Define

The built-in macOS dictionary, but it remembers.

Define is a tiny open-source menu bar app. Select a word in any app, press ⌃⌘D (the same shortcut as the system dictionary), and a popover shows the definition — pulled offline from the same system dictionaries Apple's built-in Look Up uses.

The difference: every word you look up is saved. Organize words into folders — Biology, French, GRE — and export any folder straight to Anki as ready-to-study flashcards.

Features

• ⌃⌘D anywhere — intercepts the system Look Up shortcut (optional, can be turned off in Settings), or click the menu bar icon
• Fully offline — definitions come from the system dictionaries you've enabled in the Dictionary app; nothing ever leaves your Mac
• Automatic history — every lookup is saved, searchable, with lookup counts so you can see which words you keep forgetting
• Folders — file a word into one or more folders right from the definition popover
• Anki export — export a folder as a TSV file (with Anki #deck/#html headers) that imports as a deck in one step

Install

Download: grab Define.app.zip from the latest release, unzip, and move Define.app to /Applications. Release builds aren't yet notarized, so on first launch right-click the app and choose Open (or run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Define.app).

Or build from source (requires Xcode 16+ / macOS 14+):

git clone https://github.com/daniel-inderos/Define.git && cd Define
make app        # builds and assembles ./build/Define.app
make run        # builds and launches it

On first launch, Define asks for Accessibility access (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility). This is required to read the word you've selected and to respond to ⌃⌘D globally. Define makes no network connections — see How it works.

Exporting to Anki

1. Open Define → Folders → pick a folder → Export → Export for Anki…
2. In Anki: File → Import… and choose the exported .txt file

The file declares its own separator, deck name, and HTML handling, so the import needs no manual configuration. Terms go on the front, definitions on the back.

How it works

• Definitions come from DCSCopyTextDefinition (DictionaryServices), the public API over the system dictionaries — offline, no API keys. Enable more dictionaries (other languages, thesaurus) in the Dictionary app's settings and Define picks them up automatically.
• Selection reading uses the Accessibility API (AXSelectedText), falling back to a synthesized ⌘C with full clipboard save/restore for apps that don't expose their selection (some Electron apps, some browser views).
• The hotkey is a CGEventTap that swallows ⌃⌘D before the system popover sees it. Turn it off in Settings to keep the built-in behavior.
• Storage is a local SwiftData store in ~/Library/Application Support/Define/.

No third-party dependencies. No analytics. No network.

Development

swift build     # build
swift test      # run the test suite
make app        # assemble Define.app into ./build

Or open Package.swift in Xcode.

A note on Accessibility permission during development: macOS ties the grant to the app's code signature. make app automatically signs with your Developer ID or Apple Development certificate when you have one, so the grant survives rebuilds. Without a certificate it falls back to ad-hoc signing, which changes every build — you'll need to remove and re-add Define in System Settings → Accessibility after rebuilding.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the lay of the land.

Roadmap

• Choose which dictionaries to query / per-dictionary results
• Configurable hotkey
• At-cursor popover option (next to the selected word)
• .apkg export and AnkiConnect push
• Spaced-repetition review inside the app
• Homebrew cask + notarized releases

License

MIT