Bug 515039

Summary:	Request that words which are copied & pasted (or using middle click) into the dictionary widget are immediately looked up without needing to press enter
Product:	[Plasma] plasmashell	Reporter:	Sevenseraphim <Sevenseraphim>
Component:	Dictionary widget	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status:	CONFIRMED ---
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	akselmo
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	master
Target Milestone:	1.0
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments:	mac spotlight dictionary functionality

Description Sevenseraphim 2026-01-25 05:35:47 UTC

SUMMARY
The dictionary app requires you to press enter after you copy and paste a word there. I request that it immediately looks up the definition to make the process more seamless (similar to krunner).

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Copy a word you want the definition of
2. Paste it into the dictionary app

OBSERVED RESULT
Nothing happens

EXPECTED RESULT
The word should be looked up immediately without needing to press enter

I think this would make the dictionary widget potentially a lot more useful/faster to use.

Operating System: Manjaro Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.21.0
Qt Version: 6.10.1
Graphics Platform: Wayland

Comment 1 Akseli Lahtinen 2026-01-26 12:48:09 UTC

Can confirm, would make sense.

Comment 2 Sevenseraphim 2026-01-31 05:15:25 UTC

Honestly though I think that the dictionary widget or functionality could be completely merged into krunner. Spotlight (similar to krunner) used in Macs has a very nice implementation of it. Any time you search for a single word, a dictionary definition is always there as an option, although there's probably a way to toggle it off for people who don't like it. This makes looking up a definition extremely fast since you already have a memorized shortcut that you use for krunner, (presumably on a regular basis) so there's no need to open any other widgets or memorize any other shortcuts.

I know that you can manually type the word "define" before any word in krunner to trigger this functionality but that slows things down by an order of magnitude, to the extent that I never use it. The "ideal" situation would be to either copy paste a word or middle click it into krunner and immediately have the definition show up as one of the results. There's no need for a separate dictionary widget then.

Please see the screenshot below for reference (not my screenshot I just found it on the web)

Comment 3 Sevenseraphim 2026-01-31 05:18:18 UTC

Created attachment 189083 [details]
mac spotlight dictionary functionality

Example taken from Spotlight of how word definitions can be incorporated into krunner without needing to type "define" first -this makes looking up definitions super fast and seamless. I think that everyone would start using this feature a lot more often if it could be implemented this way.