query

noun que·ry \ ˈkwir-ē , ˈkwer- \

|Updated on: 21 Jun 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: query in a Sentence

Definition of query

plural queries

1 : question, inquiry

2 : a question in the mind : doubt

3 : question mark 2

See query defined for English-language learners

See query defined for kids

Examples of query in a Sentence

I have a query about my order.
The librarian responded to my query.

Recent Examples of query from the Web

For instance, Spoke, which developed a chatbot for businesses to respond to employee queries on human-resource, IT and other issues, benefited from having on its board representatives from firms such as Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

— dave pettit, WSJ, "WSJ Top 25 Tech Companies to Watch 2018," 12 June 2018
These toys wirelessly connect with online databases to recognize voices and images, identifying children’s queries, commands and requests and responding to them.

— marie-helen maras, Scientific American, "4 Ways “Internet of Things” Toys Endanger Children," 10 May 2018
The immediate issue was Musk's arrogant dismissal of queries from two analysts on Tesla's conference call to discuss its first-quarter results.

— michael hiltzik, latimes.com, "Musk apologizes for his bizarre investor call, but still gets things bizarrely wrong," 4 May 2018
Others, like the query about the wave, have dozens of competing claims.

— chris chase, For The Win, "6 of the most-asked sports questions, answered," 18 Apr. 2018
Google personalization via queries drive engagement and customer satisfaction.

— recode staff, Recode, "Full video and transcript: Kleiner Perkins’ Mary Meeker at Code 2018," 31 May 2018
One of those sources said the longitude and latitude returned by Xiao’s queries came within 100 yards of their then-current location.

— dan goodin, Ars Technica, "Website leaked real-time location of most US cell phones to almost anyone," 17 May 2018
The actress also had to prompt her male colleagues to answer questions about the #MeToo movement's impact on the festival, queries that were automatically addressed to the women in the room.

— refinery29.com, "After Sexism, #MeToo, & Protests, What's Next For Women At The Cannes Film Festival?," 17 May 2018
These seemingly benign queries will be familiar to international travelers.

— diana budds, Curbed, "To better understand the U.S.-Mexico border, one artist is tying knots," 14 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'query.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of query

alteration of earlier quere, from Latin quaere, imperative of quaerere to ask

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1620

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

query Synonyms

query

verb

Definition of query

queried; querying

transitive verb

1 : to ask questions of especially with a desire for authoritative information

2 : to ask questions about especially in order to resolve a doubt

3 : to put as a question

4 : to mark with a query

—

querier

noun

See query defined for English-language learners

Examples of query in a Sentence

They conducted a survey in which several hundred people were queried about their dietary habits.
it seems odd that someone would want two stoves, so you'd better query that order

Recent Examples of query from the Web

Safari's implementation of anti-fingerprinting technology limits the information sites are allowed to query from the browser, increasing anonymity by making your instance of Safari look more or less the same as everyone else's.

— samuel axon, Ars Technica, "Apple announces macOS 10.14 “Mojave”," 4 June 2018
The sigh was because the question was actually quite common—which became obvious as scientists on Twitter revealed that they, too, had been queried as to the flatus status of their study animals.

— steve mirsky, Scientific American, "A Book That Bills Itself as “the Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence”," 1 June 2018
And think about it: Mr. Bezos got us to read books on pieces of plastic and to query an imaginary woman residing in a cylindrical speaker.

— andy kessler, WSJ, "Columbus Discovers the Amazon," 6 May 2018
Instead, except in emergencies, officials would need to obtain a court order to query the repository for an American’s information.

— charlie savage, New York Times, "Surveillance and Privacy Debate Reaches Pivotal Moment in Congress," 10 Jan. 2018
Mecklenburg residents, queried in community surveys, rank paved walking and biking paths as their top recreational priority.

— bruce henderson, charlotteobserver, "Mecklenburg wanted to build 129 miles of greenways by 2018. It hasn't even come close.," 1 June 2018
Just now, the different languages all use the common set of .NET APIs for drawing windows on screen, or saving files, or querying databases, and so on.

— peter bright, Ars Technica, "From Win32 to Cocoa: A Windows user’s would-be conversion to Mac OS, part II," 27 May 2018
Judge Kim Wardlaw queried whether the court should take presidential tweets and statements into account.

— CNN, "Appeals court judges question Trump move to end DACA," 15 May 2018
Still, several are querying whether their external liabilities are greater than public figures suggest.

— paul wallace, Bloomberg.com, "African Issuers Get Scrutinized as Fears of Hidden Debt Rise," 17 Apr. 2018