noun
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a device, consisting of a light source and a reflecting surface behind it, that projects a powerful beam of light in a particular direction
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the beam of light produced by such a device
Etymology
Origin of searchlight
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.
For months, they’ve been signaling as if with a searchlight how much they covet the 6-foot-11 Greek forward.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
At night, the crew trained a searchlight across the dark waters to look for growlers—low-floating chunks of ice big enough to puncture a ship.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
The task is a bit like discerning a field of fireflies around a central, massive searchlight.
From Science Daily ● May 6, 2024
Using sound like a searchlight, they patrol the chilly depths.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 19, 2023
Another plane was crabbing in as low as it could safely fly, two broad searchlight beams stretching and leaping toward the ground before and behind it.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
