Syme

Syme is an English dictionary for instant messaging services like GTalk and XMPP/Jabber.

It is quite simple to use: you add the following user to your contact list:

syme@cavorite.com

Then you send him a message with the word you are looking for and he will reply with its definition. For example, if you send the word ajar, Syme will reply:

ajar:

adj 1: slightly open; “the door was ajar”

Syme can also search for synonyms. For doing that, just send him a message with the prefix “s:” and then the word; for example: s:ludicrous:

Synonyms of ludicrous:

ridiculous, preposterous, nonsensical, laughable, idiotic, derisory, cockeyed, absurd, ridiculous, farcical

The Data

The definitions and synonyms are queried from the WordNet database. The spellchecker is based on the Spelling Suggestion Service by Yahoo!.

The Code

Syme is written in Scala and uses the libraries Spark, for the XMPP protocol, and JAWS, for searching the WordNet database.

The code is distributed under the BSD license and it can be downloaded from my personal Mercurial repository.