Until very recently, it was very usual for me to skip example sentences of an English dictionary.

But I realized that to understand a word well, example sentences are very helpful.

For a learner of a foreign language, dictionaries are like law books for lawyers and cars for racers. That is, indispensable tools for their job.

Of course, I don't read through an article of a dictionary. I read needed part alone and it's okay, I think. But when you can, probably it's better to read some example sentences.

Example sentences must have been chosen in terms of how efficiently they convey the meaning and nuance of the word. So, to always skip reading them could be unbeneficial.

And, probably, it is good of a learner of English to have many (online) dictionaries, and similar sources (plus, grammar books). Then it is further better for learners to know the traits and special goodness of each dictionary.

Efficiency in searching could be a sign of proficiency. Excellent lawyers would be very familiar with law books. Excellent racers would be very familiar with the details and functions of the mechanisms of their racing cars. Based on that, they could make excellent performances.

Digesting many real usages of a word, you can gradually sharpen the semantic contours of it. And you can correct and adjust your understanding of a word by referring to dictionaries. This learning would not be always a short process, but indispensable to become skillful of the language.