How to Disable the Mac ‘Look Up’ Dictionary Shortcut (Three-Finger Tap or Force Click)

MacBooks equipped with a Force Touch trackpad feature a hidden gesture known as “Look up & data detectors.” If you press down firmly (force click) on a word in Safari, Pages, or Messages, a small yellow pop-up window instantly appears, displaying the dictionary definition, Wikipedia summary, or translation of that specific word.

While this is a brilliant tool for writers and students, many users accidentally trigger this force click while simply trying to highlight text or drag a window, resulting in constant, frustrating dictionary pop-ups interrupting their workflow. If you never use the built-in macOS dictionary, you can completely disable this trackpad gesture.

How to Disable the Look Up Trackpad Gesture

You can turn off the Force Click dictionary shortcut directly within the Trackpad settings menu.

1. Click the Apple Logo in the top-left corner of your Mac’s screen.
2. Select System Settings (or System Preferences on older versions of macOS).
3. Scroll down the left-hand navigation sidebar and click on Trackpad.
4. In the main window on the right, ensure you are on the Point & Click tab.
5. Look for the setting labelled Look up & data detectors.
6. Below the title, you will see the current gesture trigger (usually “Force Click with one finger” or “Tap with three fingers”).
7. Click the toggle switch next to this setting to turn it Off. (On older versions of macOS, simply uncheck the box next to the setting).

The change is instantaneous. You can test it by opening a web page and firmly pressing down on any word. The dictionary pop-up will no longer appear, allowing you to highlight text aggressively without accidentally triggering macOS data detectors.