and creates a draft GitHub release with main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css. Review it on GitHub, then publish it.

Credits

• Inspired by Book Search by anpigon (MIT License). Dictionary Notes follows its workflow but doesn't include its code.
• Built from the Obsidian sample plugin.
• Definitions by Free Dictionary API, Wiktionary, Merriam-Webster, and Wikcionario.
• Idioms by Wiktionary, with Free Dictionary API as a backup.
• Quotes by Wikiquote, with person checks by Wikidata.

License

MIT