variants
or look-up
: an act, process, or instance of looking something up (as in a reference work or listing)
dictionary lookups
a price look-up
looked up; looking up; looks up
1
: to cheer up
look up—things are not all bad
2
: to improve in prospects or conditions
business is looking up
1
: to search for in or as if in a reference work
look up an address
2
: to seek out especially for a brief visit
look me up when you're here
Synonyms
Examples of lookup in a Sentence
Verb
be sure to look me up if you're ever in town
by the next morning, the skies had begun to clear and we were looking up
Recent Examples on the Web
Campbell Roper, arkansasonline.com, 26 Mar. 2024
To see your sample ballot and polling location, visit the Kansas Secretary of State’s voter registration lookup and enter your first and last name and date of birth.
—Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 5 Mar. 2024
After building their secret lookup scheme, the authors turned to the real-world goal of a private internet search, which is more complicated than pulling bits of information from a database, Wichs said.
—Madison Goldberg, WIRED, 21 Jan. 2024
Overall fiber in a food is easy to find on the nutrition label of a food or with a quick lookup on the USDA’s FoodData Central database.
—Jessica Migala, Women's Health, 24 July 2023
The results are then compiled in a lookup table that the compiler uses to build the circuit.
—IEEE Spectrum, 2 Dec. 2023
The sample was supplemented with additional phone number lookups.
—Brianne Pfannenstiel, USA TODAY, 29 Aug. 2023
For public schools in Chicago, scroll down to the next lookup.
—Emily Hoerner, Chicago Tribune, 7 May 2023
The state of Michigan runs public databases, also called lookups, that allow anyone to check whether the license of an individual or business is active and can include whether they've been disciplined by state regulators.
—Christine MacDonald, Detroit Free Press, 4 Aug. 2023
Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 8 Apr. 2024
There was a lot of awe, disbelief and strained necks as people looked up for four minutes straight.
—Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 8 Apr. 2024
But just weeks after moving to a temporary home in Wisconsin, things are looking up for the senior dog.
—Mike Stunson, Kansas City Star, 8 Apr. 2024
Those interested in experiencing the complete solar eclipse should look up exactly where in their state is within the path of totality.
—Charlotte Phillipp, Peoplemag, 6 Apr. 2024
The Black Supermodel gave young girls someone to look up to and women someone to emulate.
—Kerane Marcellus, Essence, 5 Apr. 2024
Most people don't go around during the day looking up at the sun for any extended period of time – at least, not without significantly impairing their vision.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
The representation alone is doing so many little girls proud who can look up and see a beautiful Asian woman bless our screens.
—The Arizona Republic, 26 Mar. 2024
Anyone who wants to look up at the sun as the moon passes in front of it should invest in a pair of eclipse glasses.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Mar. 2024
Noun
According to the Fannie Mae area median income lookup tool, the area median income for Benton County is $92,400; 80% of that is $73,920 and 50% is $46,200.
—Campbell Roper, arkansasonline.com, 26 Mar. 2024
To see your sample ballot and polling location, visit the Kansas Secretary of State’s voter registration lookup and enter your first and last name and date of birth.
—Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 5 Mar. 2024
After building their secret lookup scheme, the authors turned to the real-world goal of a private internet search, which is more complicated than pulling bits of information from a database, Wichs said.
—Madison Goldberg, WIRED, 21 Jan. 2024
Overall fiber in a food is easy to find on the nutrition label of a food or with a quick lookup on the USDA’s FoodData Central database.
—Jessica Migala, Women's Health, 24 July 2023
The results are then compiled in a lookup table that the compiler uses to build the circuit.
—IEEE Spectrum, 2 Dec. 2023
The sample was supplemented with additional phone number lookups.
—Brianne Pfannenstiel, USA TODAY, 29 Aug. 2023
For public schools in Chicago, scroll down to the next lookup.
—Emily Hoerner, Chicago Tribune, 7 May 2023
The state of Michigan runs public databases, also called lookups, that allow anyone to check whether the license of an individual or business is active and can include whether they've been disciplined by state regulators.
—Christine MacDonald, Detroit Free Press, 4 Aug. 2023
Verb
As another point of safety, don't look up while driving, please.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 8 Apr. 2024
There was a lot of awe, disbelief and strained necks as people looked up for four minutes straight.
—Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 8 Apr. 2024
But just weeks after moving to a temporary home in Wisconsin, things are looking up for the senior dog.
—Mike Stunson, Kansas City Star, 8 Apr. 2024
Those interested in experiencing the complete solar eclipse should look up exactly where in their state is within the path of totality.
—Charlotte Phillipp, Peoplemag, 6 Apr. 2024
The Black Supermodel gave young girls someone to look up to and women someone to emulate.
—Kerane Marcellus, Essence, 5 Apr. 2024
Most people don't go around during the day looking up at the sun for any extended period of time – at least, not without significantly impairing their vision.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
The representation alone is doing so many little girls proud who can look up and see a beautiful Asian woman bless our screens.
—The Arizona Republic, 26 Mar. 2024
Anyone who wants to look up at the sun as the moon passes in front of it should invest in a pair of eclipse glasses.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lookup.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
Noun
1948, in the meaning defined above
Verb
14th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of lookup was
in the 14th century
Articles Related to lookup
Dictionary Entries Near lookup
Cite this Entry
“Lookup.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lookup. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
lookup
1 of 2 noun
look·up
ˈlu̇k-ˌəp 
: the process or an instance of looking something up
especially
: the process of matching by computer the words of a text with material stored in memory
look up
2 of 2 verb
: to seek for or out
look up a word in the dictionary
look up a friend
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