lookup

noun

look·​up ˈlu̇k-ˌəp 

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

Examples of lookup in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Blocking license plate lookups would thwart additional risks of doxing, the DOJ claimed. —Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 29 May 2026

The idea is that no new protocol would be required, only an extension of infrastructure that already handles billions of lookups daily. —Kaustubh Phatak, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026

Customers can check whether their address is being monitored for a possible public safety power shutoff by using PG&E’s online outage lookup tool at pge.com/pspsupdates. —Sacbee.com, 16 May 2026

Here, the whole computation is accomplished in three lookup steps and two multiplication steps. —Olivia Hsu, IEEE Spectrum, 28 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1948, in the meaning defined above

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