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
Madison Goldberg, Quanta Magazine, 6 Nov. 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
The Education Department also released a 2024-25 Pell Grant lookup table.
—Nerdwallet, cleveland, 9 Sep. 2023
There are separate, more detailed, lookups for other providers, such as adult foster care and nursing homes and specific ones for children's summer camps and child care centers and in-home care.
—Christine MacDonald, Detroit Free Press, 4 Aug. 2023
Drivers can check for NHTSA recalls using their recall lookup tool.
—Fernando Cervantes Jr., The Arizona Republic, 11 July 2023
The tables in the lookup tool include fields that summarize the results for each school, including the highest water lead level identified, whether any water lead levels exceeded 5 parts per billion, and how many samples were identified within particular lead ranges.
—Emily Hoerner, Chicago Tribune, 7 May 2023
For consumers, Navarro said, regulators are talking about creating a public lookup tool to search for complaints against health insurance brokers, similar to the BrokerCheck tool created by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to monitor stockbrokers.
—Bram Sable-Smith, NBC News, 1 Nov. 2022
The realism extended to the flight model, which made use of an effective technique: lookup tables.
—IEEE Spectrum, 26 Feb. 2023
Outdoor Life, 23 Nov. 2023
Guetta is not the only industry veteran Larsson looks up to, mentioning Tinashe, Victoria Monet and Troye Sivan as some of her current inspirations.
—Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 22 Nov. 2023
Simpson Ross posed for a selfie with her son, who looked up from his phone and popcorn to take a picture with his mom, while in a movie theater.
—Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 21 Nov. 2023
Considering what he’s just accomplished in 2023 alone, the chances of a successful new year are looking up.
—Nate Jackson, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2023
Shrubs of the chaparral have vastly different needs from those located in a central oak woodland or northern coastal scrub, so look up your personalized plant community online by Zip Code to identify the key plants that will take to your area with ease.
—Kristin Guy, Sunset Magazine, 14 Nov. 2023
The youngsters who look up to him will have to keep straining those necks.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023
One exclusion in Maine’s law lets carmakers offer a secure portal where owners and independent mechanics can look up how to reset a car’s security features rather than publicizing that information.
—Wes Davis, The Verge, 9 Nov. 2023
Tips for using Bard Extensions Extensions are naturally integrated into Bard, and in a lot of cases, the AI bot will know which extension to look up.
—David Nield, Popular Science, 9 Nov. 2023
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Noun
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, Quanta Magazine, 6 Nov. 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
The Education Department also released a 2024-25 Pell Grant lookup table.
—Nerdwallet, cleveland, 9 Sep. 2023
There are separate, more detailed, lookups for other providers, such as adult foster care and nursing homes and specific ones for children's summer camps and child care centers and in-home care.
—Christine MacDonald, Detroit Free Press, 4 Aug. 2023
Drivers can check for NHTSA recalls using their recall lookup tool.
—Fernando Cervantes Jr., The Arizona Republic, 11 July 2023
The tables in the lookup tool include fields that summarize the results for each school, including the highest water lead level identified, whether any water lead levels exceeded 5 parts per billion, and how many samples were identified within particular lead ranges.
—Emily Hoerner, Chicago Tribune, 7 May 2023
For consumers, Navarro said, regulators are talking about creating a public lookup tool to search for complaints against health insurance brokers, similar to the BrokerCheck tool created by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to monitor stockbrokers.
—Bram Sable-Smith, NBC News, 1 Nov. 2022
The realism extended to the flight model, which made use of an effective technique: lookup tables.
—IEEE Spectrum, 26 Feb. 2023
Verb
The dog was under a birch tree, looking up and barking steadily.
—Outdoor Life, 23 Nov. 2023
Guetta is not the only industry veteran Larsson looks up to, mentioning Tinashe, Victoria Monet and Troye Sivan as some of her current inspirations.
—Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 22 Nov. 2023
Simpson Ross posed for a selfie with her son, who looked up from his phone and popcorn to take a picture with his mom, while in a movie theater.
—Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 21 Nov. 2023
Considering what he’s just accomplished in 2023 alone, the chances of a successful new year are looking up.
—Nate Jackson, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2023
Shrubs of the chaparral have vastly different needs from those located in a central oak woodland or northern coastal scrub, so look up your personalized plant community online by Zip Code to identify the key plants that will take to your area with ease.
—Kristin Guy, Sunset Magazine, 14 Nov. 2023
The youngsters who look up to him will have to keep straining those necks.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023
One exclusion in Maine’s law lets carmakers offer a secure portal where owners and independent mechanics can look up how to reset a car’s security features rather than publicizing that information.
—Wes Davis, The Verge, 9 Nov. 2023
Tips for using Bard Extensions Extensions are naturally integrated into Bard, and in a lot of cases, the AI bot will know which extension to look up.
—David Nield, Popular Science, 9 Nov. 2023
See More
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 30 Nov. 2023.
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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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