How We Use Your Information

At Dictionary, we believe language is a bridge to understanding, connection, and opportunity. This policy explains clearly and transparently how we process the information you share with us, how your data enables our services, and the choices available to control your experience. We are committed to treating your information with respect, security, and purpose-driven transparency.

Information We Collect

To provide a comprehensive language platform, we collect information in several categories, each serving a specific operational purpose:

• Account & Profile Data: Name, email, username, language preferences, subscription tier, and payment information (processed securely via PCI-compliant providers).
• Search & Usage Data: Words looked up, frequency of searches, time spent on entries, pronunciation playback history, and feature interactions.
• Device & Technical Data: IP address, browser type, device model, operating system, and crash/log reports to ensure stability.
• Communication Records: Support tickets, feedback submissions, survey responses, and correspondence with our team.
• Cookies & Tracking Technologies: Session cookies for login persistence, analytics cookies for performance measurement, and preference cookies to remember your language settings.

How We Use Your Data

Every data point we collect serves a direct function in delivering, maintaining, and improving Dictionary. We do not use your personal information for unrelated advertising or sell it to third-party data brokers.

Core Service Delivery

Your search queries and language preferences allow us to return accurate definitions, etymologies, synonyms, and translations tailored to your selected dialects. Account data enables secure authentication, subscription management, and cross-device synchronization.

Service Improvement

We analyze aggregated usage patterns to identify high-demand vocabulary, optimize search algorithms, and prioritize content updates for underrepresented languages. Anonymous error logs help our engineering team resolve technical issues faster.

Personalization & Features

Dictionary is designed to adapt to how you learn and interact with language. Your data enables:

• Custom Word Lists & Flashcards: Saving your searched terms for spaced repetition and offline study.
• Contextual Suggestions: AI-driven synonym recommendations based on your writing or search history.
• Regional Dialect Filters: Automatically prioritizing definitions and pronunciations relevant to your selected region.
• Learning Progress Tracking: Visual dashboards showing vocabulary expansion and comprehension milestones.

All personalization is opt-in by default and can be adjusted or reset at any time in your privacy dashboard.

Analytics & Research

We conduct limited, privacy-preserving research to advance computational linguistics and dictionary science. This includes:

• Anonymized trend analysis to identify emerging words, slang, and semantic shifts across languages.
• Academic partnerships where data is strictly de-identified and aggregated before sharing.
• Model training for our pronunciation AI, using only voluntarily contributed audio samples or publicly licensed corpora.

Research data never contains personally identifiable information unless explicit consent is provided for specific studies.

Communication & Support

We use your contact information solely for service-related communication:

• Transactional Messages: Verification emails, password resets, subscription confirmations, and security alerts.
• Support Responses: Replies to help desk inquiries, bug reports, or feature requests.
• Product Updates: Notifications about new languages, major feature releases, or policy changes. These can be unsubscribed from instantly.
• Security & Compliance: Notifications required by law or necessary to prevent fraud or service abuse.

Sharing & Third Parties

We are transparent about who accesses your data and why:

• Service Providers: Cloud hosting, payment processing, customer support platforms, and email delivery services bound by strict data processing agreements.
• Legal & Safety: We may disclose information to comply with valid legal requests, prevent imminent harm, or protect our intellectual property.
• Business Transfers: In the event of a merger or acquisition, user data is transferred as a business asset with continuing privacy obligations.
• Public/Shared Features: Content you choose to publish publicly (e.g., community word suggestions) may be visible to other users. We recommend reviewing privacy settings before sharing.

Dictionary does not sell, rent, or license personal data to data brokers, advertisers, or unrelated third parties.

Security & Retention

We implement industry-standard safeguards to protect your information:

• End-to-end encryption for data in transit and AES-256 encryption for data at rest.
• Regular third-party security audits, penetration testing, and SOC 2 Type II compliance.
• Strict access controls, multi-factor authentication for administrative systems, and automatic session timeouts.

Data Retention

We retain information only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy. Account data is retained while your account is active. Upon account deletion, personal data is permanently removed within 30 days, except where retention is required for legal, tax, or fraud prevention obligations.

Your Rights & Controls

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to:

• Access, correct, or update your personal information
• Request deletion or export of your data
• Object to or restrict certain processing activities
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• Withdraw consent for optional data collection
• Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

You can manage these preferences directly in Settings → Privacy & Data. All requests are processed within 30 days and verified to protect your account security.

Updates & Contact

Language evolves, and so do our practices. When we make meaningful changes to how we use your information, we will notify you via email or in-app notification before the changes take effect. The "Last Updated" date at the top of this page reflects our most recent revisions.

If you have questions, concerns, or need assistance with your data, please contact our Privacy Team:

• Email: privacy@dictionary.com
• Postal: Dictionary Inc., Attn: Data Protection Officer, 100 Language Way, Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA
• Support Portal: dictionary.com/support

Thank you for trusting Dictionary with your language journey. We are committed to keeping your data safe, your experience seamless, and your privacy respected.