Mobile app developers, need a big ol’ database of English language information? You’re in luck, the massively popular Dictionary.com (who already has some of their own apps) has announced a new API that is free for non-commercial apps, and sold on a fee or revenue share basis with commercial apps. Available data sets include dictionary, thesaurus, slang, example sentences, question and answer, crossword solver, word of the day, synonyms, random words, spelling suggestions, audio pronunciation, etymology, antonyms, and reverse dictionary. They’ll also throw in some added visibility in their app showcase for particularly innovative projects
As a guy who spends a lot of time dealing with, y’know… words, I find this announcement pretty exciting. Alternative keyboards, like Swype, could tap into this database to further hone the accuracy of their already-sweet keyboard, especially when it comes to slang. Voice control apps like Vlingo could cross-reference their results with the audio pronunciation data that Dictionary.com offers. Games like Words with Friends will have a field day with this opportunity.
If you’re a developer and you want to give this a shot, hit up the Dictionary.com Developers API Center.