Synonyms via JSON
April 2, 2025 at 12:18 PM by Dr. Drang
While writing last week’s post on the built-in Apple thesaurus, I looked around for other ways to get a list of synonyms. I came across the Merriam-Webster API, which gives you free access (for light non-commercial use) to the M-W dictionary and thesaurus. I didn’t spend too much time with it—the Apple thesaurus is just so handy—but it was interesting, and M-W is certainly authoritative.
To use the M-W API, you have to register for a developer account. I don’t understand why they ask for a company name when it’s for non-commercial use (I entered “None”), but maybe the registration page covers commercial apps, too. Whatever. I got my API key almost immediately after submitting the form.
The thesaurus API works by returning JSON in response to a URL in this form:
https://www.dictionaryapi.com/api/v3/references/thesaurus/json/word?key=your-api-keyThere’s extensive documentation for the API, but I just sort of looked through some output to see how easy it would be to extract what I might want. Here’s the JSON output for component. Get your scrolling finger limbered up.
[
{
"meta": {
"id": "component",
"uuid": "5989b740-1791-4d9f-9ce1-d4a8f6a49f11",
"src": "coll_thes",
"section": "alpha",
"target": {
"tuuid": "60760bc0-146a-4f7c-b424-debfb361e283",
"tsrc": "collegiate"
},
"stems": [
"component",
"componential",
"components"
],
"syns": [
[
"building block",
"constituent",
"element",
"factor",
"ingredient",
"member"
]
],
"ants": [
[
"whole"
]
],
"offensive": false
},
"hwi": {
"hw": "component"
},
"fl": "noun",
"def": [
{
"sseq": [
[
[
"sense",
{
"dt": [
[
"text",
"one of the parts that make up a whole "
],
[
"vis",
[
{
"t": "each set is composed of several distinct {it}components{/it}"
}
]
]
],
"syn_list": [
[
{
"wd": "building block"
},
{
"wd": "constituent"
},
{
"wd": "element"
},
{
"wd": "factor"
},
{
"wd": "ingredient"
},
{
"wd": "member"
}
]
],
"rel_list": [
[
{
"wd": "basis"
},
{
"wd": "part and parcel"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "detail"
},
{
"wd": "item"
},
{
"wd": "particular"
},
{
"wd": "point"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "aspect"
},
{
"wd": "characteristic"
},
{
"wd": "facet"
},
{
"wd": "feature"
},
{
"wd": "trait"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "division"
},
{
"wd": "fragment"
},
{
"wd": "particle"
},
{
"wd": "partition"
},
{
"wd": "piece"
},
{
"wd": "portion"
},
{
"wd": "section"
},
{
"wd": "sector"
},
{
"wd": "segment"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "subcomponent"
}
]
],
"near_list": [
[
{
"wd": "aggregate"
},
{
"wd": "composite"
},
{
"wd": "compound"
},
{
"wd": "mass"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "entirety"
},
{
"wd": "sum"
},
{
"wd": "summation"
},
{
"wd": "total"
},
{
"wd": "totality"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "admixture"
},
{
"wd": "amalgam"
},
{
"wd": "amalgamation"
},
{
"wd": "blend"
},
{
"wd": "combination"
},
{
"wd": "intermixture"
},
{
"wd": "mix"
},
{
"wd": "mixture"
}
]
],
"ant_list": [
[
{
"wd": "whole"
}
]
]
}
]
]
]
}
],
"shortdef": [
"one of the parts that make up a whole"
]
},
{
"meta": {
"id": "component",
"uuid": "0bb8d43d-b0c8-4869-81e7-535094385289",
"src": "CTcompile",
"section": "alpha",
"stems": [
"component"
],
"syns": [
[
"constituent",
"individual",
"particular",
"cross-sectional",
"divisional",
"fragmentary",
"partial",
"local",
"localized",
"regional",
"sectional"
]
],
"ants": [
[
"across-the-board",
"blanket",
"broad-brush",
"common",
"general",
"generic",
"global",
"overall",
"universal",
"all-embracing",
"broad",
"broad-gauge",
"broadscale",
"comprehensive",
"extensive",
"inclusionary",
"overarching",
"pervasive",
"sweeping",
"ubiquitous",
"wholesale",
"wide",
"widespread",
"aggregate",
"collective",
"complete",
"full",
"plenary"
]
],
"offensive": false
},
"hwi": {
"hw": "component"
},
"fl": "adjective",
"def": [
{
"sseq": [
[
[
"sense",
{
"dt": [
[
"text",
"as in {it}constituent{/it}"
]
],
"sim_list": [
[
{
"wd": "constituent"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "individual"
},
{
"wd": "particular"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "cross-sectional"
},
{
"wd": "divisional"
},
{
"wd": "fragmentary"
},
{
"wd": "partial"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "local"
},
{
"wd": "localized"
},
{
"wd": "regional"
},
{
"wd": "sectional"
}
]
],
"opp_list": [
[
{
"wd": "across-the-board"
},
{
"wd": "blanket"
},
{
"wd": "broad-brush"
},
{
"wd": "common"
},
{
"wd": "general"
},
{
"wd": "generic"
},
{
"wd": "global"
},
{
"wd": "overall"
},
{
"wd": "universal"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "all-embracing"
},
{
"wd": "broad"
},
{
"wd": "broad-gauge",
"wvrs": [
{
"wvl": "or",
"wva": "broad-gauged"
}
]
},
{
"wd": "broadscale"
},
{
"wd": "comprehensive"
},
{
"wd": "extensive"
},
{
"wd": "inclusionary"
},
{
"wd": "overarching"
},
{
"wd": "pervasive"
},
{
"wd": "sweeping"
},
{
"wd": "ubiquitous"
},
{
"wd": "wholesale"
},
{
"wd": "wide"
},
{
"wd": "widespread"
}
],
[
{
"wd": "aggregate"
},
{
"wd": "collective"
},
{
"wd": "complete"
},
{
"wd": "full"
},
{
"wd": "plenary"
}
]
]
}
]
]
]
}
],
"shortdef": [
"as in constituent"
]
}
]That output came from running
curl https://dictionaryapi.com/api/v3/references/thesaurus/json/component?key=my-key | jqPiping the output through jq put it into the nicely indented format. Without that, you just get a long inpenetrable string.
It was relatively easy to whip up a short Python script that turned the JSON into a more compact form:
1 #!/usr/bin/env python3
2
3 import json
4 import requests
5 from textwrap import fill
6 import sys
7
8 word = sys.argv[1]
9 myKey = 'my-key'
10 mwURL = f'https://dictionaryapi.com/api/v3/references/thesaurus/json/{word}?key={myKey}'
11
12 r = requests.get(mwURL)
13 j = json.loads(r.text)
14
15 for m in j:
16 count = len(m['shortdef'])
17 for i, defn in enumerate(m['shortdef']):
18 print(fill(m['fl'] + ': ' + defn, width=70))
19 print(fill(', '.join(m['meta']['syns'][i]), width=70))
20 print()
There are no comments because this was just a quick proof of concept. Basically, it uses requests to get the API’s response, decodes the JSON into a Python data structure using the json module’s loads function, and then pulls out the parts of the response that I thought would be useful. Because the output for each part could be long, I used the fill function from the textwrap library, to make the lines no more than 70 characters long. The output for component is
noun: one of the parts that make up a whole
building block, constituent, element, factor, ingredient, member
adjective: as in constituent
constituent, individual, particular, cross-sectional, divisional,
fragmentary, partial, local, localized, regional, sectionalHow it is that part can appear in the short definition but not in this list of synonyms is beyond me. Maybe it’s good that I didn’t pursue this further.
Update 2 Apr 2025 2:25 PM
Leon Cowle tells me that requests has a json method that does the work of loads. That sounds familiar, but it’s been so long since I used requests that I didn’t even bother to look for it. When I want to limit the time I spend on a script, I typically stick with what’s already in my brain and don’t go looking for improvements and efficiencies. With luck, though, this will remind me of json the next time I use requests. Thanks, Leon!