Here’s a tip for those lexophiles who, like myself, enjoy using OS X’s Dictionary Dashboard widget. At first blush, the widget seems simple: choose Thesaurus or Dictionary, then type in whatever word you desire.
But did you know that you can click that half-crescent letter on the left side to toggle the widget into a list mode? The widget will then display all words that begin with whatever you’ve typed into the entry field. If you just type “r,” it’ll give you a list of all words that begin with “r,” any of which you can click on for a definition (or, should you be in the Thesaurus, synonyms). It’ll even list an excerpt from the definition or the list of synonyms.
This can be helpful in cases, such as Mac OS X Hints reader itunes66 suggests, where you want to look up related words. So if you type in “memory” and hit the button, it’ll give you all listed words that begin with “memory.”
Just another handy way to remember that despite Microsoft’s corruption of it, words are still awesome.
I've been using the Dictionary.App recently rather than the widget. I like the actual application since it is easier to copy and paste out of it and to read from it while working in a text editor window. Using the application also seems a little faster than switching to the Widget.
Similarly, I find Calculator.App a lot more convenient than the Calculator widget. The application has a lot more options and makes copy and paste a lot easier.
I'm still a big fan of the weather widget and a few others.
That's cool, it may mitigate my primary complaint about the widget--no suggestions when you misspell a word.