| English Dictionary |
SEARCH
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does search mean?
• SEARCH (noun)
The noun SEARCH has 5 senses:
1. the activity of looking thoroughly in order to find something or someone
2. an investigation seeking answers
3. an operation that determines whether one or more of a set of items has a specified property
4. the examination of alternative hypotheses
5. boarding and inspecting a ship on the high seas
Familiarity information: SEARCH used as a noun is common.
• SEARCH (verb)
The verb SEARCH has 4 senses:
1. try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of
2. search or seek
3. inquire into
4. subject to a search
Familiarity information: SEARCH used as a verb is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
The activity of looking thoroughly in order to find something or someone
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
Hypernyms ("search" is a kind of...):
activity (any specific behavior)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "search"):
forage; foraging (the act of searching for food and provisions)
frisk; frisking (the act of searching someone for concealed weapons or illegal drugs)
looking; looking for (the act of searching visually)
manhunt (an organized search (by police) for a person (charged with a crime))
quest; seeking (the act of searching for something)
ransacking; rummage (a thorough search for something (often causing disorder or confusion))
scouring (moving over territory to search for something)
shakedown (a very thorough search of a person or a place)
exploration (a careful systematic search)
Derivation:
search (try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of)
search (search or seek)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An investigation seeking answers
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Context example:
the outcome justified the search
Hypernyms ("search" is a kind of...):
investigating; investigation (the work of inquiring into something thoroughly and systematically)
Derivation:
search (inquire into)
Sense 3
Meaning:
An operation that determines whether one or more of a set of items has a specified property
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Synonyms:
lookup; search
Context example:
they wrote a program to do a table lookup
Hypernyms ("search" is a kind of...):
operation ((computer science) data processing in which the result is completely specified by a rule (especially the processing that results from a single instruction))
Sense 4
Meaning:
The examination of alternative hypotheses
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Context example:
his search for a move that would avoid checkmate was unsuccessful
Hypernyms ("search" is a kind of...):
higher cognitive process (cognitive processes that presuppose the availability of knowledge and put it to use)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "search"):
hunt (an instance of searching for something)
pursuance; pursuit; quest (a search for an alternative that meets cognitive criteria)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Boarding and inspecting a ship on the high seas
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Context example:
right of search
Hypernyms ("search" is a kind of...):
examination; scrutiny (the act of examining something closely (as for mistakes))
Derivation:
search (subject to a search)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it searches Past simple: searched
Past participle: searched
-ing form: searching
Sense 1
Meaning:
Try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
Context example:
They are searching for the missing man in the entire county
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "search"):
leave no stone unturned (search thoroughly and exhaustively)
browse; shop (shop around; not necessarily buying)
feel (grope or feel in search of something)
grub (search about busily)
go after; pursue; quest after; quest for (go in search of or hunt for)
seek out (look for a specific person or thing)
scour (examine minutely)
gather (look for (food) in nature)
hunt (seek, search for)
browse; surf (look around casually and randomly, without seeking anything in particular)
divine (search by divining, as if with a rod)
fumble; grope (feel about uncertainly or blindly)
finger (search for on the computer)
drag; dredge (search (as the bottom of a body of water) for something valuable or lost)
want (hunt or look for; want for a particular reason)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Sentence examples:
The banks search the check
Sam cannot search Sue
They search the water
Derivation:
search (the activity of looking thoroughly in order to find something or someone)
searcher (a customs official whose job is to search baggage or goods or vehicles for contraband or dutiable items)
searcher (someone making a search or inquiry)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Search or seek
Classified under:
Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling
Synonyms:
look; search
Context example:
Look elsewhere for the perfect gift!
Hypernyms (to "search" is one way to...):
examine; see (observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "search"):
hunt (search (an area) for prey)
cruise (look for a sexual partner in a public place)
prospect (search for something desirable)
horn in; intrude; nose; poke; pry (search or inquire in a meddlesome way)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Sentence examples:
The men search the area for animals
The men search for animals in the area
Derivation:
search (the activity of looking thoroughly in order to find something or someone)
searcher (a customs official whose job is to search baggage or goods or vehicles for contraband or dutiable items)
searcher (someone making a search or inquiry)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Inquire into
Classified under:
Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting
Synonyms:
Context example:
Scientists are exploring the nature of consciousness
Hypernyms (to "search" is one way to...):
investigate; look into (investigate scientifically)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "search"):
google (search the internet (for information) using the Google search engine)
beat about; cast about; cast around (search anxiously)
re-explore (explore anew)
mapquest (search for a location and directions by means of the MapQuest program)
prospect (explore for useful or valuable things or substances, such as minerals)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Derivation:
search (an investigation seeking answers)
searcher (someone making a search or inquiry)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Subject to a search
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Context example:
We searched the whole house for the missing keys
Hypernyms (to "search" is one way to...):
examine; see (observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "search"):
frisk (search as for concealed weapons by running the hands rapidly over the clothing and through the pockets)
comb; ransack (search thoroughly)
rummage (search haphazardly)
go; rifle (go through in search of something; search through someone's belongings in an unauthorized way)
scan (make a wide, sweeping search of)
strip-search (search (someone) for weapons or drugs by having the person remove their clothes)
raid (search for something needed or desired)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Sentence example:
They want to search the prisoners
Derivation:
search (boarding and inspecting a ship on the high seas)
searcher (a customs official whose job is to search baggage or goods or vehicles for contraband or dutiable items)
searcher (someone making a search or inquiry)
Context examples
She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
This account rather alarmed us, and we continued to search for him until night fell, when Elizabeth conjectured that he might have returned to the house.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
A great stone that I happened to find, after a long search, by the sea-shore, served me for an anchor.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
The task of the men was to search for gold, which they did; and to find gold, which they likewise did.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
A software package for the statistical validation of peptide identifications made by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and database searching.
(PeptideProphet, NCI Thesaurus)
It seemed a very world that I must search through in a moment.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
He now begs them to search with most sedulous care, and should any of the same quality be left, forward it to him at once.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
At that another fellow, probably him who had remained below to search the captain's body, came to the door of the inn.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
The father was away in search of his son.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Past studies have shown that tumor cells can be detected in blood and bone marrow by searching for tumor-specific gene sequences.
(Tumor DNA in Blood Reveals Lymphoma Progression, NIH)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Sow with one hand, reap with both." (Albanian proverb)
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"A horse aged thirty: don't add any more years." (Corsican proverb)