Artha – Free Offline English Dictionary and Thesaurus for Linux

Artha is a free GPLed English dictionary and thesaurus for Linux based on WordNet. What is unique about Artha is that it completely works off-line.

My search for a Linux based English dictionary similar in features to the proprietary, albeit free WordWeb led me to Artha. If you have used a dictionary on your computer before, you won’t find Artha difficult to use. Enter a search term into the Query field, hit the Search button, and the matching article appears in the pane below.

Artha user interface

Main Features of Artha

• Artha harnesses the extensive & in-depth database provided by WordNet.
• It is an off-line dictionary and thesaurus for English.
• Hot key lookup – Press a pre-set combination of keys after selecting a word in any window and Artha will show its equivalent meaning.
• Regular expressions search – You can use regular expressions to search for a word if the word is vaguely known.
• Balloon tips – Artha shows passive notifications displaying meaning of words you look up, thus allowing you to do your work uninterrupted.
• Artha provides near match suggestions for misspelled words.
• Artha displays not just the meaning of a word but its synonyms, antonyms, derivatives, related noun or verbs, attributes, similar terms, domain terms, causes, kinds, kinds of , parts of and so on.

Installing Artha in Linux

Debian or Ubuntu Linux users can download the Debian package for i386 or AMD64 architecture from its download page. For all other Linux distributions, you have to compile the software from its source. Having said that, many Linux distributions like Fedora, PCLinux OS and OpenSuSE might have a binary package for Artha in their repositories.

Once I installed Artha on my Ubuntu machine, it started residing unobtrusively in the GNOME panel. To check out the meaning of a word in any application I just had to highlight the word and press the key combination Ctrl + Alt + W . Artha immediately showed the most suitable meaning of the word or phrase in a popup baloon.

I have been using Artha ever since to look up English words. It is hands down one of the finest off-line English dictionary and thesaurus available for Linux.

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