Privacy Policy
In short: Highlight Define looks up the word or phrase you highlight. That text, plus at most three keywords from the surrounding page, is sent to public dictionary and encyclopedia services to fetch results. Nothing else leaves your browser. There are no accounts, no analytics, no ads and no tracking, and nothing is sold or shared.
What the extension handles
- The text you highlight. Only when you highlight a word or short phrase (up to 6 words and 80 characters). The extension never reads or sends the rest of the page.
- The words around your highlight. To pick the right meaning (for example, Mercury the planet rather than the metal), the extension looks at the sentence around your highlight and at the page's title, headings and a sample of its text. This comparison happens inside your browser, and the page text is never stored or sent anywhere. At most three of these words are added to the Wikipedia search together with your highlighted text.
- Your settings. Whether the extension is on, and how the card opens (right away, after clicking a button, or only while holding Alt/Option). These are saved with Chrome's built-in settings storage, which Chrome may sync to your other signed-in devices.
The extension does not collect your name, email address, browsing history, location or any other personal information.
Where your highlighted text goes
To show a definition, the highlighted text is sent directly from your browser to these public services. Wikipedia also receives up to three keywords from the page to help it find the right article; the other services receive only the text being looked up. Like any website, they can also see your IP address and browser type as part of a normal web request.
| Service | Used for | Their privacy policy |
|---|---|---|
en.wiktionary.org | Word definitions | Wikimedia Foundation |
api.dictionaryapi.dev | Word definitions and pronunciation | Free Dictionary API |
en.wikipedia.org | Short explanation of the topic | Wikimedia Foundation |
commons.wikimedia.org | Related images | Wikimedia Foundation |
The "More images" and "Search" links in the card open Google Search in a new tab, and only when you click them.
Google Docs
Google Docs doesn't expose highlighted text to extensions in the usual way. In Docs, the extension asks the page for the current selection by using the same mechanism Docs uses for copying. It reads only the text you selected, plus the document's title to help pick the right meaning. It never reads the rest of your document, never changes it, and never touches your clipboard.
Storage and retention
- Page text used to pick the right meaning is analyzed on the spot and discarded right away.
- Recent lookups are kept in memory so repeat lookups are instant. This memory is cleared automatically when Chrome closes the extension's background process, usually within minutes of inactivity.
- Highlighted text and results are never written to disk and never sent to the developer.
- Settings stay in Chrome's storage until you change them or remove the extension.
Sharing and selling
No user data is sold, rented or transferred to anyone, and none is used for advertising or to decide creditworthiness. The only data that leaves your browser is the highlighted text, and up to three page keywords, sent to the services listed above to fetch results.
Permissions
- Access to websites: lets the extension notice when you highlight text on any page, read the nearby text to pick the right meaning, and show the definition card there.
- Storage: saves your on/off and card-opening settings.
- The four services above: lets the extension request definitions, explanations and images from them.
Children
The extension collects no personal information from anyone, including children under 13.
Changes
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted on this page with a new effective date.