search engine

noun

: computer software used to search data (such as text or a database) for specified information

also : a site on the Internet that uses such software to locate key words in other sites

Examples of search engine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In that world, ranking is no longer won by ad budgets and search engine optimization tricks. — Haozhuang Dai, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026

Google was founded by Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, marking the beginning of what became the world’s most popular search engine. — USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026

For example, ads shown in search engines won’t be blocked, with Mozilla specifically referring to ads provided by Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Google, among other search providers. — James Peckham, PC Magazine, 17 Aug. 2026

The online automobile search engine found that the price of a three-year-old 911 has risen from $132,369 to $230,273, or $97,904 over the last seven years. — Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 12 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1984, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

search engine

noun

: computer software used to search data (as text or a database) for specified information

also : a website that uses such software