verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
-
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:
A phone can also be locked if it’s still connected to a Find My network through the previous owner’s Apple or Google account.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Researchers at top labs including Alibaba and Z.AI said they are often allotted one-fifth of the high-end chips available to peers at OpenAI and Google.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Sir Anthony Hopkins may have left Wales to become a Hollywood star decades ago, but he says he returns home in his mind almost every day, often looking around his old neighbourhood on Google Maps.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Over in San Francisco, which faced down a severe heat wave in March, Google Weather users were left flummoxed by the charts of low-70s temps, way milder than the 90-degree record felt by downtown residents.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
The photos of Frida I found on Google.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
So she Googled, we came up and she was blown away to see it, and we did such great jobs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Wordle even helped to end a 17-hour hostage ordeal and became the most Googled word of 2022.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
He Googled and called around to see how best to join others and resist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 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
I once Googled “excessive blushing” and found out there’s a terrifying name for my condition: idiopathic craniofacial erythema.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
“I started Googling it–that’s when I discovered the bad news,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 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
I asked him: “Do you think Googling symptoms comes from a lack of trust in medical professionals?”
From Slate ● Jul. 26, 2025
Eventually — fortunately, and unfortunately for the guy with the tattoo — a little Googling cleared things up.
From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2025
She looks like she’s been Googling again, up until the early hours of the morning, reading page after page, article after article, on lung transplants.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
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.
