Google is ready to shake up one of Search’s longest-standing features. The tech giant’s search engine, which has been overrun by AI Overviews since early 2024, is set to be downgraded with more AI-generated summaries.
For several years now, since 2009 to be specific, Google Search users have been able to prefix words with “define,” or suffix them with “meaning” to get a dedicated dictionary box with definitions from “Oxford Languages,” paired with the option to change the definition’s language.
Not only that, the dictionary box can contain images, pronunciations, origin, a list of some synonyms and antonyms, usage of the word over time, and more.
It’s been a staple, one that Google is trying to replace with AI Overviews.
Users on platforms like Reddit have reported the downgrade, though it only seems to be a limited A/B test, as highlighted by the folks over at TechIssuesToday.
More importantly, there seems to be no way to exit the experiment and go back to the old dictionary box format for definitions.
Staple features missing
There have been no reports of the Overviews hallucinating and pushing false definitions. Instead, users are mostly unhappy because of what the new AI summary lacks, including the coveted Ngram viewer, which tracks the frequency of specific words or phrases in a large collection of books over time.
“I’m so pissed off at Google. Gone are the days where I’d land in rabbit holes because of the synonym function and learn so many new words and pronunciation. Now it’s replaced by rubbish AI overview. I hate AI,” wrote one user, while a different one wrote, “it also no longer provides translations of the word in your language nor has a way to see the etymology chart of the word.”
It’s worth noting that the test isn’t entirely new. The Reddit post itself is 2 months old. However, a fresh stream of comments within the last five days suggests that the experiment is now hitting more accounts and devices. For what it’s worth, I’m still seeing the regular/original dictionary box.
Has your Google Search dictionary box been replaced with AI Overviews? Let us know in the comments below.
