SEARCHING Synonyms: 66 Similar and Opposite Words

searching

verb

present participle of search

as in combing

to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something archaeologists have begun to search the southern end of the valley, where they believe the underground tombs are located

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in exploring

to go into or range over for purposes of discovery the Spanish conquistadors searched vast areas of the Southwest in their quest for the fabled cities of gold

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of searching For someone searching for a grief community, a grief or trauma support group might seem intimidating. — Sneha Dhandapani, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2026 Though the year-plus-long story line also involved a replacement Batman proving far too lethal to be let loose on Gotham for long, and the original Batman going on a soul-searching quest, what most remember is Bane and Batman’s poor, poor spine. — Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2026 Physicists searching for an elusive exotic particle instead found evidence of two unexpected structures that do not fit neatly into the familiar picture of quarks bound together in pairs. — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 23 Aug. 2026 Governor Newsom spent four months in quiet talks with the union behind the measure searching for an off-ramp. — Teresa Ghilarducci, Forbes.com, 23 Aug. 2026 Police in El Cerrito are searching for two suspects after a man was shot and killed in a parking lot early Sunday morning. — Brandon Downs, CBS News, 23 Aug. 2026 The Placer County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team subsequently began searching the surrounding Auburn State Recreation Area. — Nicole Buss, Sacbee.com, 23 Aug. 2026 When a movie becomes a cultural event, millions of people start searching for it. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 17 Aug. 2026 Fugitive investigators searching the area heard a baby crying from inside a trailer and entered. — ABC News, 17 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for searching

Verb

Tips and calls are coming in and investigators are combing through other video, Saucier said.

— Elise Hammond, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2026
The videos show search crews combing the Pentagon's charred corridors, and interviews with firefighters working to contain the disaster.

— Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of combing

Verb

Ideal for exploring our own solar system, the Celestron PowerSeeker 80EQ comes with 20mm and 4mm eyepieces, a 3x Barlow lens, a German equatorial mount, finderscope and Starry Night astronomy software.

— Chris McMullen, Space.com, 24 Aug. 2026
Consequently, more organizations are exploring a similar strategy by incorporating AI tools alongside traditional staffing.

— Lyssanoel Frater, USA Today, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of exploring

Verb

The Mexican navy searched a vast area of the Pacific Ocean by sea and air, eventually finding the two men floating in a large fishing cooler about 150 miles off the coast of Chiapas, a southern state in Mexico that borders Guatemala.

— Diego Mendoza, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026
Officers reported allegedly finding live ammunition hidden in a sock in her dresser, a digital scale, more than 100 plastic baggies, text messages appearing to show drug sales, and $4,121 in cash.

— Julie Watts August 20, CBS News, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of finding

Verb

The brain tissues of some animals were imaged with a technique called serial block-face scanning electron microscopy before hibernation, during it, and days after returning to consciousness.

— Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 22 Aug. 2026
Doubting job descriptions and scanning for scams Candidates have more trust in job postings when companies share clear salary ranges as well as transparent expectations around workload and hours, a new Monster report found.

— Rachel Barber, USA Today, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of scanning

Verb

The next day, the Brazos County Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page asking for help locating Nikki.

— Francie Ebert, NBC news, 19 Aug. 2026
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation initially contacted Roswell police and asked for assistance locating and apprehending Spruill.

— Zachary Bynum, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of locating

Verb

And some local activists and internet sleuths are scouring the hillsides and topo maps trying to determine which properties would benefit most from the recent tree poisonings.

— Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2026
So the designers essentially winged it, scouring old film books and blogs for any kind of direction.

— Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 18 Aug. 2026