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search

SaySURCH/sɝt͡ʃ/UK/sɜːt͡ʃ/

Pluralsearches

Verbsearches, searching, searched

7 meanings of search

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable or uncountable
    An act or the activity of looking carefully for someone or something; an attempt to find something.

    The search for the missing hiker went on for three days before she was found.

    A quick search of the drawers turned up the spare keys.

    UsageUsually a search for someone or something; police carry out a search, and people go in search of things.

  2. 2
    look throughverbtransitive
    To look carefully through a place, or through a person's clothes, pockets or bags, in order to find something there.

    At the airport, security staff may search any passenger who sets off the metal detector.

    Volunteers will search the woods at dawn for the lost hiker.

    UsageThe place is the object and the thing sought takes for: search the house for your keys (not incorrect: search your keys).

    Similarcomb, scour, examine, inspect, explore

  3. 3
    look up onlineverbtransitive
    To look something up by entering it as a query in a search engine or other search tool, with the query as the object.

    She searched the phrase on Bing to compare the results.

    Many users now search their questions on privacy-focused engines.

    UsageYou can search a phrase, name, or question directly (search your symptoms on Google), though many people just say google it.

  4. 4
    verbintransitive
    To look thoroughly for a person or thing in an effort to find it.

    Divers will search for the wreck again once the storms pass.

    She is still searching for the letter her grandmother left her.

    Similarlook, hunt

    Note

    The little word for decides what is being looked for. Police search for a suspect when they are trying to find him; when they search a suspect, they are going through his pockets, which is searching a place or person. Here the object of for is the thing missing: rescuers search for hikers, divers for a wreck. Its object can be abstract too: searching for answers, for meaning.

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    verbarchaictransitive
    To look for or seek someone or something, with the thing sought placed directly after the verb and no for.
    Anough is left besides to search and know.
    1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
    For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version
    Note

    Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590) sends nymphs to search the God of Love, and the King James Bible of 1611 has the Lord search his sheep, and seek them out. Despite that biblical pairing, search is unrelated to seek: it comes from Late Latin circare, "to go around."

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene, whose first three books were first published in 1590. en.wikisource.org
    • The Faerie Queene contains an episode in which nymphs are sent to search for the God of Love. en.wikisource.org
    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. neh.gov
    • In Ezekiel 34:11, the Lord says he will search his sheep and seek them out. en.wikisource.org
    • Search and seek are etymologically unrelated. en.wiktionary.org
    • Search derives ultimately from Late Latin circare, meaning to go around. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 6
    verbobsolete
    To examine or try something, putting it to the test.
    Note

    A figurative step beyond the surgeon's probing: what gets searched is a person's worth or sincerity rather than a wound.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Search can refer figuratively to examining a person's inner character or sincerity. en.wikisource.org
  3. 7
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To probe or examine a wound, as to assess its depth or extent.
    Now to the bottome dost thou search my wound.
    c. 1588, William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”
    Note

    The old medical verb for probing a wound runs from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur (1485), where leeches "serche theyr woundys", to John Florio's translation of Montaigne in 1603. Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus already bends it toward feeling: Now to the bottome dost thou search my wound.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • Sir Thomas Malory wrote Le Morte Darthur, first published in 1485. gutenberg.org
    • Malory's text describes leeches who 'serche theyr woundys'. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Florio's English translation of Montaigne was first published in 1603. clarklibrary.ucla.edu
    • Florio's translation uses search for examining a medical condition. hyperessays.net
    • Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus contains the quoted wording, used figuratively of grief. The speaker is Saturninus, addressing Tamora. gutenberg.org
    • Titus Andronicus predates Florio's 1603 translation. folger.edu

Practice

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Origin

It comes from Middle English serchen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sercher and Old French cerchier, from Late Latin circāre ('to circle, go around, search for'), from Latin circa and circus. It is not related to German suchen, which is instead cognate with English 'seek'.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

  • Search comes from Middle English serchen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sercher and Old French cerchier. en.wiktionary.org
  • The French forms derive from Late Latin circāre, meaning to circle, go around or search for. en.wiktionary.org
  • Late Latin circāre derives from Latin circa and circus. en.wiktionary.org
  • Search is etymologically unrelated to German suchen. en.wiktionary.org
  • German suchen is cognate with English seek. en.wiktionary.org