Urban Dictionary Definitions Scraper

Urban Dictionary Definitions Scraper

Scrape Urban Dictionary definitions for any slang term, random entries, or the Word of the Day, up to a million per run. Each definition comes with its upvotes, downvotes, author, example sentence, and the date it was posted. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Urban Dictionary is the web's crowd-sourced dictionary for slang, memes, and cultural expressions, but it has no official API for bulk data access. This Actor reads the public definition pages directly, letting you look up specific terms, stream random entries, or collect the curated Word of the Day. You can filter results by minimum upvotes so only quality definitions reach your dataset.

Who uses it	What they scrape Urban Dictionary for
Linguists and sociolinguists	Tracking how slang terms emerge, spread, and change meaning over time.
NLP engineers and data scientists	Building custom slang lexicons or training language models on informal, contemporary text.
Content creators and social media managers	Understanding the latest viral phrases and their community-voted meanings to inform content strategy.
Market researchers	Identifying the slang and cultural references that resonate with Gen Z and younger demographics.

What it does

This Actor collects Urban Dictionary definitions by term lookup, random sampling, or Word of the Day feed, and returns each one as a flat row with its votes, author, and example.

• 📖 Define specific terms: Provide a list of words or phrases and get back their top-voted definitions, or multiple competing definitions per term.
• 🎲 Random definitions: Stream a continuous feed of unrelated definitions from across the entire Urban Dictionary corpus.
• 📅 Word of the Day: Collect the daily curated entries that highlight notable or trending slang.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Urban Dictionary data

📊 Build a slang corpus for NLP.

A data scientist runs the Actor in random mode to collect 100,000 definitions, filters for entries with at least 50 upvotes, and trains a language model to understand informal online conversation.

📈 Track the rise of a viral phrase.

A trend analyst looks up the same five terms every week, collecting the top three definitions per term, and charts how their meanings and example sentences shift as the words go mainstream.

📝 Research youth culture for a publication.

A journalist scrapes the Word of the Day for a full year, then reviews the entries to write a feature on the slang that defined the year.

🎯 Inform ad creative with authentic language.

A copywriter pulls the top definitions for a set of niche subculture terms, reads the community-written examples, and crafts ad copy that speaks the audience's real language.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key or registration	Access public definition pages without OAuth, app registration, or rate-limit headaches.
Multiple collection modes	Look up exact terms, pull random samples, or follow the daily curated feed from one Actor.
Built-in quality filter	Set a minimum upvote count to automatically discard low-quality or joke definitions.
Fixed flat schema	Every definition arrives as a predictable row with term, definition, example, author, votes, and date.

How it compares

This Actor focuses on flexible collection modes and a built-in quality filter, while other Urban Dictionary scrapers on Apify offer different approaches to term lookup and data delivery.

Feature	ParseForge	Urbandictionary Scraper	Urban Dictionary	Urban Dictionary Scraper - Slang Definitions, Votes & Examples
Define specific terms mode	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Random definitions mode	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Word of the Day mode	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Minimum upvote quality filter	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Definitions per term control	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Author and example sentence	Yes	Not listed	Yes	Yes

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a list of terms, random mode, or the Word of the Day feed, and apply a minimum upvote threshold so only definitions above a quality bar are saved. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "mode": "define",
  "terms": [
    "yeet",
    "cap",
    "fire",
    "slay",
    "vibes"
  ],
  "definitionsPerTerm": 1,
  "minThumbsUp": 0
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "mode": "define",
  "terms": [
    "yeet",
    "cap",
    "fire",
    "slay",
    "vibes"
  ],
  "definitionsPerTerm": 1,
  "minThumbsUp": 0
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.012 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$1.20
1,000 results	$12.00
10,000 results	$120.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Urban Dictionary Definitions Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Urban Dictionary through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/urbandictionary-definitions-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results for my term list?

Check that your 'Minimum Upvotes' filter is not set higher than any definition's actual upvote count. Try setting it to 0 temporarily to see if definitions exist. Also verify that the terms are spelled correctly and are common enough to have entries on Urban Dictionary.

The run is taking a long time. Is that normal?

Yes, especially for large 'Maximum definitions' values or long term lists. The Actor respects the target site by pacing its requests. If you need faster collection, try reducing the number of terms or the definitions per term.

I got fewer results than my 'Maximum definitions' setting.

This can happen in 'Random' mode if the Actor exhausts the available random feed, or in 'Define' mode if your terms have fewer total definitions than the maximum you set. The 'Minimum Upvotes' filter can also reduce the final count.

Some definitions are missing the example or author field.

Not every definition on Urban Dictionary includes an example sentence or an author name. The Actor returns whatever is present on the page. Empty fields are normal for entries where the contributor left those parts blank.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Can I look up multiple terms in a single run?	Yes. In 'Define' mode, you provide a list of terms and the Actor fetches definitions for each one. You can also control how many competing definitions to keep per term with the 'Definitions per Term' setting.
How do I get only the top definition for a word?	Set 'Definitions per Term' to 1. The Actor will return only the highest-voted definition for each term you look up.
Can I filter out low-quality or joke definitions?	Yes. Use the 'Minimum Upvotes' filter to drop any definition that has fewer upvotes than your threshold. Set it to 0 to keep everything.
What is the difference between 'Random' and 'Word of the Day' mode?	'Random' mode streams arbitrary definitions from the entire Urban Dictionary database. 'Word of the Day' returns only the entries that Urban Dictionary editors have curated as the daily featured word.
Does this Actor handle rate limiting?	The Actor is designed to request pages at a responsible pace. For very large runs, it manages the request flow to complete without overwhelming the target site.
What output formats are supported?	You can export your results to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML directly from the Apify dataset.
Do I need an Urban Dictionary account or API key?	No. This Actor reads the publicly available web pages. No login, API key, or registration is required.
Can I get the example sentences and author names?	Yes. Each definition row includes the example sentence, the author's username, and the post date, alongside the upvote and downvote counts.
How many definitions can I collect in one run?	You can set the 'Maximum definitions' input up to 1,000,000. The actual number collected depends on the mode and filters you choose.
What happens if I look up a term that has no definitions?	The Actor will skip that term and continue to the next one in your list. It will not fail or stop the run.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Urban Dictionary LLC. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.