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:
Teams led by Google and QuEra Computing recreated related string breaking models using superconducting circuits and neutral atoms, respectively.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
Clearly, this was why he didn’t want me to Google him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
“Just bringing a drink to an interview doesn’t mean that they are not good at the job,” said Alina Nguyen, a San Francisco-based recruiter who’s worked at Meta and Google.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Brittin took over as BBC director general in May after a decade as president of Google in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
According to Google Maps, though, I’m already there.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
The sentiment struck me as both suspiciously sensible and succinct enough to survive its surroundings, so I Googled it.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026
Villarreal: I Googled — and I will say I clearly am not the only one that thought this because there was a whole story of it — “Did they really eat KFC chicken?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
Every time I Googled anything about the disorder, RFK Jr.’s name popped up.
From Slate ● Apr. 18, 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
Or, maybe it’s something I should’ve Googled to find out the answer myself—but it’s too late to backtrack now.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
“I started Googling it–that’s when I discovered the bad news,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
We wandered around the parking lot until we found the breeziest spot, although I was also Googling “How to fly a kite successfully.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2026
After Googling “Eric” and “Dominion,” Oltmann concluded that the speaker was Eric Coomer.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2025
Often, now, she said, when she experiences side effects she ends up Googling them herself.
From Salon ● May 23, 2025
She had tried Googling, but everything online was for grown women, actual moms.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
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.
