macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install wordnetlocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install wordnetMacPorts ports tree · textproc/wordnet/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew
Install wordnet with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper
Lexical database for the English language. Version 3.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-22. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install dict-wn.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install wordnetDebian stable package indexes · wordnet · source: deb.debian.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install wordnetFedora Rawhide package metadata · wordnet · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#wordnetnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/wo/wordnet/package.nix · source: api.github.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install wordnetopenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · wordnet · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
Lexical database for the English language
Project links
Commands and aliases
- wishwn
- wn
- wnb
history
Project history and usage
WordNet is Princeton University's English lexical database: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are organized into synonym sets, or synsets, with semantic and lexical relations between them. In package collections it is both data and tooling: the database is the main artifact, while commands such as wn and browser front-ends let users query the lexical graph locally.
Project history
The project began in the mid-1980s under Princeton psychologist George A. Miller, who later remained principal investigator of WordNet. Princeton's own news page records WordNet 3.1 reaching the web interface in June 2011, and the current Princeton site now states that Princeton WordNet is no longer developed while the database and tools remain freely available.
The post-Princeton maintenance story is part of WordNet's modern importance. Princeton points users toward community-led resources such as Open English WordNet and the Global Wordnet Association for ongoing support. Open English WordNet describes itself as a fork of Princeton WordNet developed under an open source methodology, preserving the Princeton lineage while moving maintenance into a public contribution model.
Adoption history
WordNet became a reference resource for computational linguistics and natural language processing because it exposes word senses and semantic relationships rather than only word forms. Princeton's own description highlights this structure as useful for NLP, and later community work kept compatibility and comparability important by treating Princeton WordNet as the reference base.
The data also became a substrate for other resources. Princeton's news page points to ImageNet as a database of images linked to WordNet synsets, illustrating how the lexical graph escaped its original dictionary-browser niche and became infrastructure for machine learning datasets, annotation projects, and word-sense research.
How it is used
Typical package-manager usage is local lookup and batch querying: users install the database and CLI tools, then query synsets, definitions, relations, and morphology through wn or library bindings. In NLP pipelines, WordNet is often used as a stable lexical knowledge base for sense lookup, semantic relation traversal, lemmatization-adjacent workflows, and evaluation datasets.
Because the database is freely available and has a long-standing citation culture, WordNet also appears in reproducible research and educational settings where a fixed English lexical graph is more useful than a live online dictionary.
Why package nerds care
WordNet is one of the classic examples of packaging a large curated dataset as a Unix-installable artifact. It matters to package nerds because it is not merely a command-line program; it is a shared lexical corpus, a set of on-disk database files, manpage-documented tools, and a compatibility target for downstream libraries.
The Princeton-to-Open-English-WordNet transition is also a useful maintenance lesson: widely depended-on research data may outlive its original institutional development, so downstream packages preserve old releases while community forks carry the living vocabulary forward.
Timeline
- Mid-1980s: George A. Miller begins the WordNet project at Princeton.
- June 2011: Princeton announces WordNet 3.1 on the web interface.
- 2019: Open English WordNet is released as an open source fork of Princeton WordNet.
- 2026: Princeton's WordNet site states that Princeton WordNet is no longer developed and directs users to community-led resources.
Related projects
- Open English WordNet continues the English lexical database as an open source fork of Princeton WordNet.
- The Global Wordnet Association provides a forum for wordnets across languages.
- ImageNet is a notable downstream dataset linked to WordNet synsets.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: blue
broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.
Risk classifier
blue risk · medium confidence · tool
Why
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal
Signals
- text:database
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 8 platform targets.
- Installs with 1 runtime dependencies.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
wishwn | cli | global executable | |
wn | cli | global executable | |
wnb | cli | global executable |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-07-25
manager version3.1
manager updated2026-06-22
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
https://wordnet.princeton.edu/
- infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://wordnet.princeton.edu/none confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:wordnet |
|---|---|
| Version | 3.1 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/wordnet |
| Homepage | https://wordnet.princeton.edu/ |
| Upstream docs | https://wordnet.princeton.edu/documentation |
| License | WordNet |
| Source archive | https://wordnetcode.princeton.edu/3.0/WordNet-3.0.tar.bz2 |
| Last updated | 2026-06-22T14:06:40-07:00 |
| Pulse | updated |
| Dependencies | tcl-tk@8 |
| Bottle | available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux) |
| Homebrew post-install | not defined |
| Service | none declared |
registry facts
Source database details
| Source Database | Homebrew formula API |
|---|---|
| Tap | homebrew/core |
| Full Name | wordnet |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 2 |
| Bottle Stable Root URL | https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core |
| Deprecated | yes |
| Disabled | no |
| Keg Only | no |
| URL Keys |
|
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
Debian apt95%
dict-wn 1:3.0-39
electronic lexical database of English language for dict
sudo apt install dict-wn- Section: text
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 provides
- 3 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Debian apt95%
goldendict-wordnet 1:3.0-39
electronic lexical database of English language (goldendict)
sudo apt install goldendict-wordnet- Section: text
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Debian apt95%
wordnet 1:3.0-39
electronic lexical database of English language
sudo apt install wordnet- Section: text
- Architecture: amd64
- 2 dependencies
- 2 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Debian apt95%
wordnet-base 1:3.0-39
electronic lexical database of English language (base data)
sudo apt install wordnet-base- Section: text
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Debian apt95%
wordnet-dev 1:3.0-39
electronic lexical database of English language (devel)
sudo apt install wordnet-dev- Section: devel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Debian apt95%
wordnet-grind 1:3.0-39
WordNet lexicographer files processor
sudo apt install wordnet-grind- Section: text
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 dependencies
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Debian apt95%
wordnet-gui 1:3.0-39
electronic lexical database of English language (GUI)
sudo apt install wordnet-gui- Section: text
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wordnet
- 4 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Debian apt95%
wordnet-sense-index 1:3.0-39
electronic lexical database of English language (index)
sudo apt install wordnet-sense-index- Section: text
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Nix95%
wordnet
nix profile install nixpkgs#wordnet- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Ubuntu apt95%
dict-wn 1:3.0-37
electronic lexical database of English language for dict
sudo apt install dict-wn- Section: universe/text
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 provides
- 3 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Ubuntu apt95%
goldendict-wordnet 1:3.0-37
electronic lexical database of English language (goldendict)
sudo apt install goldendict-wordnet- Section: universe/text
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Ubuntu apt95%
wordnet 1:3.0-37
electronic lexical database of English language
sudo apt install wordnet- Section: universe/text
- Architecture: amd64
- 2 dependencies
- 2 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Ubuntu apt95%
wordnet-base 1:3.0-37
electronic lexical database of English language (base data)
sudo apt install wordnet-base- Section: universe/text
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Ubuntu apt95%
wordnet-dev 1:3.0-37
electronic lexical database of English language (devel)
sudo apt install wordnet-dev- Section: universe/devel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Ubuntu apt95%
wordnet-grind 1:3.0-37
WordNet lexicographer files processor
sudo apt install wordnet-grind- Section: universe/text
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wordnet
- 1 dependencies
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
Ubuntu apt95%
wordnet-gui 1:3.0-37
electronic lexical database of English language (GUI)
sudo apt install wordnet-gui- Section: universe/text
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wordnet
- 4 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wordnet
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- Nucleus package database
- av.db category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- package relationship graph
- package version freshness
- package-page enrichment