query
Americannoun
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a question; an inquiry.
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mental reservation; doubt.
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Printing. a question mark (?), especially as added on a manuscript, proof sheet, or the like, indicating doubt as to some point in the text.
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an inquiry from a writer to an editor of a magazine, newspaper, etc., regarding the acceptability of or interest in an idea for an article, news story, or the like: usually presented in the form of a letter that outlines or describes the projected piece.
verb (used with object)
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to ask or inquire about.
No one queried his presence.
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to question as doubtful or obscure.
to query a statement.
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Printing. to mark (a manuscript, proof sheet, etc.) with a query.
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to ask questions of.
noun
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a question, esp one expressing doubt, uncertainty, or an objection
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a less common name for question mark
verb
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to express uncertainty, doubt, or an objection concerning (something)
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to express as a query
"What's up now?" she queried
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to put a question to (a person); ask
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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querysimple
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queriessimple
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have queriedperfect
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has queriedperfect
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am queryingprogressive
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are queryingprogressive
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is queryingprogressive
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have been queryingperfect progressive
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has been queryingperfect progressive
Past
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queriedsimple
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had queriedperfect
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was queryingprogressive
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were queryingprogressive
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had been queryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of query
First recorded in 1625–35; alteration (with the influence of -y 3 ) of earlier quere, from Latin quaere quaere
Explanation
A query is a question, or the search for a piece of information. The Latin root quaere means "to ask" and it's the basis of the words inquiry, question, quest, request, and query. Query often fits the bill when referring to Internet searches, polite professional discourse, and subtle pleas. You could query as to the whereabouts of the lavatory, but you'd sound a bit prim and be better off asking "Where's the toilet?" If your job entails dealing with annoying questions and complaints, you could make it sound better by proclaiming, "I respond to customer queries."
Vocabulary lists containing query
For Grilled Cheese Day, Vocab with a Twist
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Instead of "Said": Words for Asking and Offering
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Where the Red Fern Grows
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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:
"We've been crying out for a long time that there needs to be something, anything at all. My query there is how long are they going to be stuck in the system?"
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
“How come he’s a man, and you’re a—.” Ruthye’s subsequent query is cut off by the plot starting up again, and the gendered difference between the two names is never brought up again.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026
He’s tried Claude Code before but prefers Cursor’s indexed codebase, which allows users to query a multi-file project in natural language and find relevant code.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 19, 2026
There is also new supervision for U.S. query terms to require approval by FBI attorneys, an audit by the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Sticky sent their query at once: Please advise about cheating.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
ChatGPT receives some 2.5 billion queries a day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
They said it has improved significantly over previous generations and can now effectively substitute for Nvidia chips on certain tasks—particularly inference, where trained models respond to user queries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Neither Indonesian nor Singaporean authorities gave definitive answers to the BBC's previous queries about what they intend to do with the babies.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“While investors may have thought of Copilot as an AI model in itself, it is already working as a tool that helps funnel queries and tasks to the appropriate model,” he wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
Furious at being blindsided by the appointment, Bush dodged Groves’s brusque queries about the state of the project and dashed off a prickly letter to Stimson’s assistant, Harvey Bundy.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Former Chief Justice Jean Toal, at the supreme court’s request, queried the jurors individually under oath in a January 2024 hearing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
In written follow-up questions sent after his hearing last week, Democrats queried him on issues from interest-rate policy to concerns about his independence from the White House.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
Another frustrated user described the Kindle as "probably one of the most low-tech devices ever made" and queried why Amazon was discontinuing its support for it.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
When queried about competing with customers at a press conference, Haas said, “It is a massive, massive market. We think there’s room for lots of different players, so we’re not really too worried about that.”
From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026
“Save you from five hundred silver?” queried Calixte.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
After his side's opening 1-1 draw with Saudi Arabia in Miami on Monday, he was unimpressed with journalists querying his stance, amid suggestions it might be some kind of protest.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
An October 2025 report from the Justice Department Inspector General found that the FBI has “implemented all of RISAA’s querying reforms” and that the number of noncompliant queries had been “reduced substantially.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
After the comedian riffs with the “patient,” the audience weighs in on the issue with green and red “thumbs up/thumbs down” paddles, often yelling out comments or directly querying the participant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
Wolff was also receiving advice from Epstein, at one point querying him about the best questions to ask Trump in a coming Oval Office interview.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 15, 2025
With a querying look on his face, he said, “I’m afraid I don’t understand. I thought you always wanted to go to town.”
From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls
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.
