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look for

phrasal verb

Formslooks for, looking for, looked for

2 meanings of look for

Practice

  1. 1
    searchphrasal verbtransitive
    To try to find someone or something by searching.

    Volunteers will look for the missing hiker again at first light.

    Thousands of new graduates are looking for work this spring.

    Similarseek

    Note

    Grammar keeps the pair close: the object always follows for, so you look for your keys, never look your keys for. The preposition can still be left at the end of a clause, as in Billy Joel's it just may be a lunatic you're looking for, and go looking for adds a setting out, as when students go looking for jobs in July.

  2. 2
    expectphrasal verbarchaictransitive
    To expect something, or expect it to happen.

    We look for a good harvest if the weather holds.

    The praise she received was warmer than she had looked for.

    Note

    This is the archaic sense, and it is clearest after a comparison: warmer than she had looked for, more strongly than I had looked for, where expected is the plain modern word. A reader today hears searching first, so keep it for writing that wants an old-fashioned flavor. Look after was once used the same way.

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