search engine

American  

[surch en-juhn] / ˈsɜrtʃ ˌɛn dʒən /

noun

Digital Technology.

1. a computer program that searches documents, especially on the World Wide Web, for a specified word or words and provides a list of documents in which they are found.

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search engine British  

noun

1. computing a service provided on the internet enabling users to search for items of interest

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search engine Cultural  

1. Web sites or software that search the Internet for documents that contain a key word, phrase, or subject that is specified by the user to the search engine. Each engine has its own method of searching for information.

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Etymology

Origin of search engine

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

Other Chinese firms on the list include search engine platform Baidu, electric car marker Nio and aircraft manufacturer Comac.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026

Google and Apple are already closely tied, with Google paying out tens of billions of dollars every year to be the default search engine on the iPhone's Safari web browser.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

The company never created its own search engine, relying on Google to power search across its devices.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

The dashboard includes a search engine to find violations tied to specific addresses, as well as a map showing more than 44,000 properties with complaints against them.

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026

Regan yelled after me, but I ignored her as I quickly typed a few key words into the computer’s state-of-the-art history search engine.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin