Permitted Use & Restrictions

Overview

Welcome to Dictionary's Permitted Use & Restrictions policy. This document outlines how you may legally access, use, and interact with our platform, linguistic databases, APIs, and associated content. By using Dictionary, you agree to comply with the terms set forth herein.

Note: This policy complements our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. In the event of a conflict, our Terms of Service shall govern.

Permitted Uses

Dictionary grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use our services under the following conditions:

Personal & Educational Use: You may use Dictionary to look up words, study definitions, practice pronunciation, and expand your vocabulary for personal or classroom learning.
Commercial Integration: Licensed users may integrate Dictionary's API into commercial applications, provided proper attribution is maintained and usage limits are respected.
Academic Research: Researchers may analyze aggregated, anonymized linguistic data from Dictionary's public endpoints for scholarly publications, subject to our Data Usage Agreement.
Derivative Works: You may create educational materials, flashcards, or study guides based on Dictionary content, as long as you do not republish full database entries verbatim or claim original ownership.

Tip: Uncertain if your use case is permitted? Reach out to our licensing team at licensing@dictionary.com for a quick review.

Restrictions & Prohibited Uses

The following actions are strictly prohibited and may result in immediate suspension of access or legal action:

Unauthorized Scraping & Crawling: Automated extraction, scraping, or bulk downloading of dictionary entries, phonetics, or metadata without explicit written consent.
Redistribution & Resale: Repackaging, sublicensing, or selling Dictionary's content, datasets, or API responses as your own product or service.
Misrepresentation: Claiming official partnership, endorsement, or affiliation with Dictionary without prior authorization.
Use in Harmful Contexts: Employing Dictionary's data or tools to generate, promote, or distribute hate speech, illegal content, or materials that violate applicable laws.
Reverse Engineering: Decompiling, disassembling, or attempting to derive the source code or proprietary algorithms behind our NLP and pronunciation models.

Violation Warning: Repeated or severe violations of these restrictions may result in permanent account termination and referral to legal counsel.

Licensing & Attribution

Dictionary operates under a proprietary content license. All definitions, etymologies, phonetic transcriptions, audio recordings, and contextual examples are the intellectual property of Dictionary or its licensed partners.

Proper Attribution Format

When referencing Dictionary content in publications, presentations, or public projects, you must include the following attribution:

For API users, attribution should be displayed in your application's settings or about page, linking back to dictionary.com.

Technical & API Restrictions

To ensure platform stability and fair access, the following technical constraints apply:

Rate Limiting: Free tier: 50 requests/day. Pro tier: 10,000 requests/day. Enterprise: Custom limits. Exceeding limits will trigger HTTP 429 responses.
Caching Policy: You may cache responses for up to 24 hours. Long-term storage requires explicit data retention approval.
Authentication: API keys must be kept secure. Sharing, hardcoding in public repositories, or exposing keys in client-side code violates this policy.
Data Integrity: You must not modify, obfuscate, or alter the semantic meaning of returned data when displaying it to end users.

Enforcement & Remedies

Dictionary reserves the right to monitor usage patterns and enforce this policy at its sole discretion. Enforcement actions may include:

Issuing formal warnings or usage reduction notices
Temporarily throttling API access or suspending accounts
Issuing takedown notices for unauthorized derivative works
Pursuing legal remedies for intellectual property theft, breach of contract, or statutory violations

We prioritize education and resolution over punitive action. If you've unintentionally violated this policy, contact us immediately to discuss remediation.

Questions & Contact

Have questions about permitted use cases, licensing options, or compliance requirements? Our legal and developer relations teams are here to help.

Need Clarification?

Our team typically responds within 1-2 business days.

Contact Compliance Team