Not really sure what else could be causing this. I can only suggest going back to the drawing board to test this in a new map this particular features a the only layer in there; Unchecked all strategies except for the abbreviations. Ensure you click Apply in the layer properties after you make any change in there - clicking OK does not commit any changes.
I can confirm that the data dictionary works well in version 10.0, 10.1 and 10.2 but i have not tested in 10.3