# My biggest complaint about my kindle - dictionary



## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

I've tried all types of dictionaries and have yet found one that does not only give me definitions to words I already know!!  I have yet to have it give me the definition of anyword that I've tried to look for. It always gives me the sentence and only the small standard used words.  Like Rain, water, house, etc.  One of the reasons I wanted the kindle was so I would not have to go find a dictionary to find the definition.   

I know I can go to the book I have for the dictionary and do a word search but the point is, I don't want to leave my book, I liked the idea of easy look up.

Ok had to get that off my chest. Other than that I'm in love with my kindle  

Theresam


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## Chloista (Jun 27, 2009)

I'm not sure I understand.

I have found the dictionary on the Kindle a pretty nice tool.  I have a fairly good vocabulary, but I've been re-visiting all of Pat Conroy's novels and he has used some words I am totally unfamiliar with... and each and every time I have been able to find the meaning on the dictionary contained on the Kindle.


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Something must be wrong with the dictionary that my kindle is using. I've tried different ones but it has yet to give me definitions for any of the words I want. 
For example take the sentence profound magnetic meditations, as: I hit look up and it only gives me definitions for profound and As    In this case I know what all the words mean but I didn't keep examples of the others.

Or even: towards that well replenished little,  I only get the definition for little.  

I end up having to go to the dictionary I have as a book on my kindle and do a search for the words I want the deffinition for instead of using the lookup option within the book I'm reading or find my DTB dictionary.

Does this make sense?  

theresam


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

So are you saying that the words are in the dictionary, but it doesn't find them when you try to do a lookup from another book?  That's very weird.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Sometimes the list of words (at least on my Kindle) might be more than one page, but in the examples you give, that doesn't sound as if it would be true.  I would check with Kindle Customer Service.

Betsy


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Well its nice to know its just me... sorta lol. I'll call customer service on Monday.

thanks all!

Theresam


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## legalbs2 (May 27, 2009)

I am not sure I understand how you are looking up words in a sentence.  If you are looking up "profound magnetic meditation", you need to go just before EACH word to get that word's definition.  I don't think any of the dictionaries would get me the definition of the entire phrase "profound magnetic meditations", but I could be wrong.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

bkworm8it said:


> I've tried all types of dictionaries and have yet found one that does not only give me definitions to words I already know!! I have yet to have it give me the definition of Danyword that I've tried to look for. It always gives me the sentence and only the small standard used words. Like Rain, water, house, etc. One of the reasons I wanted the kindle was so I would not have to go find a dictionary to find the definition.
> 
> I know I can go to the book I have for the dictionary and do a word search but the point is, I don't want to leave my book, I liked the idea of easy look up.
> 
> ...


Do you have the cursor at the word you want to look up? It should give you a choice of each the words in that line. I've never had a problem with this.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Yes, either you're not doing the look up right (and it sounds as if you are, you're getting some of the words in the sentence) or there's something wrong.  I rarely find a word that my Kindle dictionary can't give me the definition for.  Well there was "wodges" yesterday, but I decided it was a typo and that the author meant "wedges."  (Two words for that non-KB author:  SPELL CHECK.)

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

On the K1. . .scroll to the line, click the wheel, click lookup, and it _should_ list the words on that line and their definitions. As Betsy said, sometimes there's more than one page. . .but if you have a fairly large font setting there will only be a few words anyway. It takes a little longer than you feel like it should, in my opinion. . . .

On the K2/DX. . . you do navigate with the cursor directly to the word you are interested in and a short definition will show at the bottom for each word you pass over. If you do click, you get something more complete.

On both my devices I've only ever had the on board dictionary fail to find really obscure or foreign words. . .or ones that are clearly made up by the author. Sometimes it also will skip articles and conjunctions and very short prepositions. If you have a line that has "profound magnetic meditations, as" and it's not showing the definitions of all 3 of the big words, something is not right.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> On the K1. . .scroll to the line, click the wheel, click lookup, and it _should_ list the words on that line and their definitions. As Betsy said, sometimes there's more than one page. . .but if you have a fairly large font setting there will only be a few words anyway. It takes a little longer than you feel like it should, in my opinion. . . .


I've noticed it takes longer now that my Kindle1 is very full! (42 pages on the home page.)

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I've noticed it takes longer now that my Kindle1 is very full! (42 pages on the home page.)
> 
> Betsy


That may be it. . .I tried it just now to be sure I had the steps right because, honestly, I don't look words up much. I do remember using the dictionary function early on just to see how it worked and today it seemed to take a lot longer. I have 35 pages now, and the book I had open at the time was, I think, a tpz book, so that could affect it too.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I end up looking something up about once every other month or so...sometimes just for fun.    It has slowed down.

Betsy


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

I have a K1 and I scroll to the line where the word is I want then click and select lookup. It gives me the sentence and only a couple of the words. I'll double check for other pages but some don't even fill the first page.


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Ok in distant cousin 2nd book location 99:  billions of other galaxies out there, 

I only get the definitions for Other and Out.  No other pages and no other words.  

I've changed the dictionary to wordnet and now I get 1 more word definition...billions.  LOL.

What dictionary are you all using on K1? I started with the standard one and had issues so I tried GNU collaborative Interntional Dict:  Wordnet: and The New Oxford American Dictionary.   (In settings is where I change them).

Theresam

edited to say: thanks all for your ideas and responses


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> I have a K1 and I scroll to the line where the word is I want then click and select lookup. It gives me the sentence and only a couple of the words. I'll double check for other pages but some don't even fill the first page.


I know what you mean. It's not just you, it's me, too. I have the same problem. If I try to check a word I don't know, it's never in the dictionary! I've tried to complain about this in the past and no one else seems to have this problem. Glad to know there's two of us now!


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Thanks Sebat, its always nice to not be the only one. I must have missed your dicussion or I would have posted I was having issues myself then.

theresam


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## auntmarge (Dec 4, 2008)

Very interesting....

The dictionary usually has what I'm looking for.  For instance, I just looked up "seriatim" in a book about Jefferson.  The book I used it for most on the K1 was a history of histories beginning with Herodotus, and just about all the names of obscure people, ancient places, and schools of thought were included.  

What happens when you try typing in a word?  Are the words you're searching for in the dictionary and just not coming up when you search via the page, or are they missing from the dictionary altogether?


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Its only when I do a look up from the page I'm reading. Which is one of the reason's I liked the kindle was I didn't have to put down the book I'm reading and go to the dictionary.  If I do a word search it sometimes pulls the word I'm looking for.

LOL, I did a word search on seriatim and it shows the word used in Hostil Intent LOL.


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## B-Kay 1325 (Dec 29, 2008)

bkworm8it, I use the default dictionary (the original one) that came with my KK and just looked up the example you gave for Distant Cousin and the line I have says "I mean, there are so many billions of other" I got definitions for mean, so, many, billion, other.  So I think it might be the dictionary you are using.  You might want to go back to the original dictionary that came with the KK.  I personally have not had any problems looking up words that I wanted definitions for.  Good luck in figuring this out.


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## auntmarge (Dec 4, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> Its only when I do a look up from the page I'm reading. Which is one of the reason's I liked the kindle was I didn't have to put down the book I'm reading and go to the dictionary. If I do a word search it sometimes pulls the word I'm looking for.
> 
> LOL, I did a word search on seriatim and it shows the word used in Hostil Intent LOL.


Did it come up in the dictionary?


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

B-Kay - I am with you - I use the original dictionary, in the K1, granted it is not the best in the world, but it does look up the words I ask it to.  That is one feature of the K2 I would like to have, look up one word, not the whole line.  In fact I have not had it not find a word I was curious about.  This is all so puzzling.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

It sounds like your replacements aren't fully formatted as dictionaries.  Sloppy coding on someone's part.


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## jaimee83 (Sep 2, 2009)

As  Chlosta said, Pat Conroy can come up with some wild words.  The dictionary on the DX has been great for me and works as the instructions say.


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## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

For those that might want change their dictionary, here's a great on just that subject: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,7075.msg145064.html#msg145064
And thanks to Jeff for the alternative dictionary!


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

I am still using dictionary my K came with and have the same problem.  I just think it is the type of words we want to look up.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> Ok in distant cousin 2nd book location 99: billons of other galaxies out there,
> 
> I only get the definitions for Other and Out. No other pages and no other words.
> 
> ...


Distant Cousin: Repatriation, location 99:
"galaxies out there, each with billions of stars and"

I get these words:
galaxy
out
each
billion
star (on 2d page)

I'm using the standard dictionary that came with it, never thought of changing it. EDIT: The dictionary that I'm using (and I never changed it) is The New Oxford American Dictionary.

Betsy


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Thanks Betsy, I was just going to ask which was the original dictionary. I started with the original for months but was not getting definitions with words I needed so I went looking for other dictionaries and replaced it, seems I just traded one small problem for a bigger one instead of not giving me definitions to the words I actually wanted to know I started missing lots of regular words LOL.

So like Sebat says, must be the words we want to know are not in the New Oxford American Dictionary, I'll just have to either go on-line to look up the words or highlight them for later so I remember which ones I want to know. Man I miss the days I could just 'gloss' over the word and not care <gggggg>

Thanks again,


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> So like Sebat says, must be the words we want to know are not in the New Oxford American Dictionary,


I'm still curious, as almost every word I've wanted to look up has been in my Kindle dictionary, which IS the New Oxford American Dictionary. Can you give an example of a word you didn't find? I've looked up medieval words, French words...

Betsy


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

LOL Betsy, I soo wish I had kept a list of them. off the top I can't, but they weren't common words I can tell you that and some of them may be way out dated. It's from different books here and there and if I remember correctly all more than 8 letters long or $2 as my science teacher would say <ggggg>. Wow French words, that's pretty good, never thought to look up those.

Anywhoo, next time I come accross one I'll post it.

Thanks again

theresam


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Yes, please, the next time you can't find a word, post it and the book it was in so we can see if we can duplicate it.  I seriously have only found one word or so that the dictionary didn't find.  

Betsy


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## daphnewoman (Aug 4, 2009)

This is wild!  I've found the dictionary to be superb - I've been reading some books set in Britain and the definitions have even had an American definition followed by "mainly English usage" definition.  I love that the short definition shows up at the bottom of the page and it's easy to get more.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Daphnewoman--

congratulations on your first post, and Welcome to KindleBoards!  Be sure to head over to Introductions and tell us a little bit about yourself.

I know that the Kindle2 dictionary function works a little better than the Kindle 1--we get a list of the words on a line instead of focusing in on one word.  Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

Betsy


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

daphnewoman,

welcome to kindleboards!  I like the idea of the K2 were I can got to a particular instead of a whole list. That's pretty cool that it gives it to you below instead of a seperate page unless you want more info.  

Anywhoo, i've switched back to the orignal and will keep ya posted ,  just have to get back to reading books with bigger words again


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I'm still curious, as almost every word I've wanted to look up has been in my Kindle dictionary, which IS the New Oxford American Dictionary. Can you give an example of a word you didn't find? I've looked up medieval words, French words...
> 
> Betsy


Sorry, Betsy, I can't. I've had my Kindle for over a year. After 2 or 3 months of frustration, I just quit checking the dictionary. I'll try to remember to look the next time I get a word.


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## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

Weird problem. I've never had that happen to me, even when switching between dictionaries. Sounds like you might need to call Tech Support.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I've rarely been disappointed with the K2 dictionary, but there have been a couple words it couldn't find.  I can't think of them right now though and I usually get them through context anyway... heck, that's all I did pre-Kindle so it's a step forward even being able to look up one or two words.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

OK, for testing purposes, those of you who are having trouble, please post the next word you can't find and the book it was in (and the dictionary you're using).  I'd like to see if you're looking up really arcane words or if there's a problem...

If nothing else, I can make up a document with the words and send it to my Kindle...

Betsy


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## BrassMan (Dec 8, 2008)

B-Kay 1325 said:


> bkworm8it, I use the default dictionary (the original one) that came with my KK and just looked up the example you gave for Distant Cousin and the line I have says "I mean, there are so many billions of other" I got definitions for mean, so, many, billion, other. So I think it might be the dictionary you are using. You might want to go back to the original dictionary that came with the KK. I personally have not had any problems looking up words that I wanted definitions for. Good luck in figuring this out.


Uh-oh. I searched Repatriation for "billons" and came up with zilch. Whew (?)


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I occasionally have words it cannot find, but most of them do have definitions.....

I wonder if resetting the affected Kindles would have any effect? Maybe something is scrambled in how it looks the words up.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

BrassMan said:


> Uh-oh. I searched Repatriation for "billons" and came up with zilch. Whew (?)


Using the dictionary look up? What dictionary are you using? It came up for me....(see my previous post.)

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> I occasionally have words it cannot find, but most of them do have definitions.....
> 
> I wonder if resetting the affected Kindles would have any effect? Maybe something is scrambled in how it looks the words up.


Has anyone tried this?

Betsy


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

LOL Besty, different spellings. Al spelled it Billon not Billion 

Theresam


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## BrassMan (Dec 8, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> LOL Besty, different spellings. Al spelled it Billon not Billion
> 
> Theresam


I admit a few typos, but I checked all three DC volumes for "billon." Found: 0. If it's in the dictionary...well, I don't care what's in the dictionary.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

For those interested in words not found in original dictionary:
There were 3 words not found out of 80 looked up in original dictionary on K2 while I was reading Don Quixote: panner (a rustic saddle or saddle bags), sambenito (mark of infamy or garment worn by a penitent convict of the Inquisition), haply (by accident)

I add a note (lookup [deliberately misspelled]) to each word I look up while reading. If the word is not in the dictionary, if I look it up elsewhere and find the definition, I add that to my note. Otherwise, I add "later" so that I will look it up when I have time.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Good system, Annalog!

Betsy


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

That is a good idea Annalog, I know there are too many that I forget to lookup later and spend the day trying to remember what word it was <ggg>

Theresam


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

BrassMan said:


> I admit a few typos, but I checked all three DC volumes for "billon." Found: 0. If it's in the dictionary...well, I don't care what's in the dictionary.


LOL Al, you were coping how I spelled billion. I fixed my error. But still didn't definition for Billion either . I've been using my loptop again and the darn cursor jumps all over the place and messes up my typing. Sometimes I don't catch where it went. Oh well, went back and fixed my miss spelling.

theresam


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Thanks Betsy and Theresam. It would be even better if I always remembered to look up the words later.    Of the three words from Don Quixote, I looked up one immediately and the other two today. I finished Don Quixote back in May! I still have a couple phrases (mostly Latin) from the book to look up.    It would have been even better if I had remembered to post the words I learned to the appropriate thread while I could still find it! I kept putting it off as I have 158 Notes & Marks (32 pages) to sort through.


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## BK (Feb 5, 2009)

Annalog said:


> I add a note (lookup [deliberately misspelled]) to each word I look up while reading. If the word is not in the dictionary, if I look it up elsewhere and find the definition, I add that to my note. Otherwise, I add "later" so that I will look it up when I have time.


Annalog, could you explain exactly how to do this?

Thanks so much!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Annalog said:


> For those interested in words not found in original dictionary:
> There were 3 words not found out of 80 looked up in original dictionary on K2 while I was reading Don Quixote: panner (a rustic saddle or saddle bags), sambenito (mark of infamy or garment worn by a penitent convict of the Inquisition), haply (by accident)
> 
> I add a note (lookup [deliberately misspelled]) to each word I look up while reading. If the word is not in the dictionary, if I look it up elsewhere and find the definition, I add that to my note. Otherwise, I add "later" so that I will look it up when I have time.


3 not found out of 80 is a pretty good ratio. My dictionary look-up didn't find them either. Your dictionary look-up feature seems to be working pretty well. I'd like to hear more from folks who say they are so frustrated they've given up--try some more words and then let us know which ones aren't found!

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I would also note that it's not completely surprising to me that a modern dictionary doesn't have words that are somewhat archaic and/or foreign. . . . . . . .


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I would also note that it's not completely surprising to me that a modern dictionary doesn't have words that are somewhat archaic and/or foreign. . . . . . . .


Although I've found other archaic words. (Reading Gertie's book _Adriana's Pride_ and also _Outlander_, I used it a few times.)

Betsy


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> 3 not found out of 80 is a pretty good ratio. My dictionary look-up didn't find them either. Your dictionary look-up feature seems to be working pretty well. I'd like to hear more from folks who say they are so frustrated they've given up--try some more words and then let us know which ones aren't found!
> 
> Betsy


I have been very pleased with the dictionary look-up feature. I was amazed that so many of the words I looked up were found, especially considering that I was reading the 1885 Ormsby translation. Also, when I am in Whispernet range, it is very easy to look up words or phrases in Google or Wikipedia.



Ann in Arlington said:


> I would also note that it's not completely surprising to me that a modern dictionary doesn't have words that are somewhat archaic and/or foreign. . . . . . . .


I agree. The Don Quixote book was the only one I could think of, without searching all of my books, that definitely had words that had not been found. (I would look now but my K2 has decided to re-index and there are still a couple hundred books to go.  ) I did not count the Spanish phrases and Latin quotes that I looked up using Google such as "a la jineta" ([riding] saddle with short stirrups).



BK said:


> Annalog said:
> 
> 
> > For those interested in words not found in original dictionary:
> ...


The following is how I do this on my K2. Actions on DX would be similar but would be a bit different on KK.


Move cursor before word to look up. If word is found in dictionary (two definition lines displayed at bottom of screen), then type "lookup" on keyboard and then select "save note" to mark the word looked up in dictionary. This leaves the cursor before the word in the text. If sufficient, continue reading. 

If display at bottom of screen is not sufficient, then press Return arrow for more text from the dictionary. If there are multiple dictionary entries or a specific usage that is appropriate, I might add additional information on the "lookup" note. Press "back" to go back to text. If adding more to note, move cursor to note, press Return arrow to edit, Move 5-way to right to add to end of note. Add additional information. (Example for "bachelor" might be "lookup def 3 see knight bachelor". While I did not look up this word while reading, I do sometimes look up words I think I know on the chance that there is an additional definition I did not know. Also, I enjoy reading dictionaries. ) Continue reading book. 

If no definition but no time, ability, or desire to use Whispernet or physical dictionary, edit note to be "lookup later" and continue reading. 

Otherwise, turn on wireless. Put cursor at beginning of word (or phrase) to look up. Press 5-way to start highlight. Move 5-way to right to go to end of word or phrase. Instead of clicking to end highlight, type a letter (ex. "l') to put the highlighted text in the typing buffer. (Saves time and typos.  Also, see comment below.) The text will be selected in the typing buffer. Move the 5-way to the right to be at the end of the text. Move right again to "find" and then again 3 or 4 more times to go to either "google" or "wikipedia". Push the 5-way to select either Google or Wikipedia. I always use Google for phrases. The Kindle will then use the text as the Google or Wikipedia search text. If the answer is not displayed in one of the visible search results, use the 5-way to select one that looks appropriate.

If a good definition or translation is found, remember or write it down. (Wish it was possible to select in a copy buffer. )

Use Back button to return to book text.

Move cursor to note, press Return arrow to edit, Move 5-way to right to add to end of note. Add either found definition/translation or " later" to "lookup" so that the information will be available for future searches. Remember to turn off wireless. 

Continue reading. 

Later, search book (or My Items) for "lookup" to see if there are any words or phrases for later look-up and also to remind self of new words learned (main reason I mark "lookup" on words I look up).

I have found that making notes while I read as well looking up words I don't know or want to verify has made reading a more active process for me. While others are reading faster on their Kindles, I suspect that I am reading a bit slower but remembering, learning, and thinking about what I am reading more than before. I have also found that I am doing that as well when reading text not on my Kindle.

Comment: Using the interrupted highlight to put text in the typing buffer can also be used to use the text in a Note and to search My Items, the Amazon store, and the dictionary as well as within the book, Google, and Wikipedia. Using it to search the dictionary could be useful if the dictionary has the word in a slightly different form.


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