Synonyms of scour

scour

verb

as in to search

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

the police scoured the city for the Typhoid Mary of this latest epidemic

Synonyms & Similar Words

• search
• find
• scan
• locate
• comb
• explore
• examine
• investigate
• rake
• dredge
• survey
• rummage
• ransack
• inspect
• discover
• rifle
• hunt (through)
• dig (through)
• sort (through)
• troll
• scrutinize
• ascertain
• determine
• detect
• review
• learn
• check (out)
• peruse
• find out
• browse
• audit
• track (down)
• run down
• probe
• get
• prospect
• study
• hit (on or upon)
• descry
• poke (around)
• pat down
• shake down
• glance (over)
• frisk
• ferret (out)
• snoop
• look over
• scare up
• grub (about)
• skirmish

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• hide
• lose
• abandon
• ignore
• neglect

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of scour

Federal immigration agents have spent weeks scouring the Central Valley, immigrant rights organizers say, noting warrantless arrests and the targeting of farm laborers on their way to work. — Cindy Carcamo, Christian Science Monitor, 1 Nov. 2026

Over the next several hours, the agents scoured each room of Omar’s home, taking with them seventeen items, including her phones, a daughter’s old cellphone, and her husband’s camera, as well as a Somali-language phrase book. — Rozina Ali, New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2026

For up to two weeks the hunting partners scour the North Atlantic for fish and squid, often travelling hundreds of miles from their nests. — Geoff Brumfiel, NPR, 29 Oct. 2026

One way to do so, top aides for Peltola decided, would be to scour the state for people also named Dan Sullivan, in the hopes that one of them would go on the ballot and confuse voters. — New York Times, 29 Oct. 2026

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