BROWSE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does browse mean? 

• BROWSE (noun)
  The noun BROWSE has 3 senses:

1. vegetation (such as young shoots, twigs, and leaves) that is suitable for animals to eat

2. reading superficially or at random

3. the act of feeding by continual nibbling

  Familiarity information: BROWSE used as a noun is uncommon.

• BROWSE (verb)
  The verb BROWSE has 4 senses:

1. shop around; not necessarily buying

2. feed as in a meadow or pasture

3. look around casually and randomly, without seeking anything in particular

4. eat lightly, try different dishes

  Familiarity information: BROWSE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BROWSE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Vegetation (such as young shoots, twigs, and leaves) that is suitable for animals to eat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

a deer needs to eat twenty pounds of browse every day

Hypernyms ("browse" is a kind of...):

botany; flora; vegetation (all the plant life in a particular region or period)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reading superficially or at random

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

browse; browsing

Hypernyms ("browse" is a kind of...):

reading (the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of feeding by continual nibbling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

browse; browsing

Hypernyms ("browse" is a kind of...):

eating; feeding (the act of consuming food)

Derivation:

browse (eat lightly, try different dishes)

browse (feed as in a meadow or pasture)

• BROWSE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they browse    ... he / she / it browses   
Past simple: browsed   
Past participle: browsed   
-ing form: browsing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shop around; not necessarily buying

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

browse; shop

Context example:

I don't need help, I'm just browsing

Hypernyms (to "browse" is one way to...):

look for; search; seek (try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of)

Verb group:

browse; surf (look around casually and randomly, without seeking anything in particular)

Domain category:

commerce; commercialism; mercantilism (transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "browse"):

comparison-shop (compare prices for a given item)

antique (shop for antiques)

window-shop (examine the shop windows; shop with the eyes only)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

In the summer they like to go out and browse

Derivation:

browser (a viewer who looks around casually without seeking anything in particular)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Feed as in a meadow or pasture

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

browse; crop; graze; pasture; range

Context example:

the herd was grazing

Hypernyms (to "browse" is one way to...):

eat; feed (take in food; used of animals only)

Verb group:

range (let eat)

crop; graze; pasture (let feed in a field or pasture or meadow)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The animals browse

Derivation:

browse (the act of feeding by continual nibbling)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Look around casually and randomly, without seeking anything in particular

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

browse; surf

Context example:

surf the internet or the world wide web

Hypernyms (to "browse" is one way to...):

look for; search; seek (try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of)

Verb group:

browse; shop (shop around; not necessarily buying)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

browser (a program used to view HTML documents)

browser (a viewer who looks around casually without seeking anything in particular)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Eat lightly, try different dishes

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

browse; graze

Context example:

There was so much food at the party that we quickly got sated just by browsing

Hypernyms (to "browse" is one way to...):

nosh; snack (eat a snack; eat lightly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue browse

Derivation:

browse (the act of feeding by continual nibbling)

 Context examples 

Their study also found that manually dialing, texting or browsing the web on a phone while driving doubled a teen’s crash risk.

(Reaching for objects while driving may raise teen crash risk nearly sevenfold, National Institutes of Health)

Browse new real estate to rent or buy or ask the painters to give several of your present rooms a pretty coat of paint in a new color.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

A wireless handheld device from Research In Motion (RIM) that supports e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, web browsing and other wireless information services.

(BlackBerry, NCI Thesaurus)

They browse the Web for information, use social networking sites, text, and chat.

(Internet Safety, NIH)

The ICRP provides the public at-large with opportunity to view and browse information about research supported by cancer funding organizations in the US and the UK.

(International Cancer Research Portfolio Database, NCI Thesaurus)

It was as if he had studied at the university himself, instead of being ill-equipped from browsing at haphazard through the books in the library.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

All five were sitting up, balancing themselves upon their broad, powerful tails and their huge three-toed hind-feet, while with their small five-fingered front-feet they pulled down the branches upon which they browsed.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Meg could walk in the conservatory whenever she liked and revel in bouquets, Jo browsed over the new library voraciously, and convulsed the old gentleman with her criticisms, Amy copied pictures and enjoyed beauty to her heart's content, and Laurie played 'lord of the manor' in the most delightful style.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Other aspects of wireless communication use, such as sending text messages, playing games or browsing the Internet cause only marginal RF-EMF exposure to the brain and were not associated with the development of memory performance.

(Cell Phone Radiation Harmful for Memory, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Far and wide, on each side, there were only fields, where no cattle now browsed; and the little brown birds, which stirred occasionally in the hedge, looked like single russet leaves that had forgotten to drop.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)