Instructify

October 8, 2009

When I’m reading content on the web, I hate to have to stop what I’m doing to look up a word. Here’s guessing that you and your students do, too. Rather than navigating away from the page in search of a definition and running the risk of then getting distracted by something shiny, try this new browser bookmarklet from Memidex.

Memidex is a free online dictionary and thesaurus. Their handy bookmarklet lets you look up words without leaving the page you’re reading. Just save the bookmarklet with your other bookmarks. It works on any standards-compliant, JavaScript-enabled web browser (though if you run Firefox, Memidex is really handy in your bookmarks toolbar). Highlight the word you don’t understand and click the bookmarklet like you would any other bookmark. Rather than taking you to a new page, a window pops up with the definition(s), parts of speech, and whatever else you need to make sense out of that heretofore indecipherable jumble of letters cluttering up your monitor.

Memidex has other free tools as well. Their Internet Explorer 8 accelerator lets you access definitions and web services from any web page. Also, if you’d like to add a dictionary/thesaurus box to your class or school website, Memidex has some code you can add to the site to make that happen.

If you still want to look up words Google style, the main Memidex page lets you enter words into a standard search box. Now that you can look up definitions instantaneously, though, I can’t imagine why you’d want to.

Memidex dictionary bookmarklet