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:
Tech giant Google has been quietly making overtures to major studios as it tries to find ways to get Hollywood to use its AI technology.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
You can say, “I don’t really want to look at this Google Doc, and pound through another revision of this memo that I’m writing,” but you can force yourself to do it.
From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2026
He recently went to the White House to receive a medal from President Trump, alongside Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and others.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Meta, Snap, TikTok, X and Google, which owns YouTube, have all declined BBC requests for comment, and have not made public statements about the legislation.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
That week, I spend hours talking with Rabia on Google Hangouts.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
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
I Googled “Philadelphia public radio” and found WXPN, now my gold standard.
From Slate ● Apr. 12, 2026
"Googled u after last email," she wrote in October 2011.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
His address was easy to find— I Googled him and found www.shipwellconsulting.co.uk, the site where he advertises “a range of consultancy, cloud- and web-based services for business and nonprofit organizations.”
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
“I started Googling it–that’s when I discovered the bad news,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
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
"We started Googling how many seats were on airplanes but, by the sounds of it and the amount of people that we were involving, we had personally sold at least five airplanes."
From BBC ● May 11, 2025
She had tried Googling, but everything online was for grown women, actual moms.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
