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

The European Commission wants to ensure Google gives rival AI service providers equal access to its Android operating system, and demands the American titan grants competing search engines access to search data.

From Barron's

It also said it will assist Google with complying with provisions that concern how the company lets competing search engines access datasets for areas such as ranking and queries held by Google Search.

From The Wall Street Journal

Over the years, European governments helped finance or promote multiple homegrown search engines but found little traction to rival Google.

From The Wall Street Journal

It didn’t work, but we still dreamed of a smarter health search engine.

From MarketWatch

Online searches for the dessert surged more than twenty-fold in the last three months, according to data from Naver, the country's largest search engine.

From Barron's