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Plainly
A dictionary that finally explains words in plain English
A dictionary that explains words in actual plain English. No circular definitions, no jargon. Just a clear meaning, an example sentence, pronunciation, and an "in other words" line for when you need it even simpler. Plus "not to be confused with" for words people mix up. No accounts. Free API too. Just curl it, no signup. A chunk of visitors come back daily just to look things up, which tells me it's actually useful.
Hey everyone! 👋
I built Plainly because I kept hitting the same wall: look up a word, and the definition uses two other words I also don't know. Circular dictionary definitions have bugged me for years, so I finally sat down and built the dictionary I actually wanted.
Every word gets a plain-English definition, an example sentence, pronunciation, and an "in other words" line for when even the plain definition needs simplifying further. There's also a "not to be confused with" section for words people constantly mix up (e.g. illicit/elicit).
It's free, no accounts needed. There's an API too if you want plain-English definitions in your own project, just curl it, no signup required.
Still early, and I'm actively working on a browser extension right now. Two things I'd love to know:
- What word breaks it? Send me your hardest ones.
- Would people want higher API limits? Trying to figure out if it's worth building accounts for that.
Thanks for checking it out! 🙏
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About Plainly on Product Hunt
“A dictionary that finally explains words in plain English”
Plainly was submitted on Product Hunt and earned 0 upvotes and 1 comments, placing #67 on the daily leaderboard. A dictionary that explains words in actual plain English. No circular definitions, no jargon. Just a clear meaning, an example sentence, pronunciation, and an "in other words" line for when you need it even simpler. Plus "not to be confused with" for words people mix up. No accounts. Free API too. Just curl it, no signup. A chunk of visitors come back daily just to look things up, which tells me it's actually useful.
Plainly was featured in Education (79.1k followers) and Languages (14.4k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 38.1k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Plainly?
Plainly was hunted by Zaid. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
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