WordMeaning

WordMeaning

Select any word, anywhere on Windows, and its meaning pops up right next to your cursor.

Reading an article, a PDF, or a document and hit a word you don't know? Instead of copying it and pasting into Google, just double-click the word — WordMeaning shows the definition in a small popup at your cursor. Works in your browser, PDF readers, Word, and almost any Windows app.

Demo

20 seconds: select a word, the meaning appears at the cursor. Prefer it in a tab? ▶ Open the video — or try the real interaction in your browser at ishpreet36752.github.io/WordMeaning.

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Table of contents

• Features
• Download & install
• Run from source (developers)
• Usage
• Start automatically with Windows
• Configuration
• How it works
• Privacy & security
• Troubleshooting
• Limitations
• Contributing
• License

Features

• Works everywhere — any app where you can select text (drag or double-click).
• Instant popup at the cursor — word, part of speech, up to two meanings, and an example sentence when there is one. No pronunciation clutter.
• Readable meanings — the dictionary's first sense is often the archaic one, so the popup also shows the most useful sense it can find.
• Web fallback — if no dictionary has the word, press Ctrl+Shift+D while the popup is up to search for it in your browser. The program never opens the browser on its own.
• Dismisses naturally — click anywhere, switch windows (Alt+Tab), or wait 6 seconds.
• Clipboard-safe — whatever you had copied stays exactly as it was.
• Private — nothing is logged or saved to disk; lookups are cached in memory for the session only.
• Lightweight — a single AutoHotkey v2 script, lives in the system tray.
• Free — FreeDictionaryAPI.com (Wiktionary data) with an api.datamuse.com fallback. No account, no API key.

Run from source (developers)

Prefer to run the raw script or hack on it?

1. Install AutoHotkey v2:

   winget install AutoHotkey.AutoHotkey
   

   (Or download the v2 installer from autohotkey.com.)

2. Get the code:

   git clone https://github.com/ishpreet36752/WordMeaning.git
   cd WordMeaning
   

3. Run it:

   .\run.ps1
   

4. Build your own .exe / installer (optional):

   .\build.ps1
   

   Produces dist\WordMeaning.exe, plus dist\WordMeaning-Setup.exe if Inno Setup is installed.

Usage

1. Double-click any word — or drag-select it — in a browser, PDF, or document.
2. The definition appears in a popup at your cursor.
3. The popup goes away when you:
   • click anywhere (including on a different browser tab),
   • switch to another window (Alt+Tab or click another app), or
   • wait 6 seconds.
4. If the word isn't in the dictionaries, the popup says so and offers Ctrl+Shift+D — press it while the popup is up to search the web for that word. That shortcut only exists while a popup is showing, so it never shadows the same keys in other programs.

Selecting a whole sentence or multiple words does nothing — this is by design; WordMeaning looks up single words only.

Tray menu

Right-click the tray icon (the blue W):

• Enabled — toggle lookups on/off (handy when you're selecting a lot of text and don't want popups).
• Start with Windows — toggle launching WordMeaning automatically at login. A checkmark shows it's on. Flip it anytime.
• Exit — quit WordMeaning.

Start automatically with Windows

Easiest: right-click the tray icon and tick Start with Windows (or tick the box in the installer). This registers a per-user login entry — no admin, and you can turn it off from the same menu.

Running from source instead? The tray toggle still works. As a manual alternative you can press Win + R, type shell:startup, and drop a shortcut to run.ps1 in that folder. (Don't copy src\Main.ahk there on its own — it needs the other files next to it.)

Configuration

All tunables live in src/Config.ahk. Common ones:

Setting	Default	Meaning
TooltipTimeoutMs	6000	How long the popup stays (milliseconds)
MaxDefinitionLen	300	Truncate long definitions to this many characters
FocusPollMs	250	How often to check for a window switch
HttpTimeoutMs	5000	Network timeout for the dictionary API
MaxExampleLen	140	Longest example sentence shown (longer ones are dropped)
WebSearchUrl	Google define+	Where Ctrl+Shift+D sends the word (e.g. swap in Wiktionary)
WebSearchHotkey	^+d	The web-search shortcut, live only while a popup is showing

Edit the file and restart WordMeaning to apply changes.

How it works

WordMeaning is a small, modular AutoHotkey v2 app — one responsibility per file:

File	Responsibility
src/Main.ahk	Entry point, tray menu, wiring
src/Config.ahk	All tunable values
src/SelectionWatcher.ahk	Detect a selection; copy it while preserving your clipboard; dismiss on click
src/FocusWatcher.ahk	Dismiss the popup when you switch windows
src/Dictionary.ahk	Validate the word, fetch over HTTPS, extract the definition, cache it
src/Popup.ahk	Show/hide the tooltip
src/Startup.ahk	Optional "run at login" toggle (per-user registry key; no admin)

Flow: you select a word → it's captured via a clipboard-safe Ctrl+C probe → validated as a single word → looked up on freedictionaryapi.com (falling back to api.datamuse.com when that host has no entry) → the most useful sense is picked → shown at your cursor.

Privacy & security

• No telemetry, no logging, no disk writes. Looked-up words live only in an in-memory cache that is cleared when you quit.
• Your clipboard is always restored after each lookup, even if the lookup fails.
• HTTPS only, to two pinned hosts (the fallback is only contacted when the first has no entry). The selected word is URL-encoded and length-capped before any request.
• Single-word only — WordMeaning never sends sentences or arbitrary selected text anywhere.
• Only the word you select is sent to the dictionary API, and only to fetch its definition.
• Your browser is only opened by you. Ctrl+Shift+D works only while a popup is showing, and only then does the word reach a search engine (and your browser history).

Troubleshooting

"AutoHotkey v2 not found" when running run.ps1 Install it: winget install AutoHotkey.AutoHotkey. WordMeaning needs v2, not v1.

A word gives "no definition found" The dictionaries are English-only and don't have every word (names, brand names, very new slang). Non-English words won't resolve. Press Ctrl+Shift+D while the popup is up to search the web for that word instead.

"offline / network error" Check your internet connection; the dictionary API needs to be reachable.

Nothing happens when I select text in a PDF The PDF must have a real text layer. Scanned/image-only PDFs have no selectable text, so there's nothing to look up (that would need OCR — not supported).

The popup lingers after I switch tabs with the keyboard Switching tabs with Ctrl+Tab (keyboard) stays in the same window, so it isn't detected as a window switch. Click the tab instead, or just wait for the 6-second timer. (Clicking anywhere dismisses the popup immediately.)

An AutoHotkey error dialog appeared Please open a bug report and paste the full error text.

Limitations

• English words only (Wiktionary/Datamuse data).
• Single words only — no phrases or idioms.
• Scanned/image PDFs aren't supported (no text to select).
• Password fields and other non-copyable UI text are silently skipped.

Contributing

Contributions are very welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup, tests, and conventions, and please follow our Code of Conduct.

Good first contributions: docs, extra troubleshooting entries, small quality-of-life options in Config.ahk.

License

MIT — free to use, modify, and share.

Definitions come from Wiktionary via FreeDictionaryAPI.com and are licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; fallback definitions come from api.datamuse.com. The same credit is in the app under tray → About.