is a Data Source.
WordNet is Princeton University's lexical database of English. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are grouped into synsets (sets of cognitive synonyms), each expressing a distinct concept, and synsets are linked by conceptual-semantic and lexical relations such as hypernymy, meronymy and antonymy. It is widely used in natural language processing and as a source for ontologies. Princeton states that WordNet is no longer developed; the last release is 3.1, and the community-maintained Open English WordNet continues the work.
general, literature, natural language processing
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| ID | Name | URL | Category | Format | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| wordnet.dict-3.1 | WordNet 3.1 Database Files | wn3.1.dict.tar.gz (15.6 MB) | Product | txt | WordNet 3.1 database files only (the ... |
| wordnet.release-3.0 | WordNet 3.0 Release | WordNet-3.0.tar.gz (11.0 MB) | Product | mixed | WordNet 3.0 release for Unix-like sys... |
| wordnet.search ⚠ | WordNet Search | webwn | Graphical Interface | http | WordNet Search 3.1, the online browse... |
| wordnet.download-page ⚠ | WordNet Download Page | current-version | Documentation | http | WordNet download page listing the cur... |
| ID | Name | URL | Category | Format | Relation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| proton.ontology ⚠ | PROTON 3.0 Beta Specification | Proton-Ver3.0B.pdf (708.2 KB) | Documentation | was influenced by | PDF specification of PROTON 3.0 Beta,... | |
| open-english-wordnet.lmf | Open English WordNet 2025 WN-LMF XML | english-wordnet-2025.xml.gz (10.8 MB) | Product | xml | was derived from | 2025 edition of Open English WordNet ... |
| open-english-wordnet.rdf | Open English WordNet 2025 RDF | english-wordnet-2025.ttl.gz (16.9 MB) | Graph | ttl | was derived from | 2025 edition of Open English WordNet ... |
| open-english-wordnet.json | Open English WordNet 2025 JSON | english-wordnet-2025-json.zip (9.5 MB) | Product | json | was derived from | 2025 edition of Open English WordNet ... |
| open-english-wordnet.wndb | Open English WordNet 2025 WNDB | english-wordnet-2025.zip (9.2 MB) | Product | txt | was derived from | 2025 edition of Open English WordNet ... |
| open-english-wordnet.lmf-plus | Open English WordNet Plus 2025 WN-LMF XML | english-wordnet-2025-plus.xml.gz (12.3 MB) | Product | xml | was derived from | 2025+ edition of Open English WordNet... |
| open-english-wordnet.rdf-plus | Open English WordNet Plus 2025 RDF | english-wordnet-2025-plus.ttl.gz (19.4 MB) | Graph | ttl | was derived from | 2025+ edition of Open English WordNet... |
| open-english-wordnet.json-plus | Open English WordNet Plus 2025 JSON | english-wordnet-2025-plus-json.zip (10.8 MB) | Product | json | was derived from | 2025+ edition of Open English WordNet... |
| open-english-wordnet.wndb-plus | Open English WordNet Plus 2025 WNDB | english-wordnet-2025-plus.zip (10.5 MB) | Product | txt | was derived from | 2025+ edition of Open English WordNet... |
WordNet is a large lexical database of English developed at Princeton University, begun by George A. Miller in the 1980s. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are grouped into synsets, sets of cognitive synonyms that each express a distinct concept. Synsets are linked by conceptual-semantic and lexical relations, such as hypernymy (is-a), meronymy (part-of) and antonymy, so the database forms a network of words and concepts.
WordNet is used in natural language processing for word sense disambiguation, semantic similarity and information retrieval, and as a source of upper-level and lexical concepts for ontologies and knowledge graphs. For example, the PROTON ontology’s Person class definition cites WordNet 2.0.
The WordNet homepage (as captured on 2026-09-30) says: “Princeton WordNet is no longer developed, though the database and all tools are freely available on the download page.” It points users to the community-led Open English WordNet (https://en-word.net/) and the Global Wordnet Association. The last Princeton release is WordNet 3.1, distributed as database files only; WordNet 3.0 is the last full release with the browser and library.
On 2026-10-04 the wordnet.princeton.edu and wordnetweb.princeton.edu pages returned HTTP 403 to automated requests, while the wordnetcode.princeton.edu downloads returned HTTP 200. The W3C-style RDF service at wordnet-rdf.princeton.edu did not respond.
WordNet is distributed under the WordNet License, a permissive BSD-style license: use, copying, modification and distribution are allowed for any purpose without fee, provided the copyright notice and disclaimer appear on all copies, and Princeton’s name is not used in advertising.
Created: October 04, 2026 | Last modified: October 05, 2026