Synonyms of scouring

scouring

verb

present participle of scour

as in searching

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

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• hiding
• losing
• ignoring
• abandoning
• neglecting

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of scouring

More than 900 participants signed up for last year’s Python Challenge, and potentially as many are currently scouring for snakes amid the 2026 competition. — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 15 July 2026

Wildfires have been scouring their way across northern Canada this week, with at least 54 fires active in the country, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 15 July 2026

In the following weeks and months, hundreds of volunteers have searched for Amy, from putting up flyers to scouring the surrounding area. — Sam Gillette, PEOPLE, 13 July 2026

Scrub the grates with a scouring pad or soft scrubbing brush. — Daley Quinn, Southern Living, 12 July 2026

Shopping for cheap designer clothing typically means hoping to get lucky at your local Goodwill or scouring resale racks at Crossroads and Buffalo Exchange. — Jessie Quinn, StyleCaster, 30 June 2026

However, the announcement on Tuesday underscores that Isaacman and his team are scouring NASA for hardware and other tools to advance the agency’s mandate to return to the Moon and to build a surface base. — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 30 June 2026

Their expert rescuers and dogs are scouring through the rubble. — Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 30 June 2026

Cops were scouring the area looking for surveillance footage that can help track down the suspects. — Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 27 June 2026