rummage
Americanverb (used with object)
-
rummages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rummaged,
past participle, past
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rummaging
present participle
-
to search thoroughly or actively through (a place, receptacle, etc.), especially by moving around, turning over, or looking through contents.
-
to find, bring, or fetch by searching (often followed by out orup ).
verb (used without object)
-
rummages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rummaged,
past participle, past
-
rummaging
present participle
noun
-
miscellaneous articles; odds and ends.
-
a rummaging search.
verb
noun
-
an act of rummaging
-
a jumble of articles
-
obsolete confusion or bustle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
rummagesimple
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rummagessimple
-
have rummagedperfect
-
has rummagedperfect
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am rummagingprogressive
-
are rummagingprogressive
-
is rummagingprogressive
-
have been rummagingperfect progressive
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has been rummagingperfect progressive
Past
-
rummagedsimple
-
had rummagedperfect
-
was rummagingprogressive
-
were rummagingprogressive
-
had been rummagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rummage
1520–30; aphetic alteration of Middle French arrumage, equivalent to arrum ( er ) to stow goods in the hold of a ship (< ?) + -age -age
Explanation
Rummage means to search for something, but in a scattered, disorganized manner. You can rummage through your drawer looking for a lost sock, or you could even hold "a rummage sale" to sell off all your socks that are missing their mates. Ahoy, mateys: the word rummage hails from a sea-faring background. The Middle Dutch ruim, Germanic rum, and Old English rum all referred to a compartment on a ship, probably stemming from the Middle French verb arrumer, "to stow goods in the hold of a ship." The idea of rummaging as searching was first recorded in the 1620s. The first rummage sale also had its ship connection, as it was a sale on the docks of unclaimed items.
Vocabulary lists containing rummage
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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The Hate U Give
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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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:
General warrants and writs of assistance enraged the colonies precisely because they allowed British officials to rummage through homes and businesses without individualized suspicion.
From Slate ● May 20, 2026
We also watched a nurse rummage through a medical waste disposal box without sterile gloves.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
The Dominican nuns who run the kitchen prepare food for about 80 elderly or destitute people -- growing numbers of Cubans are forced to rummage through garbage bins for food -- each day.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
To our benefit, Lewis and Tolkien weren’t content to rummage around for these ideals in dust-covered parchment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
I rummage in the bin again and find a half-melted palm tree from a Lego set.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
Deiri Fayyad rummages through dustbins in the Lebanese capital Beirut in search of plastics and other discarded materials to be recycled.
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2023
An hour in, the setup is still going on as Rom rummages through old photographs, putting together connections the audience has never been privy to.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2023
Your browser rummages through with the server, looking for a way to convince you that the page is trustworthy for a purchase.
From Slate ● Dec. 3, 2022
When Alex, defying her mother and grandmother’s orders, rummages through the box, she finds an entire life that Maia has never shared with her.
From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2022
She lifts her bag up, sticking out her tongue like it really does weigh fifty pounds, and rummages inside for her sketchbook.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
After taking a job at the Conference Board, a business research organization, he rummaged through libraries to unearth measures of railcar freight loading and trends in short staple cotton prices since the Civil War.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
She rummaged around for a second and suggested a triangle with an exclamation point in it, which would signal a bit of excitement but clear danger too.
From Slate ● Dec. 26, 2025
Towards the end of the patrol he described how hungry crew members rummaged for tins of food in hidden compartments inside the submarine.
From BBC ● May 12, 2025
Sitting in his spartan room in Astana, Kazakhstan, Yevgeny rummaged through a cardboard box that holds the things he thought to save.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
I tore some pages out of my notebook, then rummaged in my pocketbook for another pen.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
At the warehouse in Bangkok's Nonthaburi suburb, the sound of people rummaging through products and plastic crates clattering against shopping carts echoes through the building.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
The Framers feared officers rummaging through homes and papers because they understood something permanent about institutional power.
From Slate ● May 20, 2026
Residents report bears rummaging through trash, raiding chicken coops and—like any good Southern Californian—dipping into backyard pools.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
While rummaging through some old boxes in his grandparents' loft, a music-mad 15-year-old schoolboy discovered an old mixtape hidden amongst his late uncle's belongings.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2025
Mom started rummaging through a grocery bag full of snack food.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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.
