Is Free Dictionary API (dictionaryapi.dev) down right now?

Yes — Free Dictionary API (dictionaryapi.dev) failed our last plain GET (timeout after 8000ms, checked 2026-09-26T01:30:51Z). We check api.dictionaryapi.dev with a plain keyless GET every hour; 24h OK-rate: 0%.

← all 90 tracked mock & placeholder APIs

Is Free Dictionary API (dictionaryapi.dev) down?

DOWN right now — timeout after 8000ms.

Last checked 2026-09-26T01:30:51Z · checked every hour (a timeout/TLS/DNS blip on an otherwise-up service is confirmed with a same-run retry before it counts) · OK-rate 24h: 0% · 7d: 0.6% · raw JSON · Atom feed of its down/recovered events

Failing streak began 2026-09-19T08:30:32Z (7 days) · last successful check: 2026-09-19T07:30:32Z

Context: The keyless dictionary API behind nearly every dictionary-app tutorial — one maintainer, donation-run, 10M+ requests/month by its own README. In our Sep 2026 runs every call took ~20 seconds: words with a stale CDN copy eventually answered 200, everything else (including 'world' and 'coffee') answered HTTP 522 with the plain-text body 'error code: 522' — which res.json() throws on, so the friendly documented 404 never appears. Rate limit: 450 requests per 5 minutes per IP (advertised in its own x-ratelimit headers). This probe uses an 8s timeout, so a 20-second origin records as down — which is also what a tutorial-follower's fetch experiences.

What we check: GET https://api.dictionaryapi.dev/api/v2/entries/en/hello — a plain, keyless request from Cloudflare's network with an honest bot UA, exactly what a tutorial curl or an <img> tag experiences. OK = HTTP 2xx/3xx within 8s. No retries, no cookies, no API keys.

Need a tutorial API that answers?

If api.dictionaryapi.dev is failing (or you're tired of finding out mid-demo), Mockbird gives you a seeded, persistent REST API for your tutorial or side project — pick a preset (ecommerce/blog/saas) or import any JSON/CSV as your own dataset; writes persist, CORS on, no signup — free, no signup:

curl https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/m/demo/products/1
# create your own in one click (no terminal): https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/app#new=ecommerce

Read the honest Free Dictionary API (dictionaryapi.dev) migration guide → (it also says when Free Dictionary API (dictionaryapi.dev) is the better tool) or create your own mock API in one click.

README badge

Does your project's test suite or tutorial depend on api.dictionaryapi.dev? Embed a live status badge — it re-renders from our latest check (cached 5 min):

<!-- Markdown -->
[![api.dictionaryapi.dev status](https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/status/dictionaryapi/badge.svg)](https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/status/dictionaryapi)

<!-- HTML -->
<a href="https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/status/dictionaryapi"><img src="https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/status/dictionaryapi/badge.svg" alt="api.dictionaryapi.dev status"></a>

Green = answering plain GETs, red = network-dead, amber = answering but with an error status. Every tracked service has one; there's also a summary badge for all 90.

Get pinged when it goes down

Subscribe any webhook URL — no account needed. One message when api.dictionaryapi.dev goes down, one when it recovers (debounced: two consecutive hourly checks must agree, so a single blip never fires). Slack and Discord incoming-webhook URLs get a formatted message; anything else gets an HMAC-signed JSON POST.

Or from a terminal / CI script:

curl -X POST https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/api/status/watch \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"service": "dictionaryapi", "url": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/T000/B000/XXXX"}'

Use "service": "*" to watch all 90 tracked services at once. The response includes an unsubscribe curl; 5 consecutive failed deliveries auto-unsubscribe. No webhook? Omit "url" to get a pollable subscription instead — GET the returned poll URL anytime for the transitions since your last poll. Full API details →

The same checker can watch your own URL: POST /api/status/monitor {"url": "https://api.example.com/health", "notify": "<webhook>"} — every 30 minutes, alert on down + recovery, free, no account. Monitor API →

Recent checks

Checked at (UTC)	Result	Time
2026-09-26T01:30:51Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-26T00:30:43Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T23:30:44Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T22:30:45Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T21:30:49Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T20:30:50Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T19:30:59Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T18:30:53Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T17:30:56Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8001 ms
2026-09-25T16:30:56Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T15:30:54Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T14:31:04Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T13:31:10Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T12:31:05Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T11:31:02Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T10:30:54Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T09:30:53Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T08:31:02Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T07:30:56Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T06:30:51Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T05:30:49Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T04:30:47Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T03:30:43Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T02:30:42Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T01:30:43Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms
2026-09-25T00:30:45Z	FAIL timeout after 8000ms	8000 ms

Bias disclosure: this page is run by Mockbird, a free hosted mock-API service. The status data is real and logged verbatim (pull it yourself), and the linked guides say when the incumbent wins.