Verb

Infinitive to search

Third person singular searches

Simple past searched

Past participle searched

Present participle searching

to search (third-person singular simple present searches, present participle searching, simple past and past participle searched)

1. (transitive) To look throughout (a place) for something. To try and find something.

   I searched the garden for the keys and found them in the vegetable patch.

2. (intransitive) (followed by "for") To look thoroughly.

   The police are searching for evidence in his flat.

Synonyms

• (transitive: look throughout (a place) for something): comb, scour
• (intransitive: look thoroughly): look for, seek, comb, scour

Derived terms

• global search and replace
• search and replace

• searcher
• stop and search

Searching and search can refer to the following:

In computing and mathematics,

• Search algorithm, an algorithm taking a problem as input and returning a solution to the problem, usually after evaluating a number of possible solutions
• Bayesian search theory, the application of Bayesian statistics to the search for lost objects
• Tree search, the process of systematically visiting each node in a tree data structure

In entertainment,

• "Searchin' (I Gotta Find a Man)", a 1983 single by Hazell Dean
• The Search, a 1948 film
• The Search (DS9 episode), an episode of the television show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Search (TV series), a US television series shown in the 1970s
• Search (band), a Malaysian rock band popular during the 1980s and 1990s

In other uses,

• Search theory, in economics, the study of an individual's optimal strategy when choosing from a series of potential opportunities
• Visual search, a type of perceptual task
• Search and rescue, the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger
• Search and seizure, a legal procedure whereby a state may search property and confiscate evidence