For some value of `easy' you can always use LWP, HTML::TreeBuilder, and something like Merriam-Webster Online. Not perl but a starting place with the urls, these are some zsh functions I use:

webster () {
        _gensearch $0 "http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=" "$*"
}

thesaurus () {
        _gensearch $0 "http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/thesaurus?va=" "$*"
}

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In reply to Re: Computer-readable thesaurus by Fletch
in thread Computer-readable thesaurus by Anonymous Monk

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