sdcv is the console version of Stardict.

1. Install the dictionary

Run the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install sdcv

2. Download dictionary files

Download the dictionary files according to your requirements from the following sources.

• List of dictd-www.dict.org Dictionaries (archived):
  
  
  
  
  • The Collaborative International Dictionary of English (GPL, 35MB, 174222 words) (download tarball from archive.org)
  
  


• https://web.archive.org/web/20140428004049/http://abloz.com/huzheng/stardict-dic/misc/


• Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing


• Jargon File - A comprehensive compendium of hacker slang illuminating many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor


• GNU Linux English-English Dictionary

3. Install downloaded dictionaries

Make the directory where sdcv looks for the dictionary:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/stardict/dic/

The next command depends on whether the downloaded file is a .gz file or a .bz2 file.

If it is a .bz2 file:

sudo tar -xvjf downloaded.tar.bz2 -C /usr/share/stardict/dic

If it is a .gz file:

sudo tar -xvzf downlaoded.tar.gz -C /usr/share/stardict/dic

4. Done!

To search for a word use:

sdcv word