Synonyms of combing

combing

verb

present participle of comb

as in searching

to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something

combed the library for the missing book

Synonyms & Similar Words

• searching
• scanning
• finding
• scouring
• surveying
• raking
• exploring
• examining
• investigating
• locating
• rummaging
• dredging
• trolling
• inspecting
• digging (through)
• ransacking
• hunting (through)
• sorting (through)
• discovering
• reviewing
• rifling
• scrutinizing
• detecting
• learning
• determining
• ascertaining
• auditing
• studying
• checking (out)
• probing
• frisking
• tracking (down)
• perusing
• hitting (on or upon)
• browsing
• getting
• snooping
• finding out
• running down
• prospecting
• poking (around)
• shaking down
• ferreting (out)
• patting down
• looking over
• glancing (over)
• descrying
• skirmishing
• grubbing (about)
• scaring up

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• hiding
• losing
• ignoring
• abandoning
• neglecting

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of combing

Imagine sneaking into a math library and combing through every mathematical text ever written. — Lyndie Chiou, Scientific American, 22 Sep. 2026

Officials are searching the wreckage and combing through maintenance logbooks and security footage. — Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026

In time, national security institutions were routinely vacuuming up ordinary police information, and local law enforcement officers were combing through federal intelligence. — Daniel Benjamin, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2026

Comella started combing the pile, picking up light debris, trying to get surface victims. — Peter Wilkinson, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026

At Fresh Kills, Wilson worked as a sifter, combing through debris with a metal rake. — Lila Dominus, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2026

Within a single organization, emerging reimbursement signals can be difficult to distinguish from noise—and identifying them may require hours of manually combing through data. — Terry Goertz, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2026

Police are combing through surveillance videos to try to determine the identity of the individuals, KTLA 5 reported. — Kc Baker, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2026

Radha was sitting on a stool outside her door, combing her hair. — Akhil Sharma, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2026