Google

American  

[goo-guhl] / ˈgu gəl /

Trademark.

1. the brand name for a leading internet search engine, founded in 1998.

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verb (used with object)

Googled, Googling

1. (often lowercase) to search the internet for information about (a person, topic, etc.).

   We googled the new applicant to check her background.

verb (used without object)

Googled, Googling

1. (often lowercase) to use a search engine such as Google to find information, a website address, etc., on the internet.

Google British  

/ ˈɡuːɡəl /

noun

1. a popular search engine on the internet

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verb

1. to search for (something on the internet) using a search engine

2. 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

Google is also introducing a separate chip customized for training, the process by which AI models are fed data and taught how to respond to queries.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

With the improvements, Google said, the inference chip’s performance-per-dollar is 80% better compared with the previous Ironwood TPU, meaning users can meet nearly twice the demand at the same cost.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026

Last week, Google and Broadcom announced an expanded partnership to design more AI chips for Anthropic, but the companies didn’t say whether those chips would be used for training, for inference or for both.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

The current era of agentic AI, where an AI model can complete tasks with little to no human prompting, requires “a new set of demands on infrastructure,” Google said.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026

“Doesn’t matter. But you should figure out who is either so fluent in Yiddish that they could threaten you in it or who is technologically competent enough to do a Google search.”

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny