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
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
Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 6 Oct. 2025
Ultimately, more than 5,000 new words appear in the upcoming Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, as well as 1,000 new phrases and idioms, enhanced entries for the top lookups and more than 20,000 additional usage examples for students, professionals and word-lovers across the globe.
—Angel Saunders, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
Cerys Jones, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
The camera angle, looking up, shows an unflattering view of his neck.
—Nicole Russell, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lookup
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Noun
Read the full report for Bamboo Penny’s by searching for the restaurant on the Kansas inspection lookup.
—Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 6 Oct. 2025
Ultimately, more than 5,000 new words appear in the upcoming Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, as well as 1,000 new phrases and idioms, enhanced entries for the top lookups and more than 20,000 additional usage examples for students, professionals and word-lovers across the globe.
—Angel Saunders, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
Verb
Bompastor’s lack of reaction was telling — as referee Michalina Diakow pointed to the spot, the head coach barely looked up from her fervent conversation with Erin Cuthbert on the touchline.
—Cerys Jones, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
The camera angle, looking up, shows an unflattering view of his neck.
—Nicole Russell, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lookup
Cite this Entry
“Lookup.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lookup. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids 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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