Dictionaries — entry 004 of 12
Free Dictionary
Free Dictionary API is a keyless REST service built and maintained by a solo developer, returning English word definitions, phonetic spellings, audio pronunciation clips, parts of speech, usage examples, and synonyms/antonyms as plain JSON from a single GET request. It now serves more than 10 million requests a month and is funded entirely through voluntary donations rather than any paid tier.
Free Dictionary API is a keyless REST service that returns English word definitions, phonetics, audio pronunciations, parts of speech, and synonyms/antonyms as plain JSON from a single GET request.
GreatAPIs Score
Embed this badge
<a href="https://greatapis.com/api/free-dictionary/"><img src="https://greatapis.com/badge/free-dictionary.svg" alt="Scored 74 on greatapis.com"></a>Auth quickstart
- No key needed — call it now.
Your key is stored only in this browser (localStorage) and sent directly to the API — never to greatapis.
Look up a word
GEThttps://api.dictionaryapi.dev/api/v2/entries/en/hello
[
{
"word": "hello",
"phonetics": [
{ "text": "/həˈləʊ/", "audio": "https://api.dictionaryapi.dev/media/pronunciations/en/hello-uk.mp3" }
],
"meanings": [
{
"partOfSpeech": "interjection",
"definitions": [
{
"definition": "A greeting (salutation) said when meeting someone or acknowledging someone's arrival or presence.",
"synonyms": [],
"antonyms": [],
"example": "Hello, everyone."
}
],
"synonyms": [],
"antonyms": ["bye", "goodbye"]
}
],
"sourceUrls": ["https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hello"]
}
]Developer reference
x-ratelimit-limit: 450, confirmed live via response headers on two separate real-word lookups against api.dictionaryapi.dev (e.g. /api/v2/entries/en/quixotic); dictionaryapi.dev's own homepage and GitHub README publish no number, but the live header is consistent and genuine.
Gotchas & limits
- No API key or registration of any kind — the base URL is the whole integration
- A word with no entry returns HTTP 404 with a JSON body, not an empty 200
- Only English (
en) has full coverage today; other language codes exist but are thinner - Response is always an array — a word can carry multiple independent entries (e.g. homographs) in one call