verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
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to search for (something on the internet) using a search engine
-
to check (the credentials of someone) by searching for websites containing his or her name
Etymology
Origin of Google
First recorded in 1998; after mathematical term googol
Explanation
To google is to use an online search engine to find some piece of information. You might google your favorite author to find out what other books she's written. Searching the Internet for answers to questions, details about people, map directions, and other information is a common activity for most of us, and since the 1990s, most of us have come to use the verb google to describe it. The verb comes from the Google search engine, first active in 1997, although until about 2000 it was mostly used in the phrase "Do a google on."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Some clues may come later Wednesday with results from Tesla and Google parent Alphabet, followed by fellow tech bellweathers Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Amazon next week.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
It has already been preparing for a future without revenue from Google traffic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
A number of media companies are re-evaluating their relationships with Google as AI search reduces web traffic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Reddit struck a $60 million-a-year deal with Google in 2024, but has discussed shutting off Google’s access to its content for AI use.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
I wish she’d just go hang by Albert, the walking Google page who’d get a better grade than me if he just blew his nose into the paper.
From "Fish in a Tree" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
He told me the name, and I Googled it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Is there something you Googled in the process of making the show where you were like, “Did this really happen?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
This small act of attention helps prevent the classic mid-recipe surprise: the unannounced overnight rest, the last-minute need for a tool you don’t own, the technique you wish you’d Googled earlier.
From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2025
When my mum Googled women's football, the USA came up.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2025
The largest bill the US Mint made was a hundred-dollar bill—he’d Googled it last night.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
Fair warning, though: You won’t make it through this book without Googling the price of a one-way trip to Italy.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
"You're Googling stuff that you think you already know and then you kind of tick the box after that saying, oh, I've already done my work for today, my therapy work with ChatGPT," he says.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025
Still, I haven’t stopped Googling things or ditched my Gmail, because that would be an epic pain.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2025
Often, now, she said, when she experiences side effects she ends up Googling them herself.
From Salon ● May 23, 2025
As in: The doctor sees me Googling the symptoms — coughing, sweating, vomiting, nosebleeds — and he says, You know we cant be sure what causes a myocardial infarction.
From "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
