Dictionaries

Shown for US

• Compass Rose — $22.99
• Compass Rose Practical Writing — $19.99
• DAIJIRIN 4 — $28.99
• Genius 6th edition — $35.99
• NHK Japanese Pronunciation — $36.99
• Nihongo Bunkei Ziten: English — $19.99
• OALD 10 — $32.99
• Practical English Usage — $32.99
• SHINSEN Japanese Dictionary — $19.99
• WISDOM English-Japanese 3 — $26.99

Last verified 31 Jul 2026

Shown for US

4.1 84 ratings · App Store

1. 4/5Great App, Missing Features

   Been using this app for a long time, and I definitely think it is a huge improvement over the standalone dictionary apps that existed before it. The vast number of dictionaries available in this app is great too. I do feel that there are a few things that could be improved though. I’d like to see a feature implemented into the settings of the app that will allow a user to disable the auto-lock screen feature on the iPhone/iPad while the app is open. Sometimes I have the app open while I’m doing another task, and it’s quite annoying to have continuously unlock my phone while trying to reference something in a dictionary in the app. Most other dictionary apps have this feature, so I’m puzzled as to why it doesn’t exist in this app. I’d also like to see a feature implemented into the app that would allow the user to define custom categories with different groups of dictionaries. In the current app, I have to change from 国語 to アクセント to see the entry for a word in the NHK accent dictionary after looking at the 国語 dictionaries I have. I’d like to be able to define a group of mixed category dictionaries (大辞林、新明海、and NHK for example) to be searched together. Then it wouldn’t be necessary to change between the preset categories to reference entries in across different types of dictionaries. Overall, this is the best dictionary app on the App Store, especially for Japanese learners. I hope my recommendations will be considered for future updates, especially the disable lock screen feature, as that is the worst part of using the app in its current state.

   CalculusAce · 31 Jul 2026

2. 5/5Perfect

   Monokakido’s app spoils me. It’s perfect. It’s beautiful, easy to use, and full of pleasant surprises. I’ve purchased many dictionaries from them and have never regretted any. Compared to quality printed dictionaries, they are very affordable and there is simply no downside to buying digital. Only upside - it’s with you on all devices, you can look at your history to learn better, and the pattern based search makes finding things far easier than paper. And Monokakido doesn’t stand still. New dictionaries are released often. Just as one example, I looked today to see that my favorite grammar dictionary was just added and is on sale. It’s almost as if the company is reading my mind. I hope Monokakido considers publishing more of the world’s dictionaries over time. Their style, attention to detail, and love for dictionaries make this app a true gem.

   jimcoyer · 31 Jul 2026

3. 4/5Love the content, wish the search was better

   I use this app a ton. I especially like using it to search multiple dictionaries for example sentences. Sometimes when I’m working on understanding not just a word but a phrase or piece of grammar, it is really useful to punch in a short part of the phrase and use the example search mode so I can see how it is used in sentences. I’ve bought way more dictionaries than I would need for just looking up words, so that I have lots of example sentences to look at. The only reason I am not giving 5 stars is sometimes the search is difficult to use and the latest app update made it even harder. In a game I am playing I encountered the phrase 私としたことが…とんだ失態だ… I wasn’t familiar with 私としたことが so I tried searching examples for としたことが. Only one result came up, and I checked all 3 types (starts with, ends with, equals) to be sure. This is cumbersome, by the way! I used to check all three by mashing the button, but now I have to tap into the menu and then select the search mode one at a time. Then, I changed my search to 私としたことが. Suddenly, there were lots of example results! Why did I have to type something more specific to get more results? I am sure it is something to do with the way the sentences are tokenized but as a user it is very unpredictable. Similarly I often do not know if searching “starts with” or “ends with” is more likely to turn up results for the phrase I am searching, so I just want to search all at once but can’t, and now those options are buried in a menu making it even more difficult to quickly check. Please improve the search feature, I have spent a lot on dictionaries and I don’t regret it but I truly wish it was easier to use the search function. お願いします🙏

   CharmingToad · 31 Jul 2026

4. 5/5High quality app - a feature suggestion

   Love this app and the fact that I can use it on both MacOS and iOS - game changer. Developers, I have two requests for you: 1. As part of your URL scheme support, can you please consider expanding the query string support to include being able to specify the “Starts with”, “Equals”, “Ends with”, “Contains”, and “Pattern”? Without this control, the application forces “Equals” every time I trigger an OS-level lookup that is sent to the Dictionaries app. 2. Can you leave the current search dropdown settings exactly as they are in the app so that if a user has it set to “Starts with” and “Example”, should they trigger a search via Cmd+Shift+D, it leaves those settings as they were? Much appreciated!

   wiseachoo · 31 Jul 2026

5. 3/5A step down from Daijiren

   MONOKAKIDO’s previous Japanese dictionary app, “Daijiren”, was one of the best iOS apps of all time. It carried a premium price, and it was worth every penny. Now they seem to have consolidated many dictionaries into one app, with in-app purchases for each. This probably seemed like a good idea from a software development perspective, but it’s not so great for users. The screenshots show a user with dozens of dictionaries (even though there are only 10 IAPs). But I don’t need dozens, or even 10. I need one. To make this work, they’ve essentially turned the top of your display into a dictionary-switcher, even if you only have one dictionary and thus never need to switch. It’s just another thing that takes up valuable space, and makes it easy to accidentally get “out” of the dictionary while still being “in” the app. Also, it confusingly splits the settings into two different places. I never got lost in the old app, but I keep getting lost in the new one. Even the old icon was better. The new one is too bland and generic, and just doesn’t look like something I paid top dollar for — at least, for an iOS app. Strangely, the old app is significantly cheaper than the IAP for that same dictionary in the new app. So they seem to still be encouraging users to buy the old app. It’s cheaper and better! Until they discontinue it, it’s hard for me to recommend this app. To be fair, I probably would have given this a higher rating had I not already been a longtime “Daijiren” user. They already had the perfect Japanese dictionary app, and then they mucked it up.

   Kokubu · 31 Jul 2026

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