Gloss · Compared · Dictionary.com
Gloss vs Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com is the dictionary most people already know, free in the App Store, with Thesaurus.com inside it. Gloss is smaller and costs money. What you get for the money is an explanation written in your style, a word a day you will remember, and an app with no ads in it.
What Dictionary.com does better
- Breadth. Definitions, idioms, rhymes, slang, grammar articles and a thesaurus in one place.
- Free, with an enormous audience and years of history.
- The web. Dictionary.com is as much a website as an app. Gloss is an app; on the web there are only the cards you share.
What Gloss does differently
- Your style instead of a list of meanings. Plain when you want it plain, a metaphor when that is what sticks.
- Practice. Dictionary.com removed its quizzes in version 12. Gloss is built around practice: four short games and a Sunday review, timed by spaced repetition.
- Offline, daily. Today’s gloss, this week’s words and your saved words work without a signal.
- Nothing between you and the word. No ads, no articles to scroll past, no upgrade prompts.
- The share sheet. Select a word in any app, share it to Gloss and read its gloss where you are.
Side by side
| Gloss | Dictionary.com: English Words | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $39.99 a year after three days free; $5.99 a month; or pay once, $129.99 | Free with ads; paid upgrades to remove ads and add features (prices shown in the app) |
| Ads | None, and no free tier | Yes, in the free app |
| How a word is explained | Six styles you choose, rewritten per word; a line with the word in use; origin; close synonyms; the classic definition where one exists | Definitions with examples, idioms, rhymes, audio, grammar tips and Thesaurus.com synonyms |
| Word of the day | One gloss every morning, with three questions; only answered days count toward the streak | A word of the day, with editorial articles |
| Practice | Four games on spaced repetition, a Sunday review | None in the current version; the quizzes and puzzles were removed in version 12 |
| Offline | Today’s gloss, this week’s words and your saved words; new lookups need a connection | No longer, since version 12 |
| Languages | English, with the menus in English and Spanish | English |
| Where it runs | iPhone (iOS 18 and up); the share sheet; widgets | iPhone, iPad; Android; the web |
| On the App Store | New in 2026, by PixelPaw SRL | Curiosity Media, Inc.; rated 4.8 from about 328,000 ratings; age rating 13+ |
Which one?
If free is the point, Dictionary.com is the answer and this page will not change that. If understanding is the point, try Gloss for three days and decide.
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Gloss vs Merriam-Webster · Gloss vs Vocabulary.com · Gloss vs Oxford Dictionary · Gloss vs WordUp · Gloss vs Urban Dictionary · Gloss vs Cambridge Dictionary
Facts about Dictionary.com: English Words were read from its App Store listing in October 2026 and may have changed since. Prices are in US dollars. Nothing here is endorsed by its publisher. Corrections: support@gloss.day.