as in searching
to go into or range over for purposes of discovery
soon all manner of people had arrived in the valley to prospect it for gold
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Recent Examples of prospecting
The three water companies were founded more than a century ago, when Los Angeles was still a fledgling town surrounded by farms, and miners were prospecting for gold on the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains.
—
Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 31 Jan. 2026
Over a year ago, our sales team identified prospecting as the biggest bottleneck in its daily workflows.
—Dennis Woodside, Fortune, 26 Oct. 2025
Over the years, many scientists have suggested that prospecting for He-3 could be accomplished using high-energy gamma rays, in the 20 megaelectron volt (MeV) region.
—Leonard David, Space.com, 30 Sep. 2025
In 2027, the company plans a prospecting mission to one of their target spots to analyze dirt samples.
—Jeremy Bogaisky, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Those companies, in turn, are selling their AI products to all the non-tech companies that are prospecting for gold — that is, looking for ways that AI can make their operations cheaper or more efficient.
—Maria Aspan, NPR, 30 Aug. 2025
Cadences, a feature also present in Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightning Professional, guides you through the prospecting process by mapping out activity sequences.
—Alison Barretta, PC Magazine, 23 Oct. 2023
Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 31 Jan. 2026
Over a year ago, our sales team identified prospecting as the biggest bottleneck in its daily workflows.
—Dennis Woodside, Fortune, 26 Oct. 2025
Over the years, many scientists have suggested that prospecting for He-3 could be accomplished using high-energy gamma rays, in the 20 megaelectron volt (MeV) region.
—Leonard David, Space.com, 30 Sep. 2025
In 2027, the company plans a prospecting mission to one of their target spots to analyze dirt samples.
—Jeremy Bogaisky, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Those companies, in turn, are selling their AI products to all the non-tech companies that are prospecting for gold — that is, looking for ways that AI can make their operations cheaper or more efficient.
—Maria Aspan, NPR, 30 Aug. 2025
Cadences, a feature also present in Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightning Professional, guides you through the prospecting process by mapping out activity sequences.
—Alison Barretta, PC Magazine, 23 Oct. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prospecting
Verb
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Schacht, a lean clinical psychologist with boyish features, has spent much of his career searching for medications to treat alcohol addiction.—
Dhruv Khullar,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
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The bodycam video was an eye-opening look at the frightening aftermath of the Brown campus shooting when police were searching room-by-room for the suspect, trying to comfort and care for terrified students, and trying to coordinate with campus police to get past locked doors.—
Corky Siemaszko,
NBC news,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Efforts to mitigate consumption and reduce the environmental impact of the world’s IT infrastructure include developing more energy-efficient hardware, data center infrastructure, and exploring more sustainable computing methods.—
Matthew S Williams,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Feb. 2026
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The study's first phase focused on breast and prostate cancers and will examine lung, melanoma, colorectal and HPV-related cancers by July 2026, also exploring genetic and environmental factors.—
Marissa Payne,
Des Moines Register,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Prospecting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prospecting. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
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