Today I finally got around to something I’ve been meaning to do for ages.

If you’re anything like me, then quite often when you’re writing your brain will refuse to supply you with anything but the most limited vocabulary. Or, equally annoyingly, it will suggest a word but with the caveat that: “I’m not completely sure this means what I think it means.”

So, to cut down on keystrokes, I’ve created a couple of shortcuts for the king of Mac productivity apps, Alfred. If you have Alfred installed, just click on the links below to add ‘def’ and ‘syn’ to your custom searches, and save yourself those crucial seconds when inspiration makes a run for it.

Alfred ‘def’ shortcut to find definitions of a word

Alfred ‘syn’ shortcut to find synonyms/antonyms of a word

(Yes, I know Alfred already has a “define” shortcut to call up the built-in Dictionary.app — which also has a Thesaurus — but a) I prefer loading a website than opening a separate app; b) my shortcuts are shorter.)