# Dictionary Word Definitions Scraper (`parseforge/dictionary-api-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes word definitions, synonyms, pronunciations, and etymologies from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com. Input a word list or a paragraph and get back a flat row per entry.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/dictionary-api-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** Education, Automation, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $12.00 / 1,000 result items

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### Dictionary Word Definitions Scraper

**Scrape word definitions, synonyms, and pronunciations from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, up to a million entries per run.** Each word comes with its part of speech, phonetic spelling, audio URL, origin, and example sentences. No API key or parsing logic required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Building a vocabulary app or a language dataset means you need clean, structured dictionary entries without writing a new parser for every source. This Actor reads the public pages of Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com directly, tokenizes your word list or a pasted paragraph, and returns each match in one fixed schema. It handles rate limiting and retries so you get complete results.

| Who uses it | What they scrape Dictionary.com & Thesaurus.com for |
|---|---|
| Language app developers | Populate a vocabulary builder with definitions, audio, and example sentences. |
| Content writers | Extract the exact meaning and synonyms of every significant word in a draft article. |
| NLP engineers | Build a custom lexicon with part-of-speech tags and phonetic transcriptions. |
| ESL teachers | Generate word lists with pronunciations and usage examples for lesson plans. |

### What it does

This Actor collects word definitions, synonyms, pronunciations, and etymologies from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, and returns each entry as a flat row.

- 📋 **Word list input:** paste one word per line, or a semicolon-separated list, and the Actor looks up each one.
- 📄 **Paragraph tokenizer:** paste a block of text and the Actor extracts every unique word, then fetches its dictionary entry.
- 🔊 **Pronunciation data:** each result includes a phonetic spelling and a direct audio URL where available.
- 📖 **Full entry depth:** part of speech, definition, synonyms, origin, and example sentences in one row.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

### What you can do with Dictionary.com & Thesaurus.com data

**📚 Build a vocabulary study set.**

An ESL teacher pastes a news article, collects definitions and audio for every unique word, and imports the CSV into a flashcard app.

**✍️ Audit word choice in a manuscript.**

A content writer runs their draft through the paragraph input, reviews the synonyms column, and replaces overused words before publishing.

**🧠 Train a custom NLP lexicon.**

An NLP engineer feeds a domain-specific word list, collects part-of-speech tags and definitions, and uses the structured output to augment a tokenizer.

**🔊 Generate pronunciation guides.**

A language app developer scrapes a vocabulary list, extracts the phonetic spelling and audio URL for each entry, and embeds the media in their app.

### Why choose this scraper

|  | What you get |
|---|---|
| **No API key** | Reads public pages directly, no registration or rate-limit negotiation. |
| **Tokenization built in** | Drop a paragraph and get back only the dictionary entries for its unique words. |
| **Fixed flat schema** | Every word returns the same columns, ready for a database or spreadsheet. |
| **Audio support** | Phonetic spelling and a playable audio URL come with each entry. |

### How it compares

This Actor focuses on standard dictionary and thesaurus entries from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, while the competitors below target slang or a single dictionary source.

| Feature | ParseForge | Urbandictionary Scraper | Oxford English Dictionary | Urban Dictionary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard dictionary definitions | Yes, from Dictionary.com | Not listed | Yes | Not listed |
| Thesaurus synonyms | Yes, from Thesaurus.com | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Audio pronunciation URL | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Paragraph tokenization input | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Etymology and word origin | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |

### Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a word list, a paragraph, or both together, and set a maximum number of entries to cap the run. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "words": "hello\nlanguage\nserendipity\netymology\nalgorithm"
}
```

A larger pull:

```json
{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "words": "hello\nlanguage\nserendipity\netymology\nalgorithm"
}
```

### Pricing

Pay-per-result: **$0.016 per result** collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $1.60 |
| 1,000 results | $16.00 |
| 10,000 results | $160.00 |

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [Dictionary Word Definitions Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/dictionary-api-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Dictionary.com & Thesaurus.com through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=parseforge/dictionary-api-scraper"
```

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

### Troubleshooting

**Why am I getting no results?**

Check that your word list or paragraph contains common dictionary words. Slang, proper nouns, or misspellings may not return an entry. Try a simple word like 'hello' to verify the Actor is working.

**The run stopped before all my words were processed.**

You likely hit the maximum entries limit. Increase the 'Maximum entries' value in the input and rerun.

**Some words are missing audio URLs.**

Not every word on Dictionary.com has an audio pronunciation. The phonetic spelling field will still be populated when available.

**The paragraph input is returning too many words.**

The Actor extracts every unique word from your text. To narrow the results, use the word list input instead and provide only the terms you need.

**I see duplicate words in my dataset.**

The Actor deduplicates words from your input before scraping. If you see duplicates, check that your input file does not contain the same word with different capitalization or punctuation.

### FAQ

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Which dictionary sources does this Actor use? | It reads the public pages of Dictionary.com for definitions, pronunciations, and etymologies, and Thesaurus.com for synonyms. |
| Can I scrape a whole paragraph instead of a word list? | Yes. Paste any text into the paragraph input field, and the Actor will split it into unique words and look up each one. |
| Does it return audio pronunciations? | Yes. When Dictionary.com provides an audio file, the Actor returns the direct URL and a phonetic spelling. |
| What output formats are supported? | You can export your dataset as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset tab. |
| Is there a limit on how many words I can scrape? | You set the maximum entries per run, up to 1,000,000. The Actor stops when it reaches that number or exhausts your input list. |
| Do I need an API key for Dictionary.com? | No. The Actor reads the public web pages directly, so no registration or API key is required. |
| How does the Actor handle words that are not found? | Words that return no dictionary entry are skipped, and only successful lookups appear in your dataset. |
| Can I mix a word list and a paragraph in one run? | Yes. Provide both inputs and the Actor will combine the unique words from each source before looking them up. |
| Does it respect rate limits? | The Actor includes built-in delays and retries to avoid overwhelming the source and to ensure complete data collection. |

### Related actors

Browse the full [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp) for more scrapers.

🆘 **Need help?** Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ **Disclaimer.** This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Dictionary.com, LLC. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

# Actor input Schema

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

How many dictionary entries to collect per run.

## `words` (type: `string`):

One word per line, or semicolon/comma-separated.

## `paragraph` (type: `string`):

Optional. If provided, the Actor splits this paragraph into unique words and looks up each one. Useful for vocabulary extraction.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "words": "hello\nlanguage\nserendipity\netymology\nalgorithm"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "maxItems": 10,
    "words": `hello
language
serendipity
etymology
algorithm`,
    "paragraph": ""
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/dictionary-api-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "maxItems": 10,
    "words": """hello
language
serendipity
etymology
algorithm""",
    "paragraph": "",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/dictionary-api-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "words": "hello\\nlanguage\\nserendipity\\netymology\\nalgorithm",
  "paragraph": ""
}' |
apify call parseforge/dictionary-api-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/dictionary-api-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/QBEdvd5WSmTQRnqA5/builds/v3cNGpe8EnyPYOQCZ/openapi.json