Accessing Dictionary / Thesaurus with Contextual Menu

Question

If I have the Dictionary Application selected in the preferences, when I control click on a word, I get only the dictionary or the thesaurus (depending on the order I set in the preferences), but not both. If I have the Dictionary Panel selected in the preferences, after the panel appears, I click “more”, then I’ll have both the dictionary and the thesaurus. Am I missing something, because it would be nice to have the Dictionary Application come up right away with both?
Steve Dutton

Answer 1

Hi, Steve.
Your post is a little hard to follow since you've not quite got the terminology correct. The short answer is that "Look up in Dictionary" is "working as designed."
Let's see if I can clarify what's happening:
1. In Dictionary > Preferences, under Contextual Menu, if you select "Open Dictionary application" then when you Control-click a selected word and select "Look up in Dictionary" in the contextual menu, it launches the Dictionary application and displays either the definition or thesaurus entry, depending on which is first in the list at the top of Dictionary Preferences.
2. In Dictionary > Preferences, under Contextual Menu, if you select "Open Dictionary panel" then when you Control-click a selected word and select "Look up in Dictionary" in the contextual menu, a tiny window (the Dictionary panel opens showing either the definition or the thesaurus entry, depending on which is first in the list at the top of Dictionary Preferences. If you click More, this launches the Dictionary application, enabling you to see both the definition and thesaurus entries in one Dictionary application window.
How the "Look up in Dictionary" contextual menu choice works on selected text depends on the setting of the Contextual Menu option in Dictionary Preferences and the first item in the list the top of those Preferences, as follows:
• The Dictionary panel shows only one of the items for the selected text — definition or thesaurus entry — i.e. whichever is first in the list at the top of Dictionary Preferences. One then has to click More to see both definition and thesaurus entry in a window in the Dictionary application
• The Dictionary application likewise shows only one of the items for the selected text — definition or thesaurus entry —  i.e. whichever is first in the list at the top of Dictionary Preferences.
Note that if you make changes in Dictionary's Preferences, you have to close the Dictionary Preferences for the changes to take effect.
It appears one only receives both the definition and thesaurus entry for a word simultaneously if:
(a) One has set Dictionary Preferences as noted in item 2 above and clicks More after having selected text and opened the Dictionary panel via "Look up in Dictionary."
(b) One launches Dictionary independently, searches for a word directly in Dictionary, and then selects that word from the list of search results.
If you'd like to suggest that Apple change these behaviors in Dictionary, submit a Mac OS X Feedback.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X